Whether you typically run just a few blocks around your neighborhood and hope to conquer a future 5K or you ran a 10K last summer and want to tackle a half marathon in a few months, learning how to build endurance is a common goal among runners. Even marathoners (and ultrarunners) strive to boost their speed-endurance or maintaining a certain pace for a longer period of time or distance.
Of course, just as personal goals vary from individual to individual, so do the ways to reach those goals. For example, Craig Beesley, a beginner runner, extended his longest run from 30 seconds to nearly three hours. Using a different strategy, Doug Underwood, a successful marathoner, lowered his personal best from 3:50 to 3:30 to qualify for the Boston Marathon. Finally, Deena Kastor, a 10K star earlier in her career, eventually ran the marathon faster than another legend, Joan Benoit Samuelson.
All three runners achieved their goals. And each used a different method, which raises the point that exercise physiologist Kris Berg explains in his Sports Medicine review article, “Endurance Training and Performance in Runners.” “After decades of studying ways to improve endurance, I’m leaning more than ever toward the great gestalt of mind-body wisdom and encouraging runners to do what feels right,” he says.
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To that end, here are seven strategies for how to build endurance that have worked for a range of runners. Not all of them will work for you, but you only need one or two to be successful and increase your endurance, allowing you to run stronger for longer.
1. Gradually Build Mileage
If there is one overarching principle for how to build endurance, this is it. Call it gradual adaptation. That is, be consistent, be patient, and slowly increase mileage. This principle applies to all circumstances and all runners—the beginner who’s trying to make it around the block four times, as well as the 36-minute 10K runner who’s training for their first marathon.
This principle works. Just look to Craig Beesley of Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, Canada for evidence.
When Beesley began running, he could only manage 30 seconds at a time, followed by 4:30 minutes of walking. Fortunately, he didn’t let his lack of fitness discourage him. He simply repeated the cycle eight times for a total of 40 minutes, and made sure he did three workouts a week.
Thirteen weeks later, Beesley ran 30 minutes without walking, and eventually completed his first half marathon in 2:12. Pretty impressive.
But Beesley didn’t stop there. He kept running outdoors through the winter months, despite temperatures that dropped to -25 degrees Fahrenheit, and added speedwork to his routine. Because of this, he was able to run long runs for more than two hours and perform six 400-meter repeats in 1:45.
A program can’t get any simpler than Beesley’s, or any more successful. “I increased my endurance and my speed, and I did both without any injuries,” he tells Runner’s World. “My family members describe me as a very patient man. Patience combined with persistence is a great combination for success in running.”
Put this method into practice: Whatever your present mileage, build your endurance slow and steady. Run/walk programs are smart for beginners. More experienced runners can consider adding one mile a week to long runs. For example, 5 miles, 6 miles, 7 miles, week after week. However, every fourth week, reduce mileage by skipping the long run or reducing the total weekly mileage, and find more time to rest and recover. The next week, start building again, one mile at a time: 8 miles, 9 miles, etc.
2. Run Yasso 800s
We learned about this amazingly useful workout in a casual conversation with former Runner’s World chief running officer Bart Yasso. Since then, literally thousands of runners have told us at marathon expos or in e-mails that the program worked for them. With the Yasso system, you run 800-meter repeats on a track in the same minutes/seconds as your hours/minutes goal time for a marathon. For example, if you want to run a 4:30 marathon, do your 800s in 4 minutes and 30 seconds or a 2:15 pace per 400 meters.
One Bart Yasso fan? Doug Underwood, who completed his first two marathons in 3:55 and 3:53, and then was bitten by what he calls the “Boston bug.” He wanted to qualify for the Boston Marathon and was willing to train harder to get there.
The core of his program: Yasso 800s. Because Underwood needed to run a 3:30 to reach Boston, he ran his Yasso 800s in 3:30, building up to 10 of them in a single workout, taking a 3:30 recovery jog between the fast 800s.
Underwood finished his goal race, the Baton Rouge Beach Marathon, in 3:30:54, good enough for a race entry, at the time, to Boston. “I credit the Yasso 800s with getting me there,” says Underwood, who also made sure to log plenty of long runs. “They are tough workouts, but they do the job. If you can run 10 of them at your goal pace, you have a great chance of achieving your marathon goal time.”
