I’m putting the easy run first because it’s often the forgotten workout. But it’s also one of the most important.

Running at an easy pace builds endurance, promotes proper form, establishes routine and base mileage, and facilitates recovery. This type of run should be your most common, making up about 65-80% of your mileage (the percentage will vary depending your running philosophy).

The easy run is your aerobic workout, staying within heart-rate zones 1 and 2. If you’re unsure where that is for you, ask yourself this question when you’re running:

Can I keep a conversation going, speaking in paragraphs with full sentences?

Ask it out loud if you’re really unsure … just maybe not when others are within earshot.

If the answer is yes, you’re running in that aerobic, or easy zone, where your body and muscles have the energy and oxygen they need. For most runners, this is also where they should run the majority of their long run miles.

Sample Workout

1. Workout: 6 miles at an easy, conversational pace. There should be no set structure or fluctuations in speed, but the hardest part will be resisting the temptation to speed up.
2. Workout: 45 minutes at an easy pace. With this variation, distance doesn’t matter. You’re running for time instead of distance, so there’s no pressure to hit certain mileage.

The tempo run’s pace is often called comfortably hard. Difficult enough to require pushing, but comfortable enough to where you can sustain the effort. This is often around 85-90% of your max heart-rate, or just a hair slower than your 10K race pace, where short sentences are possible, but a full-blown conversation isn’t.

If you’re unsure of your paces, check out this pace predictor. It isn’t perfect, but will give you a ballpark pace to aim for.

We run tempo workouts to increase our lactate threshold, or that point at which your body switches from its aerobic system to its anaerobic system, and quickly fatigues thereafter. The higher your threshold at a certain pace, the longer you can sustain that given pace and build strength, speed, and endurance.

Sample Workouts

1. Workout: 40 minute run with 3 x 5 minutes at tempo pace, and a 3 minute recovery in between. For this style workout, you’ll start the 40-minute run with an easy warmup, once warm, begin five minute tempo intervals with three minutes of rest, and repeat three times. Allow for time at the end to cool down.
2. Workout: 90 minute run with 3 x 15 minutes at tempo pace, and an 8 minute recovery in between. A workout like this, with longer tempo intervals, is great for marathon racing speed.
3. Workout: 60 minute run with 3 x 8 minutes at a tempo pace, and a 4 minute recovery, include hills during tempo sections. Tempo workouts can also include hill training, which is particularly helpful while training for a hilly race.

A progression workout is one of my favorites, and commonly found in marathon training plans. The idea is simple:

Start slow, finish fast.

Over the course of your workout, you’ll increase in pace by starting easy and finishing hard.

This progression in pace gives you a complete workout, using both your aerobic and anaerobic systems, without over-straining your body or requiring the same recovery time as a traditional speed workout.

Sample Workouts

1. Thirds Workout: 15 minutes at an easy pace, 15 minutes at a comfortably hard pace, 15 minutes at a hard pace. In this workout, you’ll increase speed at every 15 minute increment throughout the run, starting at an easy pace and making your way up to a hard pace.
2. Fast Finish Workout: 30 minutes at a comfortably easy pace, 10 minutes at a hard pace, 5 minutes all out. Here you’re maintaining the easy pace throughout most of the run, until the final 15 minutes when you increase to hard and then all out. This a great option for mimicking a late race push.

Hill workouts are often referred to as “speedwork in disguise,” because they offer many of the same benefits of a traditional speed workout, without having to run at top speed.

Running uphill is all about building that explosive power that promotes speed and improved running economy.

Running downhill works your quads, and builds strength in your tendons and joints.

Both are important to a well-balanced runner, so I recommend incorporating uphill and downhill days into training for any sort of hilly course. Just focus your workout on one at a time to get the biggest benefit and reduce the risk of injury.

Hill workouts can be done through hard, short sprints up (or down) a hill, or by running a sustained, gradual hill.

Sample Workouts

1. Short Hill Repeats: 8 hill sprint repeats with light jog back down to rest, following a 3-mile easy run. This type of hill repeat will build explosive strength in the legs, and teach you how to attack shorter hills during a race.
2. Sustained Hill Repeats: 5 x half-mile hill climbs on a gradual incline with easy run back down to rest. This is perfect when training for a hilly race, and builds endurance and strength on climbs and flats.

