Photo courtesy of Craft USA.

While many runners are in the thick of racing season, others are just gearing up for their first races later this year. We’ve heard your questions about basic training, and so we’ve revived this series we ran last fall. Don’t hesitate to leave your comments and questions. We’ll answer you!

Accomplished triathlete, trainer and race director, Janda Ricci-Munn offers 4 tips for basic training. Read today about Aerobic Power.

Aerobic Power: Once your body has adjusted to the inclusion of functional threshold training, you’re ready to really push your limits.  All the easy to moderate paced distance training in the world will still leave you huffing and puffing on race day if your body is completely unfamiliar with the paces you’ll be asking it to maintain once your goal race is under way.  Interval training executed at or above your race day goal paces will leave you feeling much stronger and in control when it’s time to roll. As a general rule, shorter intervals between ¼ mile and ¾ of a mile executed at or above race day goal pace are most effective for when preparing for a 5k.  Intervals between ¾ of a mile to 1.5 miles are most appropriate when preparing for 8k – 10k events.  Strive to build up to somewhere between 3 and 4 miles worth of intervals as you prepare for your event.  You can either walk or jog lightly for 1 – 3 minutes between intervals.  Please note however that aerobic power interval training is very stressful on the body, so you’ll want to limit it to 1 session per week and to make sure that you follow each session up with 2 relatively easy days of training before inserting another challenging session such as a tempo run.