Transition Program

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In the Running Base Building Program that I presented, the focus was on Base Runs and Fast but Not Hard drills. This combination develops general endurance, general speed and running skills while allowing time for your tissues to adapt to the demands of running.

From a Base Program, I don’t suggest you jump right into hard training. It is best to use a Transition Program for a few weeks to a few months. The Transition Program nudges your body toward more the demanding training that will come later.

I outlined several excellent program options already:

In this post, I’m going to share with you how a method for transitioning from the Running Base Building Program into a race-specific training program like Five-Pace Training.

The fundamental idea is this: work from the ends of the spectrum toward the center. The ends of the spectrum in the Running Base Building Program are the pure aerobic Base Runs and the technique-driven Fast but Not Hard drills. During Transition, to implement this approach, you’ll complete Fast+ runs and 2.5hr pace runs.

Fast+

One of the Fast but Not Hard drills, called Strides, is the drill you’ll extend in two ways: more intense and more prolonged duration. I called these drills Fast+ (“fast plus”). The other Fast but Not Hard drills, Diagonals and Surges – will remain in the program, but they will not be changed.

More Intense – this means the drills either be faster or against more resistance.
- Faster. Include Flying Sprints of 40m, 50m, 60m
  - Flying means that you take 10-30m to get up to Sprint speed gradually. Then you aim to maintain your top speed for 50m or 60m.
  - Long recovery periods are necessary for Flying Sprints. Even though the sprints are 10s or less, you’ll want to recovery for around 3min. The recovery is a mix of walking and jogging. For example, 30s walk, 2min jog, 30s walk or 1min walk, 1min jog, 1min walk. You want your body and brain to feel recovered entirely to sprint with proper technique on the next sprint.
- More Resistance. Find a short but steep uphill and run your strides on there. During Uphill Strides, start about 10-30m away from the base of the hill, gradually get up to Strides speed (typically between 800m and Mile race-pace). Then aim to maintain that speed while running up the incline for 15s.
  - Similar to Flying Sprints, a 3min rest period is usually just right. Walk down the hill, jog around a bot to stay loose, then go again.
Longer Duration. In the Fast but not Hard drills, Strides were 15s in duration. Now you’ll build that up to 30s to 45s and 60s. And, for simplicity, we’ll just call Fast reps. However, it is important that the work to rest ration will remain the same as Strides. What does this mean? During 15s Strides the rest was at least 45s. So every 1s of work there was 3s of rest. To maintain this ratio:
- 30s Extended Stride must have at least 90s Rec
- 45s Extended Stride must have at least 2:15 Rec
- 60s Extended Stride must have at least 3:00 Rec

For the Flying Sprints, Uphill Strides, and Extended Strides, Rule #1 continues to apply. And you’ll also want to continue practicing your Fast Running Cues. Fast+ drills will likely start to feel “Hard,” but we want a very high running quality no matter what.

Interestingly, most runners report that they do not feel the difficulty while running – they feel it most during the rest period instead. This is perfect. If you start to feel gassed during a rep or if the drills become “gruelling” and you experience psychological dread thinking about the next rep, then you’ll want to increase the recovery duration, decreasing the speed of the running or consider calling it a day and ending the workout. Too much fatigue during Fast+ drills will decrease your run quality. And we want to keep the mental resistance to a minimum during Transition.

Fast+ Sample Workouts

At the start of your Transition Program, begin with six Flying Sprints during your first sprint session. Then work up to ten sprints over several weeks. Similarly, start with six Uphill Strides and build up to ten. With your Fast reps, you would start by accumulating about 5min of total time at Fast pace and then slowly extended it to about 10min.

Here is what typical Fast+ workouts look like:

Flying Sprints

15min Base run.
5 x (45s Walk, 15s Strides)
2-3min Walk
6-10 x Flying Sprints with 3min Walk/Jog
10-30min Base run

Uphill Strides

15min Base run.
5 x (45s Walk, 15s Strides)
2-3min Walk
6-10 x Uphill Strides with 3min Walk/Jog
10-30min Base run

Fast Reps

15min Base run.
5 x (45s Walk, 15s Strides)
2-3min Walk
10-20 x 30s Fast with 90s Walk/Jog
OR
7-13 x 45s Fast with 2:15 Walk/Jog
OR
5-10 x 60s Fast with 3min Walk/Jog
OR
2-4 x (30s Fast, 90s Rec, 45s Fast, 2:15 Rec, 60s Fast, 3min Rec)
10-30min Base run

2.5hr Pace Runs

So we have the speed piece covered with Fast+ drills. Now, what about endurance end of the spectrum? You are going to build on your Base Runs by increasing the pace a few times per week while staying “aerobic.” My favourite pace for this is 2.5hr pace – the fastest speed you can hold for 2.5hrs non-stop!

For Elites, 2.5hr pace is a bit slower than marathon pace.
Sub-3hr marathoners’ 2.5hr pace is pretty much the same as marathon pace.
And runners over-3hrs in the marathon have a 2.5hr pace closer to 30k or 20-mile race pace.

If you’ve never run a marathon, no worries, we can use your projected race times based on your result results from shorter distance events to predict an appropriate pace. The best calculator for this is the McMillian Running Calculator. Enter a current race time, then scroll down to the “Current Race Times” section and find the event that is closest to 2.5hr in duration. You’ll see your projected pace for that event in min/mile or min/km. That’s your 2.5hr pace.

