5 of the Weirdest Running Workouts (That Work)

We tapped three expert coaches to learn about their most creative, unusual, yet effective training sessions.

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(Photo: Johnny Zhang)

Improving your running game might actually include running games.

Sure—the standard, tried-and-true programming and drills are your best bet for advancing as a runner. But if you feel like you’re in a rut with your training or just need a break from the usual running workouts, why not try something different? Whether it’s a game learned in high school track or a creative drill introduced by a fellow athlete, there are plenty of fun ways to shake up the routine and introduce a change of pace.

We asked three accomplished run coaches to share some of their favorite out-of-the-box (and effective!) exercises that benefit athletes’ running form, endurance, and mental fortitude. Their suggestions include games and circuits that incorporate speed work and pacing, among other essential skills that runners need to practice. Here are five fun and untraditional workouts to get your heart pumping and improve your running.

Group Run Pace Game

Ben Rosario is the CEO of The Marathon Project as well as the former head coach of the HOKA NAZ Elite professional distance running team in Flagstaff, Arizona. Having coached athletes for over 20 years, he’s a big advocate for injecting creative running workouts in training (alongside standard programming). “The mind needs to be stimulated as well, not just the body,” he says. “We can’t expect athletes to do the same thing week in and week out and not get bored.”

Rosario likes to play a pacing game in group runs.

How it works:

• If you’re in a group of eight people, for example, you start by placing scraps of paper numbered one through eight in a bowl or hat.
• Mix them up, and have each runner draw one, keeping their number to themselves.
• During the run, each person picks a moment to increase the pace for the same number of minutes as the number they drew—and everyone else has to keep up for that amount of time. This continues throughout the run with each person changing the pace for their allotted number of minutes, and everyone matching their pace.

“None of your running buddies know when the surge is coming, but they have to keep up,” Rosario says. “It’s this fun way to accomplish some pace change without it being so monotonous.”

An alternative take on the game is to have a designated person call out a number. The person who drew that number would then choose the pace for the same number of minutes (so eight would lead for 8 minutes). The pace could be fast or slow—basically a follow-the-leader Fartlek.

Hill Circuits

Tired of the track? No problem! As Olympic distance runner Frank Shorter once said, hills are speed work in disguise. Rosario finds that doing hill circuits, or building a training run around varied terrain, is a great way to mix things up.

How it works:

• First, find an area that has hills of varying lengths as well as some flat surfaces— this could be at a park, in a neighborhood, on roads, etc.—and create a loop of your preferred distance.
• From there, you’re basically playing the hand that nature has dealt. You might be popping up a short hill at a 5K effort, then steadily climbing up a long hill at marathon effort, then running a 200-meter flat stride at your mile effort, and so on.

“The beauty of hill circuits is that it can be done anywhere, and because you’ve run up and down varying grades at different zones, you’ve gotten a really complete workout,” Rosario says.

Pursuit

Scott Browning, running coach at Run With A Pro, likes to insert some fun into running workouts with a game called Pursuit. To play, runners start on opposite ends of the track and try to catch a designated runner. There’s no set distance in this game, just the objective to not get caught. “This is deceivingly hard and requires a lot of strategy,” Browning says.

How it works:

• Get a running buddy of similar ability and speed. Start on opposite sides of the track.
• Both athletes start running in the same direction.
• The interval ends when one runner catches the other.

Browning allows runners to rest about two to three minutes between rounds and repeats the game three to five times, rotating the pairs if there are more than two runners present.

Fox and Hound

Another workout that Browning uses with his athletes is essentially a reverse game of tag, where the whole group of runners tries to tag just one person. “One runner is the fox, the others are the hounds,” Browning explains. “The fox tries to keep from getting caught for a predetermined amount of time; if they’re caught, the interval ends and the game resets.” This chase-based interval workout uses a looped path in a park rather than the track so that runners can spread out.

How it works:

• Choose a 400–800m loop in a park.
• One runner (the Fox) gets a 10- to 30-second head start.
• The others (Hounds) start the chase.
• If the Hounds catch the Fox before the loop ends, they win. If not, the Fox wins.

Runners are permitted to rest 60 to 90 seconds between rounds while aiming to repeat the game four to six times, rotating roles each time.

Long Run and Cross-Training Combo

It can be a struggle to recover after long runs, so Elisabeth Scott, a Virginia-based certified run coach and founder of Running Explained, encourages runners to give tired feet a rest by swapping some miles for cross-training exercises. “In this way, they get the total duration of the workout to achieve their goals without spending so much time on their feet,” Scott says. An example of this hybrid running workout could look like:

• Two hours of running
• 30 minutes of biking
• 30 minutes of swimming

Breaking up the run into a more manageable timeframe while supplementing other types of workouts will allow you to build up your strength and avoid injury at the same time. Plus, it adds some variety to keep your mind and body engaged.