Training Articles

Explore our guides on training concepts, methods, and science

These articles are a working coach's manual for endurance athletes. They cover the fundamentals every runner, cyclist, swimmer, triathlete, or strength athlete needs to know — zones and thresholds, easy days and quality days, base building and tapering — and they go into the day-to-day decisions that shape a real training week. Some explain a single workout type in depth, others lay out structured plans for beginners, and a few unpack the nutrition and hydration choices that decide how the last hour of a long event goes.

The collection is organised by theme. Start with fundamentals if you are new to structured training; jump into your sport's section for sport-specific workouts; explore nutrition and planning when you want to lift the ceiling on what your body can absorb. Every article is built around the same coach-style logic — what the workout is, why it works, how it feels, when to do it, and how it fits into a balanced plan — and ends with a small, repeatable example you can use this week.

Training Fundamentals

The core concepts every endurance athlete uses — zones, thresholds, intervals, polarised training, and the language of structured workouts.

Over-Under Intervals
Learn how to alternate just above and just below threshold to build control, pacing, and race-ready endurance.
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Zone 2 Training
Learn what Zone 2 training is, how it should feel, and how to use low-intensity aerobic work to build endurance without turning every session hard.
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Lactate Threshold
How to understand and train the controlled-hard effort that shapes endurance performance
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Interval Training
How structured work-and-recovery intervals build speed, VO2max, threshold control, and race-ready endurance.
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Endurance Training
How to build aerobic endurance with easy work, long sessions, gradual progression, and recovery that keeps the plan repeatable.
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How to Stay in Zone 2
Learn how to keep Zone 2 truly easy with heart rate, breathing, pacing, terrain control, and simple execution habits.
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Best Interval Workouts for Beginners
Simple beginner interval workouts that build speed, rhythm, and endurance without turning every session into a max-effort test.
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Zone 2 Training Mistakes
Learn the common Zone 2 mistakes that turn easy aerobic work into the wrong stimulus, and how to keep it controlled.
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VO2max Explained
Understand what VO2max shows, what it does not show, and how to use it sensibly in endurance training.
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Polarized Training Explained
Learn what polarized training means, how the 80/20 approach works, and whether it is the right endurance training model for your goals.
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Heart Rate Zones Explained
Understand the 5 training zones, how to find your max and threshold heart rate, and how to use zones to train more effectively in every sport.
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Aerobic Base
Your aerobic base sets the ceiling on every other kind of fitness. Learn how it's built, why it takes time, and how to make your foundation stronger.
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Base Training Phase
The base phase is where long-term performance is built. Learn what to do (and not do) in base training for running, cycling, and swimming.
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Running

Easy runs, long runs, tempo and threshold work, hill training, and beginner-friendly training plans up to the marathon.

Tempo Run
Learn how tempo runs build controlled threshold fitness, how they should feel, and how to pace them without turning every workout into a race.
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Tempo Run vs Easy Run
Understand how easy runs and tempo runs differ, how each should feel, and when to use them in a training week.
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How Long Should a Tempo Run Be?
Learn how long the tempo portion should be, when to use continuous tempo or cruise intervals, and how to progress without turning the workout into a race.
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Tempo Run Mistakes
Learn the most common tempo run mistakes: starting too fast, forcing pace, ignoring recovery, and turning controlled threshold work into a race.
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Recovery Run
Learn how recovery runs work, when to use them, and how to keep them easy enough to support the rest of your training week.
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Progression Run
Learn what a progression run is, how it works, and when to use it to build pacing control, aerobic strength, and stronger finishes.
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Easy Run
Why the easy run is the foundation of endurance training, how to hold conversational pace, and how it builds your aerobic engine without burning you out.
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Long Run
The weekly long run is the cornerstone of endurance fitness. Learn how long, how fast, how often, and how to fuel it for running, cycling, and swimming.
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Running Form
Efficient running form reduces injury risk and wastes less energy. Learn posture, foot strike, arm swing, and the drills that actually improve form.
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Running Cadence
What running cadence really means, the truth about the 180 spm rule, and how to raise your cadence safely to run more efficiently.
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Pacing Strategy
Pacing is the skill that decides your race. Learn even splits, negative splits, pacing by heart rate vs feel, and how to execute from 5k to marathon.
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Fartlek Training
Fartlek is Swedish for 'speed play' — the unstructured interval session that builds fitness and keeps training fun. Learn how to use it.
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Hill Repeats
Hill repeats are speed work in disguise. Learn the different formats (short sprints vs long repeats), correct form uphill and downhill, and how to program them.
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5K Training Plan
A complete 5k training plan — the key sessions, weekly structure, sample weeks for beginners and sub-20 runners, and how to peak on race day.
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10K Training Plan
Build speed and aerobic strength with a structured 10k training plan. Learn the workouts, weekly structure, and how to pace the 10k for a PB.
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Half Marathon Training Plan
A half marathon training plan that balances long runs, threshold work, and recovery. Learn how to train for your first 21.1k or a sub-2 hour PB.
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Marathon Training Basics
Everything a runner needs to train smart for their first marathon — weekly volume, the long run, fueling, pacing, and the taper that sets up race day.
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New Runner Training Plan
A beginner-friendly training plan for brand-new runners. Walk-run intervals, safe progression, and how to build from your first run to 30 minutes nonstop.
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Negative Split Running
A negative split — running the second half faster than the first — is the most efficient way to race. Learn when and how to use it from 5k to marathon.
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Cycling

FTP, sweet spot, intervals, cadence, long rides, and a structured 12-week plan for new cyclists.

