s5/e18 Mastering the Basics: Run Types + Using Alerts for Better Training
The Running Explained Podcast
Running Explained
4.6 • 534 Ratings
🗓️ 14 June 2025
⏱️ 57 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Let’s get back to basics! In this episode, I’m breaking down the three main types of runs you'll see in your training - easy runs, moderate-intensity workouts like tempo or threshold, and high-intensity speed work - and explaining what each one is actually supposed to do for your fitness. If you’ve ever wondered, “Am I running this right?”, this one’s for you.
Once you understand what each run is meant to accomplish, the next step is learning how to execute it correctly, and that’s where simple alerts on your running watch can be a game-changer. I’ll explain how I use pace and heart rate alerts to help build confidence, stay in the right zone, and most importantly, start enhancing our internal understanding of what those different intensities feel like. This is how you move from chasing numbers to actually training smarter.
🎉 I’m also incredibly excited to announce my official partnership with COROS, the running watch I’ve personally used and loved since 2022! COROS makes it so easy to set up the exact alerts I talk about in this episode. You don’t need to pre-program fancy workouts (although I love those too), just a few simple tools can help you train more effectively and confidently.
And now, when you use code RUNEXP at coros.com, you’ll get a free second strap with your watch purchase!
👟 In This Episode:
What easy, tempo, and speed runs are designed to do
How to use watch alerts to guide effort (not just chase paces)
Why learning what effort feels like makes you a stronger, more confident runner
The tools I use on my COROS Pace 3 watch to keep training dialed in
Heart rate & pace alerts to create effort “guardrails”.
- RPE as the long-term goal (and how alerts help you build that awareness)
🎁 COROS Discount:
Get a free second strap when you use code RUNEXP at checkout on coros.com
➡️ Add a watch + a strap to your cart
➡️ Enter RUNEXP promo code
➡️ Extra strap = FREE!
📬 Stay Connected:
💬 Weekly coaching tips: FREE newsletter The Weekly Stride
🎙️ Bonus content & early access: Patreon
Research & production assistance by Sophie van Leeuwen
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello, my friends, welcome back to the Writing Explained podcast. I am your host, Coach Elizabeth. |
| 0:05.3 | And if you are watching this episode, you might notice if you're on YouTube or Spotify video, |
| 0:10.4 | that I'm sitting in what could possibly pass for maybe a podcast studio on a good day. |
| 0:15.5 | It is, in fact, the other side of the room that I usually sit in my office. |
| 0:20.3 | So there you have it. And if you're listening, |
| 0:22.9 | you don't care. So let's get into today's episode. So today we are going to break down all the |
| 0:31.3 | different types of runs slash workouts that you're going to see on your training plan in a structured training schedule, |
| 0:38.9 | just in general as an endurance runner, and talk about what each one does physiologically, |
| 0:44.0 | the benefit of it, kind of what it does to you and in your training, |
| 0:47.9 | and also understanding how to make sure you're executing these runs properly with some help |
| 0:54.0 | from KOROS. I am thrilled to announce that I am now in partnership with sure you're executing these runs properly with some help from Coros. |
| 0:55.5 | I am thrilled to announce that I am now in partnership with Coros. |
| 0:59.2 | Coros makes running watches. |
| 1:01.8 | And I have been wearing a Coros watch since 2022. |
| 1:04.5 | I have been wearing the Coros Paste 2 watch and I switched over from Garmin. |
| 1:09.5 | Before that I was wearing the forerunner and multiple |
| 1:12.0 | models. And I switched over to Coros and boy, am I glad that I did. I really never looked |
| 1:17.6 | back and I'm so thrilled that when they reached out to this, they said, would you be interested? |
| 1:22.8 | And I said, yes, I would. Thank you so much. I would absolutely love to talk about how awesome KOROS is, |
| 1:28.5 | because it really is. The watches, the optical sensor, arm bands, you don't get chafing around |
| 1:33.2 | your midsection. But anyways, I digress. But today, so today we're going to talk about how to |
| 1:39.9 | use your watch as a tool to accompany you in executing all these different types of runs and specifically talk about some of the benefits and ways that you could use your watch as a tool to accompany you in executing all these different types of |
... |
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