When you picture the quintessential speed workout, you’re probably thinking of interval training. A set distance, repeated a set number of times, at a set pace. Usually with a short rest period in between. Interval distances can be anywhere from 100 meters to a mile or more. Most marathon training plans focus on distances of 400 meters or longer, but the details are left to the workout creator.

Warning: Don’t piss off your workout creator. Interval workouts will likely be your most painful runs, the ones that leave you doubled over and gasping for air.

Most intervals are designed to build speed and strength by working your anaerobic system, or lactate threshold running, and focus on shorter distances of a mile or less. They can be run on a track or along a set loop.

Sample Workouts

1. Workout: 8 x 400 meters on the track with a 400 meter light jog in between. Try to maintain a consistent pace for each of the 400 meter intervals.
2. Yasso 800s: 10 x 800 meters on the track, with a light jog for the same amount of time it took you to run each 800 in between. The classic “marathon predictor workout.” I don’t believe it’s great at predicting race times, but it’s certainly a solid speed and endurance building option (and very tough).
3. Workout: 2 x 1,000 meters with 2 minute rest periods + 2 x 800 meters with 90 second rest periods + 2 x 400 meters on the track with 60 second rest periods. In this workout you’re decreasing in the length of each interval, but increasing in pace.
4. Workout: 4 x 1,600m with 120 seconds recovery in between. This is an endurance building interval workout. Aim to maintain a consistent pace for each mile, or increase slightly in pace over each interval.

The Ladder Run is a popular form of interval workout which climbs up, down, or both up and down in distance with a short (often 90 seconds or a 400 meter jog) rest period in between each interval. It’s a fantastic way to challenge yourself and mix things up, with a variety of high-intensity running paces and distances, all in a single workout.

On a track, increase in distance to the “top” of the ladder, or the longest distance interval, before decreasing back down. If you’re just descending the ladder, increase in speed as you decrease in distance.

Sample Workouts

1. Up and Down: 400 meters x 2, 800 meters x 2, 1,600 meters, 800 meters x 2, 400 meters x 2, with a 400 meter light jog in between each interval. This is an incredibly tough workout, which tests and builds both your endurance and leg speed.
2. Down: 1,600 meters x 2, 1,200 meters x 2, 800 meters x 2, 400 meters x 2, with a 400 meter light jog in between each interval. As you decrease in distance, you’ll increase in pace.

Ah, the classic Fartlek run. If you’d like to make fun of the name, be sure to pair it with a Jack Daniels joke.

The word fartlek means speed-play in Swedish, and that’s exactly what the workout is. An opportunity to play around with different speeds and distances in a single workout. This was my favorite workout day when I ran cross country in high school, and not just because of the name.

In a sport that requires plenty of structure, the Fartlek run allows your creative juices to flow. The workout is simple as this:

Intermix fast running with slower running, and vary the pace and distance of each interval. It could be as flexible as randomly picking a street corner, tree, car, or lamp post to sprint to, or run at a tempo pace for three minutes, followed by an easy pace for four minutes, and a sprint for one minute, and so on. There are no rules, other than to have variety in your paces and distances.

Sample Workouts

1. Unstructured: 5-mile run with the final 4 miles consisting of Fartlek intervals. This is probably the most approachable workout here (other than an easy run), since you have the freedom to do as you please.
2. Structured: 1-mile warmup + 3 miles, including four to six 5-minute surges each followed by a 2- to 3-minute period of easy running + 1-mile cooldown. If you need a little more structure to stay on track, this will still allow for flexibly and play, but is defined by set intervals.

Your weekly long run is arguably the most important run of the week. It’s your chance to build endurance, and learn how to handle increased mileage both mentally and physically.

But for most people, that’s where it ends. They view long runs as only an opportunity to go long, not fast. I believe strategically planned long runs throughout your training are a great opportunity to work on late race speed, mimic the final push on race day, and toughen your mind to push through the fatigue.

By adding a workout element to you long runs, you’re giving them more structure and added benefit.

Now a few quick rules I recommend:

• Don’t run a long run workout every week, but instead begin to integrate them into your training once you’re already comfortable with the distance.
• Limit your long run workout pace to below a tempo pace, preferable somewhere around your marathon race pace.