Sweet Spot Training
Build sustained cycling power with controlled sub-threshold intervals that are hard enough to matter but still repeatable.
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FTP Explained
What Functional Threshold Power means, how to test it, and how to use FTP zones in cycling training without treating one number as absolute truth.
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Sweet Spot Training Mistakes
Common sweet spot training mistakes: going too hard, adding volume too fast, ignoring recovery, and how to keep the work controlled.
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Cycling Endurance
Cycling endurance is the engine that carries every ride longer than 90 minutes. Learn how to build aerobic capacity on the bike, the right zones, the long ride structure, and how endurance work makes every other cycling workout better.
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Cycling Intervals
Cycling intervals are how cyclists raise their threshold and VO2max without endless hours on the bike. Learn the four interval families, sample sessions, weekly placement, and the mistakes that turn intervals into junk miles.
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The Long Ride
The weekly long ride is the most adaptive session in cycling. Learn what duration matters, the right pace, fueling, terrain, and how to build a long ride that produces fitness instead of fatigue.
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Cycling Cadence
Cycling cadence is one of the most-discussed and least-understood variables in the sport. Learn what cadence really does, the truth about high versus low rpm, and the drills that make you a more efficient cyclist.
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Bike Power Zones
Power zones turn watts into a training language. Learn the 7 cycling power zones, how to set them from your FTP, what each zone trains, and how to design a week that uses every zone with intent.
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Beginner Cycling Plan
A 12-week cycling plan that helps a new rider build comfort, easy aerobic endurance, and confidence for a controlled 90-minute ride.
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Swimming

Freestyle technique, drills, intervals, CSS pacing, and a beginner-friendly plan that builds a stroke that can carry distance.

Strength Training

Push / pull / legs, full-body workouts, RPE, sets and reps, accessory work, and how to build a complete strength session.

Push Strength Workout
How to build a productive push day — chest, shoulders, triceps, and lockout — with the right structure, accessories, and recovery for serious strength gains.
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Pull Strength Workout
How to build a productive pull day — lats, mid-back, rear delts, biceps, and grip — with the right structure, accessories, and recovery for a strong, healthy back.
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Leg Strength Workout
How to build a productive leg day — squats, hinges, lunges, glutes, hamstrings, and calves — with the right structure, accessories, and recovery for serious lower-body strength.
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Full Body Strength Workout
How to train every major movement pattern in one session — squat, hinge, push, pull, and core — with the structure, lifts, and recovery that suit 2-3 days per week.
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Upper Body Strength Workout
How to train chest, back, shoulders, and arms in one session — push and pull movements paired with focused accessories for an upper/lower 4-day split.
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Lower Body Strength Workout
How to train quads, glutes, hamstrings, and calves in one session — squat and hinge patterns paired with unilateral and posterior-chain accessories for an upper/lower 4-day split.
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Core Strength Workout
How to train the core for real strength — the three anti-patterns (anti-extension, anti-rotation, anti-lateral-flexion), the drills that build trunk durability, and how to integrate core blocks with heavy lifting.
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Bodyweight Strength Workout
How to train real strength with no equipment — push-up, pull-up, and squat progressions that scale from beginner to one-arm push-ups, pistol squats, and full pull-ups.
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Dumbbell Strength Workout
A complete strength workout with only dumbbells — presses, rows, squats, lunges, and hinges that hit every major pattern with a pair of adjustable dumbbells and a bench.
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Beginner Strength Workout
Your first 12 weeks of strength training — the six basic patterns, why technique beats load, linear progression, and how to graduate to intermediate without skipping the foundation.
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Strength Training at Home
How to build a home strength practice that lasts — the equipment ladder, where home training hits its ceiling, structuring sessions, and how to stay consistent without a gym membership.
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Strength Training with Dumbbells
The case for dumbbells — unilateral training, range of motion, accessibility, how to choose dumbbells and weight, the six exercises where dumbbells beat barbells, and when the barbell wins.
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Main Lift and Accessory Exercises Explained
The anatomy of every productive strength session — what makes a main lift, what makes an accessory, how to structure sessions around the difference, and how the framework applies to push/pull/legs, upper/lower, and full-body workouts.
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How to Choose the Right Weight for Strength Training
How to pick the right weight on every working set — RPE, percent of one-rep max, rep quality, why most sets shouldn't go to failure, and the day-to-day factors that change today's right weight.
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RPE in Strength Training
RPE explained for strength — what each level (4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10) feels like, how to pair RPE with rep targets, why RPE outperforms fixed-percent programming, and how to calibrate it accurately.
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Sets and Reps in Strength Training
How sets and reps map to your goal — 1-3 reps for power, 3-5 for strength, 6-12 for hypertrophy, 15+ for endurance. Common formats explained and matched to outcomes.
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Push-Up Progressions
The full push-up progression ladder — incline, knee, standard, decline, archer, one-arm — with form cues per stage and signals for when to move up.
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Squat Variations for Strength Training
The six squat variations every athlete should know — bodyweight, goblet, dumbbell front, Bulgarian split, barbell front, barbell back — with the right context for each.
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Shoulder Strength Workout
A complete shoulder session built around overhead pressing, lateral raises, rear-delt work, and bodyweight pike push-ups, with the volume and technique cues that keep shoulders healthy and strong.
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How to Build a Strength Workout
The complete framework for designing a strength session from scratch — warm-up, main lift, accessories, rest, intensity, and cooldown — so you can build productive workouts for any goal, equipment, and training level.
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Planning, Recovery and Periodisation

How often to train, how to structure intervals, when to deload or taper, and how to put together a coherent training plan.