Should You Run For Time Or Run For Distance?

Goodmorning my good running friend and welcome to your weekly dose of Monday motivation! 💪🏻

In today’s edition:

1. Should You Run For Time Or Run For Distance?

2. Three Great Goals For Beginner Runners

3. One Of The Most Inspirational Runner’s Stories

4. Sub 1h20 Update and more

Should You Run For Time Or Run For Distance?

Whether you are an accomplished or beginner, it is important to understand the difference between running for time and running for distance.

Both variables will help you with your race training. Checking time or distance help you set physical goals and improve training.

Health Benefits of Both Running Types

Distance improves a runner’s endurance levels. Experts have said that running for distance reduces circulatory issues and the likelihood of heart disease.

Running for times strengthens a person’s upper leg muscles and cardiovascular system.

Are you trying to lose weight through running? Both types of running have some serious weight loss benefits.

Setting Short and Long-Term Goals

When deciding to run for distance or time, one should think about his or her strengths. Some people like to compete against their old times, especially if distance running isn’t their strength.

Distance-focused goals involve long sessions since people have to expand the number of miles they reach.

Setting goals around time is better for people who have time constraints on sessions and are better at speed than distance.

How to Calculate Progress

The same metric is used to measure progress for both running for time and distance: minutes per kilometre (or mile). After a session, one should time the workout and identify how many kilometres were run.

The time is then divided by the number of kilometres.

People should keep track of sessions to see if they are progressing.

There are many apps available to help runners track their goals, STRAVA is the most famous, and some people like to update a fitness journal to chronicle workouts as well as diet.

Consider Your Strength

Running for time or distance depends on an runner’s strength. People with a lot of endurance may be able to run long distances at a slow pace whereas people with speed tend to taper off after a while.

It is important to identify strengths so that runs are enjoyable.

Speed-focused runners will be discouraged if they shoot for distance instead of time.

Identify Ideal Pace

Beginner runners may not know their strengths, which is why it is important to understand a person’s pace and strength. Time-based runs help people identify their breathing rates, how the legs feel and other patterns.

Repeat runs help people understand how to go about race training, pinpoint strengths and develop a training routine.

From here, one can run for distance or can continue to hone their times.

Type of Race and Goals

Though both running methods are effective, some methods may be more effective or efficient at certain times.

For example, during marathon training, people will schedule a weekly long run, most likely around 30km (20 miles) long.

The runner may have a goal to run a 4-hour marathon, which would mean hitting the 30km point in 3 hours.

However, people should not only run for 3 hours because their pace may not be where it needs to be (i.e. they may run for 3 hours and not reach the 30km mark). It is important to run for distance in this situation.

Tempo Runs and Fitness-Focused Workouts

Tempo runs are focused on building stamina and strength so runners can maintain a strong pace for a long period of time.

The distance of this type of workout is not important. Instead, the length of the pace is important. Runners want to run for time to ensure they can maintain this pace.

Are You Training for Distance? Here’s Some Tips For You

When training, people need to gradually build their distance or endurance. This means establishing short and long term goals. If a person wants to run a marathon, they should start small.

For example, one could begin their training by running 8km and then increase this by 10% each week. A personal running experience matters. Experienced marathon runners could start at a bigger goal whereas a sprinter should start small and build up.

Doing too much too soon can cause injury and discourage runners!

Tips If You Are Training for Time

When training for time, one should run the same amount each week and track the time. Everyone from sprinters to marathon runners can pace train. This establishes how quickly one runs everything from 200m to a marathon.

Runners can start by establishing how quickly they run 1.5km. If they normally run 1.5km in 9 minutes, they could work on cutting this back each week.

Race training is all about comparing a person’s strengths and goals.

Understanding how to train ensures the right workouts are planned and that goals are set and achieved. Some people like to run for distance whereas others like to run for time.

Setting goals and reaching them is exhilarating. Running is a great way to build strength, endurance and to prevent heart disease.

Now, take some time to identify which method is right for you and ensure that the workouts are enjoyable and successful.

As you can see, there are two ways to track your distance running training, by time or by distance. If you are training at the proper pace for your fitness level, neither method is drastically different.

The real trick is finding the correct speed to run each workout to reach optimal performance!

Trivia Question: What animal is the fastest runner on Earth?

Find the answer at the end of this email.

3 Great Goals For Beginner Runners

You’re new to running and want to set yourself some goals. In this section, you’ll find 3 achievable goals to get you started on your running journey!

Goals are extremely important for us as human beings because they give us a sense of purpose.

Setting a goal that is meaningful and then working towards it until it is eventually achieved, is incredibly powerfully.

As runners, we can benefit massively from setting goals.

Runners should regularly set and achieve goals for pushing themselves further, developing their abilities and achieving a sense of overall satisfaction.

