Samado

Running training guides

Threshold pace, easy pace, heart rate zones, interval structure, and plans for a 10K and a half marathon. Written to be useful on their own, and matched by sessions inside the app.

A runner in a red singlet seen from behind on an empty road cutting through golden hills at sunrise

What is threshold pace in running, and how do you hit it?

Threshold pace is the effort you could race for about an hour. How to work yours out from a race, a time trial or heart rate, and how to run the session.

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A runner jogging at an easy, relaxed pace along a gravel path through a misty birch forest

How to find your easy run pace, and stop running it too fast

Easy pace is 60 to 90 seconds per km slower than 10K pace. Three ways to check you are going easy enough, and why the grey zone in between costs you.

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Aerial view of a floodlit red athletics track at dusk with a single runner rounding the bend

Interval training for runners: how to structure a session

The four numbers that define an interval session, how many repetitions to run, how long recovery should be, and where intervals belong in a training week.

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Layers of coloured sand in a glass bowl graduating from cream to deep red, with a heartbeat trace sculpted into one layer

Heart rate zones for running, explained

What the five running heart rate zones are for, how to set yours without a lab test, and why the zones your watch shipped with are probably wrong.

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An empty straight road at sunset with a line of weathered wooden posts receding evenly along the right verge

How to train for a 10K in 8 weeks

An eight week 10K build for runners who can already run 40 minutes: what each week contains, the three sessions that do the work, and how to taper for race day.

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Two distant runners on a coastal road winding along golden cliffs above the sea at sunset

Half marathon training plan for beginners

How long a first half marathon build should be, how to grow the long run safely to 18 km, what the other runs are for, and how to pace race day.

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Close-up of red running shoes at the moment of toe-off on wet tarmac at night, water spraying under streetlights

How to improve your 5K time

Work out where your 5K is losing time, then fix it: short repetitions to raise your top end, threshold work to raise the floor, and a pacing plan for the race.

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Close-up of a runner’s wrist wearing a sports smartwatch with a plain glowing amber screen, against a blurred sunset road

How to run structured workouts on Apple Watch

How to run a structured interval session on Apple Watch: what the screen needs to show, how to set one up, and whether you can leave the iPhone at home.

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Every pace here, computed from your own runs

Samado reads your history, estimates what you can hold over 10K, and builds each session off that. Free on iPhone.

Download on the App Store