FastForward Sports Glossary and Common Terms
Warm-up (WU) - the amount of time to do an easy jog or brisk walk in order to warm-up your muscles for safely moving on to the pre-run dynamic exercises.
Main Set (MS) - the main part of the workout (i.e. hills, easy run, tempo run, time trial). It's the entire workout minus the warm-up and cool-down.
Cool down (CD) - the amount of time after the main set to do an easy jog or walk
Easy (EZ) - an easy pace at which you can hold a conversation with full sentences. If you wear a heart-rate monitor, your heart rate should be about 30+ beats below your lactate threshold (5K or 10K effort).
Plan Time - the amount of time you should set aside for the workout. This includes MS, WU, CD, Dynamics, Stretching, and any talking we do as a group. This number will not be exact, but should give you a general idea of how much time you need to set aside to complete the workout.
Zone 1 (Z1) - easy to very easy effort, conversational; 78% or more below 4-miler avg. HR; pace 90+ seconds slower than 4-Miler avg. pace/ mile
Zone 2 - marathon to half-marathon pace, also referred to as tempo pace; 80-92% of 4-miler avg. HR, pace 30 - 50 seconds slower than 4-Miler avg. pace/ mile.
Zone 3- 5K to 10K pace, hard to very hard effort, lactate threshold, anaerobic threshold; 93-102% of 4-miler avg. HR; pace is steady state from 4 mile time trial and up to 20 seconds slower per mile
Zone 4 - the hardest effort, 5K and faster training pace; pace is 20 seconds faster or more than 4-miler avg. pace/ mile
HR Heart Rate
Dynamic Exercises - exercises developed by F4 Tech Adviser, Bobby McGee to help warm-up and prepare the main muscle groups Dynamics are done between the warm-up and main set. Click the Resources Tab above, then "Dynamic Warm Ups" for instructions.
Strides - are very gradual accelerations between 15 and 45 seconds in duration. We usually do them in sets of 4 or 6. The first one begins at about warm-up pace and builds to slightly above that. The next one builds to a pace slightly above the finishing pace of the first stride, and so on, until the last one, which builds to a pace slightly faster than your intended workout pace for that day's run. It is never a sprint. You should never start a stride fast or finish abruptly (coming to a stop after running quickly). Divide the total stride time by three so you will ramp up for seven seconds, maintain for seven seconds and then slow down six seconds.
Fartlek - A Swedish term for "speed play", or a semi-unstructured interval workout where the runner or group of runners decide on their own when to run hard and when to recover. This could be based on random geography (i.e. the next hill, tree, mail box, etc.) or perhaps just when the urge strikes. Fartlek can still be a challenging physical workout, but should be mentally less taxing than formal interval training. Have fun with it!
Negative Split - Completing the second half of the workout faster (or with greater effort) than the first half. For example, in a one hour out-n-back run, you might turn around after 32 minutes and arrive back at the start 28 minutes later.
Priming- A specific extended warm up protocol designed to 'prime' the lactate system for higher intensity workout or races. Following regular F4 warm up jog/ walk, dynamics, and strides, run 4 minutes at your approximate 1-Hour race pace, but no quicker. Follow with 5-10 minutes of easy walking or jogging, then begin the main set of the workout or race.
Main Set (MS) - the main part of the workout (i.e. hills, easy run, tempo run, time trial). It's the entire workout minus the warm-up and cool-down.
Cool down (CD) - the amount of time after the main set to do an easy jog or walk
Easy (EZ) - an easy pace at which you can hold a conversation with full sentences. If you wear a heart-rate monitor, your heart rate should be about 30+ beats below your lactate threshold (5K or 10K effort).
Plan Time - the amount of time you should set aside for the workout. This includes MS, WU, CD, Dynamics, Stretching, and any talking we do as a group. This number will not be exact, but should give you a general idea of how much time you need to set aside to complete the workout.
Zone 1 (Z1) - easy to very easy effort, conversational; 78% or more below 4-miler avg. HR; pace 90+ seconds slower than 4-Miler avg. pace/ mile
Zone 2 - marathon to half-marathon pace, also referred to as tempo pace; 80-92% of 4-miler avg. HR, pace 30 - 50 seconds slower than 4-Miler avg. pace/ mile.
Zone 3- 5K to 10K pace, hard to very hard effort, lactate threshold, anaerobic threshold; 93-102% of 4-miler avg. HR; pace is steady state from 4 mile time trial and up to 20 seconds slower per mile
Zone 4 - the hardest effort, 5K and faster training pace; pace is 20 seconds faster or more than 4-miler avg. pace/ mile
HR Heart Rate
Dynamic Exercises - exercises developed by F4 Tech Adviser, Bobby McGee to help warm-up and prepare the main muscle groups Dynamics are done between the warm-up and main set. Click the Resources Tab above, then "Dynamic Warm Ups" for instructions.
Strides - are very gradual accelerations between 15 and 45 seconds in duration. We usually do them in sets of 4 or 6. The first one begins at about warm-up pace and builds to slightly above that. The next one builds to a pace slightly above the finishing pace of the first stride, and so on, until the last one, which builds to a pace slightly faster than your intended workout pace for that day's run. It is never a sprint. You should never start a stride fast or finish abruptly (coming to a stop after running quickly). Divide the total stride time by three so you will ramp up for seven seconds, maintain for seven seconds and then slow down six seconds.
Fartlek - A Swedish term for "speed play", or a semi-unstructured interval workout where the runner or group of runners decide on their own when to run hard and when to recover. This could be based on random geography (i.e. the next hill, tree, mail box, etc.) or perhaps just when the urge strikes. Fartlek can still be a challenging physical workout, but should be mentally less taxing than formal interval training. Have fun with it!
Negative Split - Completing the second half of the workout faster (or with greater effort) than the first half. For example, in a one hour out-n-back run, you might turn around after 32 minutes and arrive back at the start 28 minutes later.
Priming- A specific extended warm up protocol designed to 'prime' the lactate system for higher intensity workout or races. Following regular F4 warm up jog/ walk, dynamics, and strides, run 4 minutes at your approximate 1-Hour race pace, but no quicker. Follow with 5-10 minutes of easy walking or jogging, then begin the main set of the workout or race.
