Polarized training can, of course, be applied to all sports and disciplines. Triathletes, runners, and cross-country skiers are some of the biggest advocates of this training approach. Olympian-turned-elite coach Ryan Bolton, who coached Caroline Rotich to her 2015 Boston Marathon win, has outlined some of his go-to key sessions for runners below. Note, these sessions are mostly targeted at those training for half-marathon and marathon, but can also work well for 5K and 10K runners. Bolton uses a 5-zone training zone system.
Run 1: Long run with tempo drills
This is a 16-mile long run with race specificity:
- 4-mile warm-up
- Then run 4 repeats of 2 miles “on”, 1 mile “off”
“On” intervals should be right around threshold pace
“Off” intervals should be at a pace that is 1–1:30 minutes per mile slower than threshold
Run 2: The mid-week fartlek
This is a 75-minute fartlek run comprising a 1 through 5-minute pyramid:
- 20 min. warm-up
Then, do the following pyramid straight through:
- 1 min. “on”, 30 sec. “off”
- 2 min. “on”, 1 min. “off”
- 3 min. “on”, 1:30 min. “off”
- 4 min. “on”, 2 min. “off”
- 5 min. “on”, 2:30 min. “off”
- 4 min. “on”, 2 min. “off”
- 3 min. “on”, 1:30 min. “off”
- 2 min. “on”, 1 min. “off”
- 1 min. “on”, 30 sec. “off”
“On” intervals should be at or near 5K race pace
“Off” intervals should be at 1 minute slower per mile than 5K race pace
- 15 min. easy cooldown
Run 3: The recovery run
This is an aerobic run featuring 30-second strides:
- Run for about 30 min. in Zones 1–2, aerobic and in control
- Then do 8 x 30-sec. strides at near maximum mile pace
Walk recovery between each stride for approximately 60 seconds. Be sure to let your heart rate come down between each stride: this is important. Focus on holding perfect form! - 5 min. cooldown in Zone 1
