A graduate of Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Jennifer Heiner holds a bachelor of science in Business Administration, double majoring in both marketing and economics. Since 2019, Jennifer Heiner has served as the retail director of a New Jersey running company, helping the owners manage the four brick and mortar retail locations.
Jennifer Heiner is an avid runner herself, having completed six marathons and dozens of shorter distance races. Certainly one way to build up endurance is to gradually increase the distance you run each week. A good rule of thumb is to not increase the amount you are running from week to week by more than 10%, as trying to do too much too fast can lead to burnout or worse, injury.
But how can a runner get faster? There are many different types of runs that can help one get faster, and are good to incorporate to any regular training program.
1. Progression Runs - doing a one mile warm and one mile cool down, and the middle miles are gradually increasing in speed, by 15 seconds or so per mile from one mile to the next
2. Fartleks - these are a fun introduction to speed work; there is no set pace or distance or time that one needs to maintain speed, but gradually doing "pick ups" of faster surges of running, and then resuming to an easy aerobic pace.
3. Intervals - usually done on a track, doing true speed work for anywhere from 200-1200 meters, short bursts of speed for whatever distance assigned, with recovery periods in between.
4. Hill Repeats - finding a good hill and sprinting up, easy jog down. Being able to do as many reps as one can withstand. My favorite mantra is "Hills Make You Stronger."
5. Tempo Runs - a one mile warm up, and a one mile cool down, and the middle miles being held at a steady, faster pace, mimicking the goal pace for a particular race one is training for, such as a 10K or half marathon.
