Faster! Faster! Faster! - Speed Training (Workout Suggestion #1)

Now that Spring training for Kenyan Way has started up again, Wednesdays (or Thursdays) become ‘speed training’ day. 
 
The same holds true in the Fall once marathon training starts up, however the distances and types of speed training during marathon training is different (or can be) than that of someone who is training for shorter distances (5K – 21K). 


Personally I don’t do a lot of the speed workouts when marathon training other than some mile repeats and Yasso’s every now and then, but most of the time I skip them and just run the mileage.  I will do my at GMP mileage in my long runs as directed, but that’s about it and then again, not always.

I actually like the speed workouts in the Spring.  They usually consist of repeats of anywhere from 200m – 1200m, with ‘ladders’ thrown on some days, or what I like to call ‘poles’ etc. 

I thought that I would post an entry each week with what my speed workout was, just to give anyone curious, an idea of the different ones that we do. 

Also you can go to this site and see all kinds of links that will give you so much information on speed work, why it’s important, and how it helps.  

Additionally, speed workouts can be done either on the treadmill, at the track or even on your neighborhood street (if you know the distances/use a Garmin).  Some of the workouts for speed I actually prefer to do on the treadmill, while others I love to do them outside at the track or the park.

Another great product of adding speed work into your workouts/runs is that it is a huge calorie/fat burner!  Even intervals (slow/med/slow/med) in just a normal everyday run can actually burn more calories during and post-run than if you just did a slower mid-long distance run.

Before I get into this weeks speed workout that I had, I would like to mention that you might want to go over to McMillans Calculator to determine what you should be running your sprints/repeats/intervals at. 

I am lucky that with Kenyan Way, I input online what my best 5K time is, what my goal time is for whatever distance (in this case, I am using my goal ½ marathon time that I have), so that when I print out my schedule I know what pace(s) I need to be doing my workouts at on any given Wednesday (and my other runs as well)

 ******************************************************************

This week’s speed workout is what I call ‘ladders’. 

Basically the idea is to run 1 min/2 min/3 min/4 min/5 min/4 min/3 min/2 min/1 min with a corresponding recovery in there as well.  Example:  1 min at 10K pace (which would be slower)/1 min at 5K pace (which would be faster), then 2/2, 3/3 etc.  Or another example would be to do 1min at marathon pace (even slower than 10K pace)/1 min at 5K pace (which would be faster).  Then once you do the 5/5 you go back down the ‘ladder’ (4/4 3/3 2/2 1/1)

This is definitely one of the speed workouts that I prefer to do on the treadmill.  It’s easier to monitor, and it keeps me on pace for the entire time duration of both speeds.

Work Out

• 2 mile warm up (nice and slow) Note: schedule says: 1-3 miles warm up
• ‘ladders’  Note: schedule says to negate the 5/5 if it makes the work out is too long
• I did:  1/1 2/2 3/3 4/4  (alternating between marathon pace and 10K pace); my legs/body were sore as all get out and I went at it a bit slower than I probably would have otherwise
• At the 5/5 I did a tabata session (4 min of 20sec on/10sec off).  My pace was 8:40 for the tabata.
• Then I went back down 4/4 3/3 2/2 1/1 (Note: after the tabata, I ran the first 4 as slow, then faster on the 2^nd giving me time to recouperate from the tabata
• Cooled down by walking for a couple of minutes

You may be wondering why I strayed from the 5/5 and threw the tabata in there and the answer is quite simple.  As I mentioned I was sore and tired and it was already a stretch for me to do this workout to begin with, so when the 4/4’s were difficult for me to finish/concentrate on I knew the 5/5 was going to be a bust, so I knew that a 4 min tabata at a faster pace would be the same and it seems to go faster so I knew I could power through it.

And I was right.

Afterwards, I hit up the weights for only about a half hour or so, not really concentrating on any particular muscle group in general; just trying to get back into the routine after being sick.  Did some legs, triceps, chest, shoulders and biceps; using machines that would work more than one muscle group at a time for maximum benefits in a minimal amount of time.