For most amateur athletes and leisure runners, the goal of training really is to infuse enjoyment and effectiveness into each session. While it is really easy to start any session of training, it does not necessarily ends with a really effective or enjoyable routine everytime.

Some runners sacrifice the enjoyment factor for pursuing tenacious effectiveness. Others neglect effective training in search of leisurely enjoyment in running. Both are detrimental to your wish to keep running as a long term enjoyable fitness regime.

Often a times, the key to enjoyable and yet effective training lies in the management of Intensity and Duration. In this post, we will attempt to introduce to you 2 types of training that possesses different characteristics in Intensity and Duration.

HIIT or High Intensity Interval Training

This form of training is characterised by short duration and high intensity. The focus is on pushing your body to the limits each and every time you hit the roads. Due to the 100% running effort required for HIIT, you would find yourself tanking in a very short period of time. This may range from as short as 2 minutes to 15 minutes, depending on your current state of fitness.

The advice for beginning your first HIIT training is to listen to your body and stop when you experience any pain, breathlessness or fatigue that is beyond your normal threshold in training.

HIIT is highly effective within short periods of time. Care has to be exercised so that you are not over zealous in your goals. Focus should be on regulating the frequency such that you give your body ample day(s) to recover to 100% again before the next session.

Some general guidelines for injury-free HIIT

a) Begin with a shorter distance like 100 metres and build up in progressive 50 metres steps
b) Choose a flat, straight and familiar route
c) Always have your stopwatch with you and track your duration
d) Stop at the first instance of any pain, breathlessness or fatigue that is beyond normal threshold
e) Get used to a distance for a few trainings before you try to push beyond your existing limit

LISS or Low Intensity Steady State

This form of training is characterised by long duration and low intensity. The focus is on letting your body go for longer periods every time you hit the roads at a comfortable and steady pace. Due to the relatively low running effort required for LISS, the challenge is to push the limits of duration that you can maintain in that steady pace. This may range from as short as 30 minutes to a few hours, depending on your current state of fitness.

The advice for beginning your first LISS training is to find out what is your 50% pace or the running effort that you can sustain comfortably while still enjoying the scenary or humming a song. Sounds like a breeze does it?

LISS is backburner kind of training that only reaps results with perseverance and regularity. Care has to be exercised so that you are not over zealous in your goals. Focus should be on increasing the duration in a progressive manner with sufficient sessions to acclimatise your body to the existing duration before stepping up the duration.

Some general guidelines for injury-free LISS

a) Begin with a shorter duration like 30 minutes and build up in progressive 30 minutes steps only after you have done each duration for at least 4 sessions.
b) Choose a flat and straight route. You may wish to have a variety of routes such as a loop route and other longer routes with nice scenary to break the monotony as you eventually progress to long duration.
c) Always have your stopwatch with you and track your duration
d) Stop at the first instance of any pain or fatigue, especially arising from prolonged impact on joints.
e) Focus on duration and a steady pace, not speed or distance covered.

Watch the video below for some interesting pointers on HIIT and LISS trainings. Run on!