Put this method into practice: Run Yasso 800s once a week. Start with just 4 to 5 of them at your appropriate pace, with equal time for recovery, then add one a week.
3. Run Long and Slow
Meghan Arbogast was already a successful marathoner, with a 2:58 finish time to her credit, but she had a big problem: “I was overtraining and killing myself,” she tells Runner’s World.
Fortunately, she fixed that problem. Arbogast began to train slower and race faster under a program designed by Warren Finke, a well-known coach in Portland, Oregon, near Arbogast’s home.
Finke believes marathoners should focus on consistent, easy-paced training runs that help them build endurance without getting hurt. “A lot of runners train too hard, get injured, and never reach their potential,” he tells Runner’s World.
The Finke program emphasizes “effort-based training,” and he believes in keeping the effort at 80 percent of the speed you could race the same distance most of the time. “Most runners are probably training at about 90 percent of their race pace,” Finke said. “Running 80 percent is pretty easy, but it helps keep you injury-free.”
This program turned things around for Arbogast. Two years after beginning Finke’s effort-based training, she improved her marathon personal record to 2:45, and she won the Christchurch Marathon in New Zealand with another 2:45. “I think I can keep improving,” Arbogast says. “The key is to stay healthy and keep gaining endurance.”
Now a well-decorated masters runner, Meghan Arbogast is a 10-time top 10 finisher at Western States, all of which she achieved after turning 45.
Put this method into practice: Do most of your runs at 80 percent of the speed you could race the same distance. For example, if you can race 10 miles at 7:30 pace, you should do your 10-mile training runs at 9:23. To convert a race pace to an 80-percent training pace, multiply the race pace by 1.25. To find a wide range of your equivalent race times, go to our Race Time Predictor.
4. Make Every Workout Count
When you’ve been running marathons for 25 years and have an advanced degree in exercise physiology, you eventually learn a thing or two about training. Exercise physiologist Bill Pierce, cofounder of the Furman Institute of Running and Scientific Training (FIRST) program, thinks he has. At the very least, he created a program that worked wonders for him.
When he was 53, Pierce’s marathon times were still around 3:10—not much slower than when he first stepped to the starting line two decades before. His secret? The three-day training week, which differs from many runners who alternate hard runs with easy runs.
Pierce runs only hard days—three of them every week. On the other four days, he doesn’t run at all, though he lifts weights several times a week and also enjoys a fast game of tennis.
In stripping his training program to its essence, Pierce would run each of his three workouts at a specific target pace and distance—one a long run, one a tempo run, and one a speed workout. “I run at a higher intensity than some others recommend, but I have found that this program has worked well for me for many years,” Pierce says. “It reduces the risk of injuries, improves long-term adherence, and still lets me enjoy the gratification that comes with intense efforts.”
Put this method into practice: To follow Pierce’s plan, go for interval training on Tuesdays, tempo training on Thursdays, and a long run on Sundays.
For interval repeats, you can aim for 12 x 400 meters or 6 x 800 meters at slightly faster than 5K race pace. On tempo days, go for four miles at a pace that’s 10 to 20 seconds per mile slower than 10K race pace. On Sundays, set a goal of around 15 miles at a pace 30 seconds per mile slower than marathon race pace. You can easily adapt these workouts to your own 5K, 10K, and marathon race paces.
5. Do Plyometrics
Deena Kastor had already joined the ranks of America’s all-time best female distance runners, including Joan Benoit Samuelson, Mary Slaney, and Lynn Jennings, when she first paid a visit to Zach Weatherford. She asked Weatherford, who was, at the time, the strength and conditioning coach at the U.S. Olympic Committee’s training facility in Chula Vista, California, if he could devise a program that would give her more leg endurance and quickness.
Weatherford said he wasn’t sure, acknowledging that he had never worked with a distance runner before. “But let me think about it, and do some research,” he said back then.
