How to improve endurance when running?

Before addressing the topic of how to improve endurance by running, let’s be clear about what endurance means for runners. It is simply a runner’s ability to sustain long-duration effort—in our case, running. Regardless of speed, we all want and need to improve endurance, as it is one of the key aspects in improving as a runner, whether amateur, occasional, or professional.

Room for improvement in running

If you’re not a regular runner and run sporadically, you have a lot of room for improvement, and with “little” effort, you will quickly notice an improvement in your endurance. What once seemed like an impossible distance will become very manageable after a few weeks.

One of the basic premises is regularity. Running once a week is of little use if you want to improve endurance. Maintaining a regular training routine will undoubtedly help your muscles adapt to running, increase lung capacity, etc. All this simply by keeping regularity and consistency in your running sessions. If you want to improve, gradually increase the number of running sessions.

A key: train regularly

Another thing you can do, once you’ve found the necessary time to train more regularly, is to try to increase the volume of your sessions—that is, try to run more kilometers each day you train.

Always be smart and progressive; it doesn’t matter if you add one more kilometer each day you go for a run. It may seem like little, but it’s not. All these kilometers add up little by little, and those kilometers are the gateway to being able to add 2 kilometers without realizing it after a few weeks.

Try not to run the same route every day, at the same pace, and for the same amount of time. You will get bored before achieving the expected benefits, and worst of all, you won’t improve.

Combine training sessions

You can combine long sessions that help prepare for a half marathon and slow pace, with shorter and faster sessions. Making small pace changes during the session will also help a lot, for example, combining two minutes at a fast pace and two minutes at a slow pace. These sessions, besides breaking the routine, will help you improve a lot and quickly.

Ideally, try to combine running exercise with some strength sessions, either at the gym with machines or more casually at home. There are many exercises that will strengthen your legs using only body weight.

If you intend to improve endurance, and therefore increase training days, you will inevitably have to increase your calorie intake. That doesn’t mean you can “eat everything” just because you exercise more. You can and should eat more since you will burn more energy and calories, but more doesn’t mean worse… don’t use sports as an excuse to eat “badly.”
Try to give your body the energy it needs through good nutrition for athletes, every bit counts, everything will help you improve quickly, but you must provide your body with healthy foods.

Recovery: the final key to success

Finally, recovery after sessions must be taken into account to improve running endurance. Once finished, we can relax with our Sizen, apply our favorite program, and let the magic of pressotherapy happen.

With 30 or 45 minutes about 2 hours after training, our legs will be fresh and ready for the next round.

My name is Juan Pedro Mora, I am a popular runner and ambassador for the sports pressotherapy brand Sizen.