So the goals stick in the mind, it’s always a good idea to physically write them down into a notebook.

Particularly in the early stages of running, goals to aim towards are important for motivation and ensuring good running habits are set.

Without further ado, here are 3 goals that beginner runners can set and aspire to achieve:

Run without stopping to walk

Beginner runners will find themselves needing to stop mid-run to catch their breath frequently in the first week of running.

Stopping is only natural because the body isn’t accustomed to this level of physical activity and needs to work harder to perform.

However, over time you will find that you’re able to run for further and at a greater intensity without stopping as the body becomes fitter.

Aiming to complete your runs without stopping for a breather is a great goal for beginner runners to aspire towards achieving.

Once you’re able to run for 30 minutes without stopping, this is a sign that great progress has been made.

Cover at least 10 miles per week

Setting a mileage target is good for building endurance, promotes regular running and provides an easy to measure metric for evaluating progress as it’s made.

10 miles per week is a decent introductory distance target for beginner runners to be aspiring to. If you combine this target with goal number 1 above, you could split the 10 miles per week into 3 sessions of 3.5 miles.

Once you have routinely clocked up 10 miles for a few weeks, up the goal to 15 miles and increase again once you’ve accomplished that goal! You can do that!

Complete a half-marathon

Half-marathons (13.1 miles) provide a decent distance for beginner runners interested in endurance running to be aspiring to completing.

Half marathon training isn’t as hard or time consuming as marathon training, and you’re less likely to get injured running half the distance of a marathon.

Having personally completed over 25 half-marathons and 3 marathons, I can confidently say that running a marathon is (for me, anyway) three times harder than running a half-marathon.

It’s important to highlight that the goal here should be to complete a half-marathon without worrying about time.

Beginner runners should focus on trying different distances and observing how your body reacts. Once you’ve crossed the line of your first half-marathon, then you can focus on improving your time.

If you set running a half-marathon as one of your running goals and are able to accomplish it, you will be well on your way to becoming a great runner.

Good luck for your first few months of running! Feel free to share with me your progress simply by replying to this email, i’m so happy to read your emails!

One of the most inspirational runner’s stories

Kathy Switzer was a fearless and inspirational pioneer of women’s running.

Although her coach claimed a Marathon was too far for a “fragile woman”, Switzer entered the 1967 Boston Marathon in an era when women still weren’t allowed to compete in the race.

She enter under the gender-neutral “K.V. Switzer”.

When race officials discovered her running, they treated her as an interloper.

Race director Jock Semple tried to physically remove her from the race, yelling “get the hell out of my race and give me those (bib) numbers!”

Switzer avoided him and finished, becoming the first woman to complete the Boston Marathon as a numbered entry.

The Boston Marathon finally accepted female entries five years later in 1972.

Kathy Switzer went on to win the New York City Marathon in 1974.

She was named Female Runner of the Decade by Runner’s World. She later works as a television commentator won her an Emmy Award.

Switzer created waves in the running world and helped empower women around the world through running.

She believed in equality within the sport acted on her belief, changing running for the better.

I think that the Kathy’s story is one of the most inspirational runner’s stories!

Sub 1h20 update

Last week's training block was ~100km:

1. Monday: AM 55min Easy + PM Gym

2. Tuesday: Rest

3. Wednesday: AM 12×400m + PM Gym

4. Thursday: 60min Easy

5. Friday: AM 18km progressive + PM Gym

6. Saturday: 90min Easy

7. Sunday: 25km Long Run

Oh yeees! It’s MY FIRST 100km/week!!

Between run and gym the past week i trained for 10hrs and this is new PB for me 😂 As I also wrote in the last email, in this period I feel very strong and motivated, last week was tough and the recovery between training sessions was the key to achieving my first 100km week!

For the next weeks I would like to keep this pace of training, perhaps I won't reach 100km per week but I will stay above 80-85km, which for me is an excellent weekly mileage.

This training period is very very important to reach our goal to go sub 1:20h in the half marathon on October 21st – for this reason I will give my best but I will always listen to my body, an injury now would ruin everything!

Follow me on Strava to see more info about my sessions!

Now, a question for you!

For next Monday's email I'm thinking of writing a “special issue”. A more personal email titled "What I learnt Running 100km In A Week" – What do you think of this idea? Please vote the poll below!

Just for Laughs 😂

Trivia Answer: The cheetah is considered the fastest land animal. It can achieve speeds upwards of 70 miles per hour!

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And at this link you can find all the publications that have been published since the beginning!

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From your running friend that's it for today! I hope you enjoyed it!

Have a fantastic time on your run, and until next Monday, keep pushing your limits and chasing those goals!

I’m incredibly grateful for this little newsletter and community of The Running Week. Thank you.

Thanks SOAR Running for the support.

PS. Let's connect on Strava, here’s my profile

Matteo, your new running friend.