There are four cardinal rules for effective training you need to understand and follow to optimize your results. The first rule of training is if you stress your body and then allow it to rest, it recovers becoming stronger than before. This rule suggests that if you force your body to run, it will evolve and adapt to become better at running.

The second rule of training is that by stressing your body, and then allowing it to recover, it will eventually adapt to its highest potential. The more you run, the harder your body will work to become better at running until it reaches its maximum adaptive potential.

The third rule of training is your body adapts specifically, to specific stresses. If you run up a lot of hills, your body will maximize its ability to run up hills. This training may improve your body's ability to run down hills, but not as well as running down hills would.

The fourth rule of training is there is an optimum amount of stress for every type of workout, both too little and too much stress will retard your continued development.