Build your aerobic base with this broken progression run
Toronto-based coach Marley Dickinson shares his favourite workout to help you build speed and endurance
When training for a goal race, we do intervals to work on our top-end speed and long runs to work on our endurance, but to be successful on race day, we need to be able to maintain our race pace over a prolonged time. That mixture of speed and endurance is known in the biz as aerobic endurance, and is a skill that needs to be practised. Marley Dickinson, a prominent 800m to 5K runner and head coach of Toronto Pace Project, a community-run group helping to bridge cross-sport athletes and new runners into the sport, gave us his favourite workout to build this skill, which you should try if you’re targeting a goal race this fall.
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The workout
Dickinson says this is a great workout for anyone training for a 10K or half-marathon. The goal is to increase your pace as the segments get shorter and your body begins to fatigue, which builds aerobic endurance. If you’re training for something longer, like a marathon, he suggests adding a 20-minute segment to the beginning.
Warmup: 10-15 minutes easy jog, followed by form drills and strides
Workout: 15 min, 10 min, 5 min progression, with 2 min rest between sections. Start at a tempo or steady pace and work your way down.
Cooldown: 10-15 minutes easy jog followed by light stretching
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