Types of daily suggested workouts for runners
Runners are always in pursuit of their personal best, and Garmin daily suggested workouts are a great way to prepare for an upcoming training cycle — or recalibrate and recover after you’ve given it your all. This feature aims to improve fitness levels while building a foundation for future performances.
At its core, the daily suggested workouts feature helps runners by using one’s data to understand how different workout structures can stimulate and develop specific aspects of performance. So, no matter if you’re an entry-level runner with Forerunner® 70 or an elite runner with Forerunner 970, you’ll get workouts built specifically for you.
How does it work?
Daily suggested workouts take performance data, such as intensity level and impact of efforts, as well as your current fitness level, training history and recovery state to create the best workout routine for you. You can expect evenly paced runs at various intensities and durations to be mixed with interval-type workouts. What’s right for you today is determined by what you’ve been doing lately. Been taking some time off? Expect to find yourself working to build your endurance base first.
When you maintain your routine, you’ll discover a built-in schedule of daily suggested workouts. This means harder training weeks are mixed with more modest ones to avoid stagnation and help you shatter performance plateaus.
Training fundamentals
Training means regularly challenging yourself with the goal of improving performance over time. It’s a process of sparking physiological adaptation. Tackling varied challenges is the key to constructing a solid foundation for your performance, forging strengths and minimising weaknesses along the way.
You can’t push yourself to the max in every direction every day and expect long-term results. Successful athletes typically concentrate on improving a single aspect of performance at a time. In the weight room, you can focus on leg strength one day and upper body strength the next. Strive to apply the same principle when you lace up your running shoes by focusing on different efforts when you hit the road.
As you discover the training run structures suggested by this program, keep in mind that categorisation of workouts is based on the primary benefit of your development. Below the surface, however, your physiology works across a continuum to support performance. That means, for example, that a run designed to build your anaerobic capacity can still have a significant aerobic element to it.
What types of runs can you expect?
There are seven workout structures that can be recommended based on your situation. There will be days when the best option is for you to rest up for your next challenge. The duration of an endurance-building run will be longer or shorter based on what you can handle today.
Training Load Focus screen
If you’re already familiar with the Training Load Focus screen in the Training Status widget, you will probably notice that these runs map neatly onto the Anaerobic, Low Aerobic and High Aerobic bars that help guide your Training Load toward the right balance.
Low-intensity aerobic training runs
Active “recovery” runs
Although recovery runs are slow and easy, performing an active recovery workout correctly and gaining the intended benefit requires great discipline. It’s easy to let your intensity and speed drift upward without proper focus and intent.
Metabolic byproducts accumulate in your muscles during harder, more intense workouts. The goal of recovery runs is to gently increase circulation, flushing cellular waste out of your muscles in the process. Overdo it and push the limits during your recovery run and you will miss out on the rewards and add stress to your body.
Plus, entry-level runners can work in other recovery workouts, such as walks, with a Forerunner 70 or Forerunner 170 smartwatch. This is designed to give runners the same benefits as active recovery without the additional impact of running.
Endurance “base” runs
Endurance-focused runs will likely represent the bulk of your low-intensity training. And like recovery runs, part of the challenge comes from keeping the intensity of your efforts low to help build your aerobic stamina. This is particularly true if your route of choice includes uphill segments where intensity can drift upward quickly.
The best duration for your own endurance-based runs depends on your current fitness level and will typically vary runner to runner. Experienced runners might partake in a long run where the focus is maintaining a steady pace, whereas an entry-level runner with Forerunner 70 or Forerunner 170 might be prompted to complete a run/walk workout.
Keeping an eye on your heart rate is the perfect way to control intensity during your run. The heart rate (HR) zone you work to maintain during your endurance-building runs should be adjusted to match your personal parameters. This is typically below 80% of your maximum heart rate, so it’s worth checking to make sure your HR max is set correctly for you.
Key benefits of these slow runs include building stronger muscles and improved running efficiency across the board. This includes your cardiorespiratory system, muscle function, metabolism and running form. Endurance runs also teach your body to burn fat better.
Enjoy getting an enormous number of strides under your belt without the strain that accumulates rapidly during higher-intensity efforts.
High-intensity aerobic training runs
Today’s Suggestion Tempo screen
Tempo runs are where things start to pick up speed. You need to put in some effort to keep up the pace but can keep going for a while if you want to go for it.