2.5hr pace is fast enough to challenge you to increase effort relative to Base pace but slow enough to ensure that your body is almost exclusively developing your endurance muscle fibres and your aerobic metabolism – the ability to general fuel for energy with no build-up of waste products like acidity.

When you get the pace just right, you’ll feel like you’re moving fast, but – similar to the Fast+ drills outlined above – your run quality is very high, there is no “dread” to continue and no mental resistance to the effort. The feeling described above is what you are after whether or not it matches your estimated 2.5hr pace. It may be a slower or a bit faster than you expect. Be very honest with yourself when it comes to the level of effort to derive maximum benefits from these runs.

Another means to determine if your pace is suitable is you watch your breathing. During Base Runs, you always maintain nasal breathing. At 2.5hr pace though, you’ll need to breathe from your mouth. When the speed just right, your effort is comfortable breathing from the mouth but uncomfortable breathing from the nose. If the pace is uncomfortable when breathing from your mouth, the speed is too fast. And if you can continue to run with only nasal breathing, the speed is too slow.

Your goal is to work up to 60min total time at 2.5hr Pace.

2.5hr Pace Sample Workouts

Here is a progression of 2.5hrs pace workouts to follow:

10min Base. 20min 2.5hr. 20min Base
10min Base. 30min 2.5hr. 15min Base
10min Base. 40min 2.5hr. 10min Base
10min Base. 50min 2.5hr. 10min Base
10min Base. 60min 2.5hr. 10min Base

More seasoned runners can likely start with Level 2 of the progression. Those newer to the sport should start at Level 1.

To get to in the desired volume of 2.5hr pace, you can run one steady effort or break it in two or three chunks with 1min jogs in between. For example, you may choose to do 2 x 20min with a 1min jog between to accrue 40min at 2.5hr, or 3 x 20min with 1min jogs between to get to 60min

The main reason for choosing to add a 1min jog should NOT be a mental reset. If you need to mental break, the pace is too fast, and on your next run, you’ll want to go a bit slower. The short recovery is to allow you to regain your running form. If you feel “heavy” and are running through the ground or you’re hunched over and losing your running posture, it’s a good reason to choose a short reset. During the jog regain your position, and then start the next chunk with top-notch form. It may take some time to learn to run with proper technique for extended durations, and that’s ok.

However, do not progress to the next level of volume until you can comfortably run the full duration with no breaks. By comfortably, I mean that there is little to no mental resistance during the run AND there is little to no muscle soreness or fatigue the next day. So if you break up a run into chunks or are not comfortable, repeat that level of volume a few more times before progressing

Transition Programs

A two-week cycle works out very well for a Transition program. Over the two weeks, you’ll complete three 2.5hr pace run, and three Fast+ runs with Base runs in between to get to your desired mileage.

Below are four-, five- and six-days a week programs. If you completed the Running Base Building Program with a three-days-a-week structure, I’d suggest you go through the Base program again running four-days-a-week then switch to the Transition program.

Four-days-a-week Transition Program

Longer Base Run
Uphill Surges
Rest Day
2.5hr pace Run
Rest Day
Fast Reps
Rest Day
Medium Base Run
2.5hr pace Run
Rest Day
Flying Sprints
Rest Day
2.5hr pace Run
Rest Day

Five-days-a-week Transition Program

Longer Base Run
Uphill Surges
Rest Day
2.5hr pace Run
Shorter Base Run with 10min Diagonals after
Fast Reps
Rest Day
Medium Base Run
2.5hr pace Run
Rest Day
Flying Sprints
Medium Base Run with 5 x Surges during
2.5hr pace Run
Rest Day

Six-days-a-week Transition Program

Longer Base Run
Warm-Up. Uphill Surges. Cool-Down
Shorter Base Run
2.5hr pace Run
Shorter Base Run with 10min Diagonals after
Warm-Up. Fast Reps. Cool-Down
Rest Day
Medium Base Run
2.5hr pace Run
Medium Base Run
Warm-Up. Flying Sprints. Cool-Down
Medium Base Run with 5 x Surges during
2.5hr pace Run
Rest Day

How many weeks is the Program?

Your Transition program must be at least 4-5 weeks into order to progress through the 2.5hr pace run progression safely. It will likely be a bit longer in case you need to repeat a certain level of 2.5hr pace volume more than once.

During this time, continue to increase your volume of Fast+ running slowly. However, reaching the maximum amount of Fast+ running does not indicate you are ready to move onto another program. The 2.5hr pace runs is the determining factor. Maintain the max volume of Fast+ while you work towards the goal of 60min steady at 2.5hr pace.

What’s Next?

Now you’re ready to move toward event-specific speeds with training that may become gruelling at times and that your mind may resist. However, you can start on this harder training with confidence that your body is ready for the challenge.

Go ahead and choose any training program you like for the event that you are targetting. You can skip over any mention of “base building” in the program with everything you’ve done to this point. But, if the program requires you to run more days per week that you’ve been practicing, complete a few more weeks of Transition at the higher number of running days first.

One of my favourite program structures is called Five-Pace Training. You can read all about it HERE and formulate a plan to reach your target race goals.

Mark Tosques

Endurance Sports Coach