25 running words, explained

Spend an evening at a running club and you will hear a stream of words that sound like another language: negative splits, strides, tempo, taper. Nobody is born knowing them, and nobody minds explaining.

Here are 25 of the most common ones, grouped so they are easy to find. Each has its Arabic word in brackets. Where a word has a longer article on our site, we link to it.

What do the speed and effort words mean?

• Pace (السرعة / الوتيرة): how fast you run, usually given as minutes per kilometre. Use our pace calculator to work yours out.
• Easy pace (سرعة سهلة): a speed at which you can talk in full sentences. Most of your running should be here.
• Effort (الجهد): how hard it feels, whatever the watch says. Essential on hills and in heat.
• Cadence (وتيرة الخطوات): the number of steps you take per minute. Quick, light steps are usually kinder to your legs than long, heavy ones.
• Split (المقطع): your time for one part of a run, such as each kilometre.
• Negative split (مقاطع تصاعدية): running the second half faster than the first. A smart way to pace a race.
• Heart rate (نبض القلب): how many times your heart beats per minute. It is one way to gauge effort, and our heart rate zones guide explains it.

What are the session words?

These are the words you will hear most on Wednesday nights.

• Intervals (الإنترفال / تكرارات): hard efforts with recovery in between. Our intervals guide has the detail.
• Rep (تكرار): one hard effort within an interval session. “Six reps” means six efforts.
• Recovery (التعافي / الراحة النشطة): the easy jog or walk between reps, or an easy day after a hard one.
• Tempo (ركضة التمبو): a steady, “comfortably hard” run that builds stamina. See tempo runs.
• Strides (انطلاقات قصيرة): short, relaxed pick-ups of about 20 seconds, done after an easy run to loosen up.
• Fartlek (فارتلك / لعب بالسرعة): Swedish for “speed play”. You change pace loosely during an easy run, with no strict plan.
• Warm-up (الإحماء): the easy running and drills before hard work. See warm-up.
• Cool-down (التبريد): easy jogging or walking after a hard session, to bring your body back down.

Which words describe distance and long runs?

• Long run (الركضة الطويلة): your longest run of the week, done at an easy pace. Ours is on Saturday mornings. See the long run session.
• Base (القاعدة): the steady, easy mileage that everything else is built on.
• Mileage / volume (المسافة الأسبوعية): the total distance or time you run in a week.

What are the body and health words?

• Cross-training (التدريب المتنوع): other exercise, such as cycling, swimming or strength work, that builds fitness without more pounding.
• DOMS (وجع العضلات المتأخر): delayed-onset muscle soreness, the stiffness you feel a day or two after a hard or unfamiliar effort. It usually settles within days. If pain is sharp or lingers, see a doctor or physio, and read about common running injuries.
• Rest day (يوم راحة): a day with no running. It is when your body adapts, not wasted time. See rest and sleep.

What do race day words mean?

• PB / PR (أفضل وقت شخصي): your personal best, the fastest you have run a given distance.
• Taper (التخفيف قبل السباق): cutting your training back in the last days before a race, so you arrive fresh.
• The wall (الحائط): the sudden, heavy fatigue some runners hit late in long races. Our guide on hitting the wall explains why it happens.
• Bib (رقم السباق): the number you pin to your shirt on race day.

Which words do beginners mix up most?

A few pairs trip everyone up at the start.

• Easy and recovery sound alike. Recovery is the very gentle jog or walk between hard efforts. An easy run is a full session at a relaxed pace.
• Tempo and intervals are both “hard”, but tempo is one long steady effort, while intervals are shorter efforts split by rest.
• Warm-up and strides are different too. A warm-up is the easy start of a session. Strides are a few short pick-ups, usually at the end of an easy run.

If you ever hear a word you do not know, ask. Coaches would much rather explain it than watch you guess in the middle of a session.

How do I use these words at the club?

Listen for them in the pace groups on Wednesday at 6:30 pm, at the track at Al Hussein Sports City, where coached intervals use reps, recovery and splits constantly. You will pick them up quickly by hearing them in context.

Monday’s Open Run at 6:30 pm is the easiest place to ask questions. It is easy, open to everyone, and nobody expects you to know the jargon. Running in Amman also adds its own words in practice: hills, heat, and early starts in summer. Our hills guide and summer heat guide cover those.

The bottom line

You do not need to memorise any of this. Most of these words describe things you already feel, such as how fast you are going, how hard it is, and how tired you are. Learning the name for them just makes it easier to talk about your running and to follow a plan.

Keep this page handy, and ask whenever a word at the track is new. If you are just starting, our beginner plan puts these ideas into a simple weekly routine.