During a long run workout, you’ll either increase from an easy pace to your marathon race pace, or alternate between the two.

Sample Workouts

1. 1-2-3 Workout: After your warmup, run 1 mile at marathon pace followed my 1 mile easy, then 2 miles at marathon pace and 2 miles easy, 3 miles at marathon pace and 3 miles easy. Alternatively you can structure this with kilometers instead of miles.
2. Countdown Long Run Workout: Take the difference between your easy pace and race pace and divide that by the number mileage of your run. Increase your pace or “count down” by that set increment each mile, so that by the end of the run you have steady increased your pace from easy to race pace.

I quickly discovered how much time I was actually wasting each day on frivolous activities like surfing social media accounts, checking emails, and other distractions. I was using them as a mental break from keeping a kid alive and fed, but in reality, those distractions were draining my time even further.

Eventually I learned that if you have 20 minutes to look at your phone, you have 20 minutes to do push-ups, pull-ups, squats, and anything else that moves you in the direction of your goals.

You may find that you can free up 30 to 60 minutes each day to exercise just by having this awareness and choosing movement over distraction.

A 60-minute workout broken into three 20-minute segments throughout the day might not look like your pre-baby workouts, but hey, that’s still 60 minutes of moving your body and building fitness.

The “When You Have a Few Minutes” Workout

Here’s an example of a basic strength workout you can try at home. If these exercises are unfamiliar to you, look them up on YouTube or consult a fitness professional. If you have any injuries or medical conditions, please consult a healthcare provider before trying any new exercise routine.

1. 3 sets of push ups to failure
2. 3 sets of pull ups to failure
3. 3 sets of burpees (1 minute per set)
4. 3 sets of kettlebell goblet squats (10-12 reps)
5. 3 sets of planks to failure

If you were able to free up 30 to 60 minutes in your day, bust this out when you get a chance. If you will need to take the all-day approach, you could attack it like this:

• Hold baby while you bottle or breast feed.
• Put baby down in bassinet after burping and do a set of push-ups. If there is time, do a set of pull-ups on your door jam pull-up bar in the kitchen.
• Hold baby and proceed with parenting until your next opportunity to pick up a kettlebell and bust out a set of goblet squats.
• At nap time do a set of planks and some burpees between dish washing, showering, etc.

You will find that you can complete the full circuit I listed above throughout the course of the day and barely notice it. This strategy works just as well with toddlers and multiple kids. If you have older children, include them in your workouts and make sure they see that this is really important to you.  

From my experience, there are two reasonable ways to deal with this issue. The first is to utilize a babysitter or a daycare service provided to you by a fitness center.

My family has a membership to the local YMCA, which provides free daycare to parents who need to drop their kids off for an hour while they hit the gym. Many other facilities do this, including climbing gyms. This is something that seems to work relatively well for most people.

Even if you don’t consider yourself a gym person, having the freedom to hit the treadmill, a spin class, or a weight room can be a beautiful thing for both you and your child.

Option two is the Corraling Method, which is the one I end up doing most often (since my kid has major separation anxiety).

First, baby proof a room of your choice. This could be a guest room, your kids room, a space in the basement, etc. Make sure it is truly safe for them, and then clear out a space for you to do some resistance training.  

If you have kettlebells, dumbbells, TRX straps, or anything else you like to workout with, bring them with you. Lock yourself in the room with your child, throw on their favorite songs (just please, not baby shark. No more baby shark…) and start exercising. They can’t escape, can’t get into anything dangerous, can’t crawl up onto anything, and most importantly, can’t keep you from working out.

They might crawl on you and try to participate, which is a fun way to include them in your routine, and something both of my daughters still love doing. In fact, when you can get them to participate, your chances of success go way up.

Safety Precaution: Please do not do any high-velocity kettlebell exercises like swings while your kids are in the room, and be acutely aware of their location at all times. Save the dynamic exercises for a safer environment.

The “Kids in the Room” Workout

Here’s a strength workout you can try at home with your kids right in the room:

1. 3 sets of dumbbell chest press on a yoga ball (10-12 reps)
2. 3 sets of upright rows to failure with TRX straps
3. 3 sets of jumping squats with a weight vest (10-12 reps)
4. 3 sets of hanging leg lifts to failure from your pull-up bar
5. 3 sets of Supermans to failure