Techniques index

Training and practice methods.

Foundations

Types of training — a map of the common run types and what each is for
Training volume versus intensity — what actually drives improvement
Training for your own ability — calibrate volume to what you can absorb, not to elite mileage
Warm-up and cool-down — what a warm-up does, and the thin case for the cool-down
Base building — the aerobic foundation
The long run — strong rationale, surprisingly thin isolating evidence
20 — most easy, some hard; partly supported, partly contested
Heart-rate and effort-based training — using heart rate and perceived effort, why the zone models disagree, and the limits of a heart-rate cap
Mental training and sports psychology — effort perception, self-talk, goal-setting and the honest size of the effects
Music and running — a small, perceptual aid for easy running; the safety and rules caveats
Treadmill running — a valid substitute, and the truth about the 1% incline rule
Running surfaces — road, track, grass and trail; why the body adapts to hardness, the energy cost of soft ground, and indoor versus outdoor tracks
Breathing and respiratory training — whether breathing limits you, and the honest evidence on breathing-muscle training, nasal breathing and masks

Threshold and tempo training — the most productive everyday quality session, from continuous tempos to cruise intervals to controlled-lactate work
Interval training — maximising time near VO₂max
Hill training — strength, power and economy with lower impact than flat sprinting
Fartlek — flexible “speed play”, a bridge to and from formal intervals
Double-threshold training (Norwegian method) — controlled sub-threshold volume
Strength training for runners — well-evidenced economy gains and injury prevention
Plyometrics — jump training for elastic energy return and economy
Strides and running drills — low-cost strides for priming and form, and an honest look at why drills probably do not improve economy
Training aids — wickets, ladders, sleds and bands; mostly skill tools with thin transfer, and what actually earns its place
Heat acclimation — reliable for hot races, contested as a cool-weather aid
Altitude training — reliable haematology, contested performance payoff
Cold-weather running — cool helps but cold hurts; the lungs do not freeze; manage wind chill and wet
Running in the dark — being seen, seeing the ground, and staying safe on dark roads and trails

Periodisation — the logic helps; specific schemes are weakly evidenced
Tapering — one of the best-quantified practices in the sport
Distance-specific training — how emphasis shifts from 1500 m to the marathon and ultra
Ultramarathon and trail training — time on feet, power-hiking, quad conditioning and effort-based pacing
Race pacing — even pacing wins; going out too fast is the classic error
Racing tactics — racing other people, not the clock: positioning, drafting, pack running and the timing of the kick

Training-load management — quantifying and progressing load; why the 10% rule is lore and the ACWR is contested
Cross-training — non-running aerobic work to hold fitness through injury or add load without the impact
Return to running — coming back after injury or a layoff with graded walk-run and tissue-specific pain rules
Run-walk method — planned walk breaks for beginners, comebacks, heat and trail; similar times with less soreness

Training philosophies — descriptive survey of the major systems
Canova method — training around race pace
See also the entities directory for the coaches and scientists behind these systems

Run clubs and group running — social and community running; good for consistency, thin on proven causal benefit
parkrun — the free weekly timed 5 km; strong on reach, weak on proven causal health benefit
Athletics clubs — affiliated competitive clubs; real organisational benefits, no proven club effect beyond self-selection
Coaching — what good coaching offers, and the honest limit that no trial isolates it from self-coaching
See also training apps for the platforms that track and prescribe training