The long steady run is the key element in the training programme of the distance athlete.

Done at a rate of approximately 130 to 150 heart beats per minute, it lowers the resting heart rate, improves oxygen uptake, develops capillarisation, and increases the efficiency of the red, slow-twitch muscle fibres without incurring any significant amounts of oxygen debt or lactic acid. Its benefits are primarily aerobic.

But when done at a higher rate of approximately 150 to 170 heart beats per minute - depending on your age, of course - the faster steady state run increases the athlete's tolerance of lactic acid build-up, improves the stroke volume of the heart (i.e., increases the amount of blood out by each heart beat), and raises the functioning efficiency of the white, fast-twitch muscle fibres. It has many anaerobic benefits.

Both fast continuous and slow continuous running is important in a training schedule. Normally, both forms are performed at different times of the week - but, with a little imagination, each can be incorporated into a single training session.

Imagine, for example, an athlete who covers his 10 miles training run in 60 minutes. He is running at six minute mile pace - or, to look at it another way, he is running 10 1 mile six minutes with NO recovery.

So, instead of just always running at the same speed, our hypothetical athlete could do the first, third, fifth, seventh, and ninth miles of his 10 miles stint 6 minutes 15 seconds pace. He could then run his second, fourth, sixth, eighth, and tenth miles in 5 minutes 45 seconds.

Therefore he is maintaining his average pace of six-minute mileing by running 15 seconds faster and slower during each alternate mile of his 10 mile run. Therefore he is working intermittently at higher and lower heart rates throughout the session and deriving the physiological and psychological benefits of both forms of steady state running.

The list of variations is endless. The athlete could, as another example, run the first four miles of a 10 miles work-out in 25 minutes (6 minutes 15 seconds pace), the next four miles in 24 minutes (6 minute per mile pace), then the final two miles in 11 minutes (5 minutes 30 seconds per mile pace). The total time adds up to the 60 minutes taken when the athlete runs steady 6 minutes per mile.

Another option is to run the first four miles and the last four miles in 23 minutes 20 seconds (5 minutes 50 seconds per mile pace). The middle two miles i.e., miles 5 and 6, would be run in 13 minutes 20 seconds (6 minutes 40 seconds per mile). This develops the ability to run the first and last few miles of a race at a good aerobic pace without exceeding the lactate threshold and getting into oxygen debt.

Another good session is to run the first five miles of your ten miles in 31 minutes 15 seconds (6 minutes 15 second per mile pace) and the final five miles in 28 minutes 45 seconds (5 minutes 45 seconds per mile pace).

Done over an out and back course this can be a very effective workout. It is best to tackle this type of session on a fairly calm day so that the wind does not interfere too much with the training objective. The perspicacious observer will note the first five miles are run at a pace 15 seconds per mile slower than the average pace, while the last five are run at a pace 15 seconds per mile faster than average. Hill sessions can also be incorporated into steady runs especially if you want to prepare for a race which has plenty of gradients. Thus an athlete could run four miles in 24 minutes (6 minute per mile) out to a hill-training slope. The athlete could, with little or no recovery, then run up and down the slope for 12 minutes before heading back to the training base in around the 24 minutes it took him / her to get to the training slope. The challenge can be intensified by counting the number of uphill and downhill sections completed in the stipulated 12 minutes.

The ambitious athlete leaves no stone unturned in the unending quest for improvement. By adding variety to your steady running you will show your paces in races.

Derek Parker

BAF Senior Coach, Kilbarchan AAC