Performed at your so-called marathon pace, the target intensity for your tempo runs is sandwiched in between your endurance runs and threshold runs. These runs can be suggested as steady-pace workouts or they can take the form of relatively gentle interval runs, where the harder segments are longer and performed with an intensity well below an all-out sprint.
Tempo runs are a terrific way to build general fitness and contribute nicely to the high-intensity aerobic bar on your Training Load Focus screen in the Training Status widget.
Threshold
While VO2 max defines your maximum aerobic performance capacity, your lactate threshold relates to how long you can sustain higher intensity levels relative to your maximum capacity. When the intensity of your performance exceeds your lactate threshold, fatigue accumulates quickly. Practically speaking, your lactate threshold translates into the pace or intensity that you can sustain for about 40 minutes to an hour.
If two runners have the same VO2 max but one has a higher lactate threshold, you can expect the runner with the higher lactate threshold to win a 10K race. The runner with the higher lactate threshold should be able sustain an intensity closer to their VO2 max for a longer time.
The goal of threshold runs is to increase your lactate threshold. To do that, you will need to run at or slightly above your lactate threshold pace or intensity level for an extended period. This results in a hard day’s run, so make sure you’re up for the challenge.
“VO2 max” or aerobic capacity
VO2 max-improving training runs are typically built around longer high-intensity intervals punctuated with lighter efforts that give you a chance to recover before ramping up the intensity again.
Ideally you will maintain the higher intensity level long enough for your aerobic system to catch up to the energy demand of your performance and continue for a handful of minutes. Punctuating these longer high-intensity intervals with a chance to catch your breath ultimately allows you to run more total minutes at this level, amplifying the signal to your body that it’s time to adapt to the challenge.
The intensity of these efforts is above your lactate threshold, which means you will only be able to sustain them for a relatively short time, but the intensity is well below an all-out effort that will leave you quickly exhausted. It may take some trial and error to dial in the right level of intensity for these runs. This awareness comes with time and experience.
Anaerobic training runs
Anaerobic capacity
Equally important to your training are short, vigorous runs designed to boost your anaerobic performance capacity. The high-intensity segments of these runs, however, usually last only 40–60 seconds and are much shorter than in VO2 max training runs.
These runs are purposefully structured so that your aerobic energy system is unable to catch up to the energy demand of your performance. This forces your anaerobic energy pathways to carry the burden of synthesising the molecular fuel (ATP) that powers your muscle contractions.
Lactic acid is a byproduct of anaerobic metabolism. It accumulates rapidly in your muscles as you power through these high-intensity interval runs. The accumulation of lactic acid is associated with various aches and often produces a burning sensation in your legs. The cooldown portion of your workout is designed to give your body a head start in clearing lactic acid from your muscles.
Anaerobic workouts are not included in daily suggested workouts on the Forerunner 70 or Forerunner 170 smartwatches, but they can be found on advanced and premium Forerunner smartwatches like Forerunner 570, Forerunner 970 and more.
Sprint
The final category of training runs included in this system is built around the most explosive efforts you can perform. The extreme nature of these forces means that you can’t sustain them for very long — and that’s the point. This is your opportunity to go all out, leaving it all on the road.
Today’s Suggestion Sprint screen
Quickly summoning this amount of power from your muscles has a remarkable effect. It improves the ability of your nerves and muscles to work together. This includes developing the sequencing and coordination of muscle contractions and recruiting more muscle fiber units into the movement. These elements translate into your ability to generate higher top speeds.
These adaptations fall under the category of neuromuscular power and can have a tremendous impact on your overall performance, especially in racing and general sports performance. Working to increase top speed can also improve your race-pace running economy.
Sprint training is most beneficial when you’re well rested and ready to be at your best. This means you shouldn’t expect to see these suggested workouts if you have a significant amount of recovery time remaining due to a hard training session the day before or a bad night’s sleep.
Adequate recovery between runs is always important, but it’s especially important here. Pushing your limits while fatigued opens the door to injury. It also means likely missing out on the full developmental benefit of your efforts because your body will struggle to bounce back instead of getting stronger.
Now that you’re familiar with the workouts best suited to improve your fitness level and endurance, use Garmin Run Coach in the Garmin Connect™ app to develop a training plan that will get you across the finish line. Plus, don’t forget to strap on one of our latest running smartwatches.
