You may have noticed now that we are into the eighth week of training that you are able to walk longer or you get tired much later into your trainings.  Well, that’s because marathon training builds stamina.   According to Greg McMillan, marathon coach, there are 4 key training zones:

1.  Endurance

2.  Stamina

3.  Speed

4. Sprint

Here’s a brief outline of each training zone:

Endurance is a slow easy pace.  The goal is to build endurance.  For beginners, you may spend 4 – 6 months in this phase being able to run or walk 5 miles easily.

Stamina training is when your training is “comfortably hard”. You are training at a pace where your heart rate beats between 83 – 92% of max.  For beginners, you may start out at short intervals of incorporating 20 – 30 second intervals throughout your endurance training.  Stamina training helps critical thresholds resulting in less lactate accumulation resulting in less fatigue.

During speed training, you are training with a 3 – 5k race speed.  Your heart rate and oxygen levels are above the 92% of max.  The effort in this training is hard.  Speed training increases the enzymes that help liberate enzymes from our fuel source as well as stimulate and trains our fast twitch muscle fibers.  Speed training will assist in running faster for longer periods of time.

Sprint training is where you are training with 800 – 2500m race pace.  During these trainings your heart rate and Vo2 reach max.  This type of training will assist with both your power and speed.

For most of us being beginners, our goal is usually to finish the half marathon.  If you fall into this category, most of your training will be in the endurance and the stamina training zones.  If you continue on for other marathons you may want to start incorporating some of the other zones to assist you in increasing your performance. For more info about the training zones visit check out the below link:

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/11/how-slow-runners-can-increase-their-pace/

What’s most important about training is your determination!

Happy and Healthy Training,

Prudence