Running Glossary — do you speak runner ?

RUNNING CULTURE

Drop 

This one lives in your shoe. Drop is the height difference between the heel and the forefoot of your running shoe. It has a crucial biomechanical impact, directly influencing your posture and your foot strike. High drop (8–12mm): the most common, encourages heel striking and good shock absorption — the comfort option. Mid drop (4–8mm): promotes a mid-foot strike, more natural for many runners. Low / zero drop: minimalist, encourages forefoot striking, forces your foot and calf to absorb impact naturally. Better for your knees, harder on your calves and Achilles tendons. Warning: never change your drop suddenly. Injury is almost guaranteed.

Pasta Party 

As the name suggests, pasta is involved. Delicious. And as the name doesn’t suggest, there’s very little party about it. The pasta party is a meal — usually organised the evening before a marathon — where runners gather to load up on carbohydrates ahead of the race. Officially: it’s nutritional strategy. Unofficially: it’s the only dinner where eating three plates of pasta is considered serious athletic preparation.

The marathon Wall (yes, with a capital W) 

Many runners end up doing a spot of bricklaying at some point — usually during a marathon, which is not the most convenient moment to take up a new hobby, it has to be said.

So what is the Wall?

It’s a brutal mutiny by your body against what you’re asking of it: your legs stop cooperating, your morale disappears, and everything just… stops. Usually somewhere around the 30km mark. Why does it happen? During intense effort, your body runs on glycogen — your premium fuel. Problem: those reserves are limited, lasting roughly 90 minutes at marathon pace. When the tank runs dry, your body switches to burning fat, which is far less efficient at high intensity. And everything slows down. Everything.

How do you avoid it?

By turning left just after the tree at km 29.8? No. There are other ways. The essentials:

• don’t go out too fast. Stick to your target pace — and calculate it properly during your training.
• Carbo-loading in the days before maximises your glycogen stores.
• During the race, fuel regularly — gels, energy drinks — every 30 to 40 minutes, to delay the crash.
• And long-distance training teaches your body to use fat as a backup fuel source. Not optional.

=> Learn what really happened on the very very first marathon ever – the (possibly) true story

Download urbirun’s sightrunning route to explore Rhodes

PB / PR (Personal Best / Personal Record) 

Your PB or PR is your fastest ever time over a given distance. It’s the number you claim to care nothing about — just like every other runner — while frantically checking Strava fifteen times after a race. Your own time first. Then everyone else’s. Being a runner doesn’t mean you can’t be a tiny bit nosy.

DNF (Did Not Finish) 

A DNF means a runner didn’t complete their race. Injury, heat, poor pacing, digestive issues, an unexpected encounter with the Wall, or simply a bad day: it happens to the best of them. And honestly, most long-distance runners will experience at least one DNF in their running life. If it happens to you — it’s fine. No worse than a DNS (Did Not Start), as long as the reason isn’t just… nerves.

RACE STRATEGY

Negative Split 

Nothing to do with the charming Croatian city. A negative split means running the second half of a race faster than the first. It’s a sign of a well-managed race. So a negative split is actually a positive thing. In theory, it’s the perfect strategy. In practice, it’s usually what you planned before going out way too fast in the first kilometre. Pulling off a negative split requires: pacing discipline, patience, experience, and occasionally, an ego that knows when to stay quiet. Most commonly used in marathons and half marathons. 

• And since we’re talking about Split — the Croatian city this time — remember you can download a sightrunning route to run and visit this city

Carbo-Loading 

Also known as Pasta Obsession or Carbophilia: loading up on slow-release carbohydrates (complex carbs) before a long race. It won’t make you run faster, but it might help you run longer at your optimal pace. Good glycogen stores push back the point of energy depletion — and may help you avoid the dreaded Wall. Your best sources: pasta, rice, potatoes. The ideal timing: a few days before your race, when you’ve already started reducing your training load. But it’s not a free pass to eat anything and everything — focus on carbs, and cut back on fat and fibre to avoid overloading your stomach. Don’t panic if you gain a kilo or two — that’s energy and water you’ll need. Note: only really useful for longer distances (half marathon and above).

Tapering 

Tapering is the training phase — or strategy — of progressively reducing your training load in the weeks leading up to a major race. If carbo-loading fills the fuel tank, tapering lets the engine rest so it’s at full power on race day. The goal is to reduce fatigue without losing fitness. How? Cut duration and distance (usually by 40 to 60%). Maintain intensity: keep doing hard efforts (race pace, intervals), but shorter — “keep the engine warm” without burning it out. Maintain frequency: same number of sessions, just shorter. The aim: arrive physically fresh on race day without losing your edge. In practice, tapering mostly means: running less, becoming paranoid about every minor ache, and suddenly feeling like you’ve completely forgotten how to run. Tapering is a strange mix of rest, impatience, and existential doubt.

TRAINING

Pace 

Nothing to do with your style, your outfit, or the way you walk — don’t worry. Pace is simply your speed, expressed as minutes per kilometre (or mile). You’ll hear it when someone says they’re training at marathon pace, or 10k pace — meaning the fastest speed they can sustain over that distance. Pace zones include things like easy running, tempo runs, threshold pace, and so on. 

• All you need to know about Runing Pace Zones and how to use them

Interval Training

A training method that alternates fast efforts with slow recovery periods — either by distance or by time, your call. It’s probably the most loved… and most hated workout in running. 30/30s, 400m reps, pyramids, hill sprints: a thousand variations, all with one simple goal — make you run faster for longer. 

• Learn more about interval training, how to do it, and why

Fartlek

The Nordic cousin of interval training. Swedish in origin, it literally means “speed play”. Think of it as the fun version — “I’ll sprint to that tree, then jog to the bridge”. Even better with a group, when each person takes turns setting the next target. Chaotic, effective, and surprisingly entertaining.

PHYSIOLOGY

Heart Rate HR / MHR 

Your heart rate (HR) is simply how many times your heart beats per minute — pumping blood to your muscles, your brain, and everything else that needs it during a run. Your Maximum Heart Rate (MHR) is the highest number your heart can reach during effort. It’s genetic — unique to you. Two runners at the same fitness level can have very different MHRs, so there’s no point trying to change it. What it’s useful for: defining your training zones (easy, aerobic, threshold), and therefore how hard you should be working. 

• Find out more about MHR and how to use it to improve

VO2 max & vVO2 max 

The numbers that make your legs hurt just thinking about them. VO2 max is the maximum volume of oxygen your body can absorb during effort. Think of it as the size of your engine. The higher it is, the faster and longer you can run without ending up on all fours. vVO2 max (velocity at VO2 max) is the speed at which you reach that ceiling. Go beyond it and you’ve gone anaerobic — and you’ll know about it very quickly. These are the reference points for calibrating your training, which is typically calculated as a percentage of your vVO2 max: intervals, threshold runs, long runs. Less guesswork, more real progress. Your times will thank you. Your legs, slightly less so. 

• Find out more about MHR, VO2 max and how to use them

And finally: sightrunning

Now that you speak fluent runner, there’s only one thing left to do — lace up and get out there.

But never forget to have fun, even when travelling. Because even an unfamiliar city, discovered at sunrise, in the quiet stillness of a town still waking up, can be the perfect setting for an easy run. And along the way, you might just stumble across incredible viewpoints, monuments, alleyways, or neighbourhoods you’d never have found otherwise.

No need to worry about the route: urbirun proposes dozens of sightrunning routes to download, letting you explore the world’s most beautiful cities on foot — at your own pace.

• Find out more about sightrunning

be urbirunner – run moments, not kilometers

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