Weatherford returned with several ideas worth testing, and the two started working together. “We started with core strength, and progressed to explosive leg plyometrics, always focusing on the basics, and doing quality sessions, not quantity. Runners already do enough quantity,” he says. “In her first plyometrics workouts, Deena hit the ground like this big, flat-footed person, but we kept emphasizing, ‘Get your feet up fast. Get your feet up fast.’”
Kastor did jump roping, skipping drills, box jumps, and even high-knee sprints through the “rope ladder” that you often see at football training camps. Then she ran the London Marathon in 2:21:16, a personal record by more than five minutes and a new American record at the time. “I really felt a difference in London,” she tells Runner’s World. “I’ve noticed a considerable change in my running mechanics. My feet are spending less time on the ground, and I’ve increased my stride frequency. At London, my legs did not fatigue at all during or after the marathon.”
Put this method into practice: Instead of running strides at the end of easy runs, do a “fast-feet” drill: Run just 15 to 20 yards with the shortest, quickest stride you can manage. You don’t have to lift your knees high; just lift them fast, and move forward a few inches with each stride. Pump your arms vigorously, as well. Rest, then repeat 6 to 8 times. Once or twice a week, you can also do five minutes of single-leg hops, two-legged bounding, and high-knee skipping, all on a soft surface, such as grass or packed dirt.
6. Run Longer Tempo Runs
We admire runners who try various methods to reach their goals. Patrick Noble, a retired career Army man, is a great example of this. In 1986, Noble finished his first marathon in 3:17, feeling both proud and ambitious. “Let’s go for a sub-3,” he told himself.
Thus began the journey. Noble increased his training, and before long, he had run 3:04, 3:01, 3:05, and 3:02. You can quickly see what’s missing from this list. A less-determined runner might have given up. But not Noble.
He kept running marathons—dozens of them. He ran his 49th marathon. No luck. His 50th. Ditto. His 51st. Nope, sorry. But in his 52nd marathon, Noble broke through the 3-hour barrier with a 2:58:23 at the Camp Casey U.S. Army base in South Korea. And it was a new approach to tempo runs, Noble believes, that helped him dip below 3:00.
The conservative view on tempo runs suggests that you cover 20 to 40 minutes at a pace that’s 10 to 20 seconds per mile slower than your 10K pace. Noble pushed his tempo runs up to 60 minutes. “I think the long tempo runs gave me the extra strength I needed,” Noble tells Runner’s World. “I also made sure to run very easy the day after the tempo runs, watched my diet, and even gave up beer for six to eight weeks before the marathon.”
Put this method into practice: Do a tempo run once a week for eight weeks. Start with a 20-minute tempo run at 10 to 20 seconds per mile slower than 10K race pace, and add five minutes to your tempo run every week. Be sure to take one or two easy days before and after tempo days.
7. Run Long and Fast
Okay, we know. This is the opposite of our third strategy. You caught us. But it works for some runners, just as the long-and-slow approach works for others.
A convert to long-fast training: Scott Strand of Birmingham, Alabama, who improved his marathon personal record by more than 4 minutes with a 2:16:52 in the National Championship Marathon in downtown Birmingham. Strand believes his faster long runs got him the PR.
“I covered 18 to 23 miles in my long training runs,” Strand tells Runner’s World, “and I did the last 9 to 14 miles at marathon pace or faster. That was much faster than my previous long-run efforts of 17 to 22 miles at whatever pace I felt like running.”
This kind of endurance program, based on long, hard runs was popularized by former marathon world record holder Khalid Khannouchi. Khannouchi did ferocious long runs so fast and sustained that he would get nervous for several days before them.
Put this method into practice: On your long runs, pick up the pace for the last 25 percent of the distance. Gradually accelerate to your marathon goal pace, or even your tempo run pace. For example, if your long run is 16 miles, run the final 4 miles faster. You don’t have to attack your long run the way Khannouchi did, and you shouldn’t collapse when you finish. But you should run hard enough at the end to accustom your body to the late-race fatigue of the marathon.
Editor’s note: This article first appeared in Runner’s World in 2003 and has been updated. Many of the references appeared in the first article.
