Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Speedwork?!?!
Okay, so I need some help. I am lost when it comes to speedwork. Not that I'm all speedy or anything but I know working on it will improve my overall conditioning which is the main goal for me right now. Does anyone have any suggestions on programs or a schedule to follow for speedwork when training for longer distances? If so, could you leave me a comment or email me? (email link on my profile)
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7 comments:
Can you include me and Pokey on anything you get? We need to do it too but don't have a plan yet.
Nancy
nonrunner@gmail.com
Hi! I have a suggestion. If you go to Runner's World website, look for the Smart Coach training program, and put in a recent race time, it gives a pretty good training program for half-marathon or marathon consisting of one speedwork session, one short training run, and one long run per week. You can even use it just for the weekly speedwork sessions. I've done that, and seen great results from it. Hopefully, everything there is self-explanatory. If not, e-mail or leave a post on my blog and I'll be happy to explain. Good luck to you!
Since you are training for distance again, there are a couple of ways to do speedwork that seem to help build fast twitch muscles and get you used to the speed.
First is tempo runs, which you probably did leading up to chicago, but if not..a good tempo run is to take a mid-week long run and warm up for a mile or so then push the middle part of your run to just beyond your "goal pace", then jog a slower mile to cool down. It's interesting to see how your body slowly becomes more used to the faster pace over time.
The second would be one mile repeats, which is what I have planned to my training started again.
Some easy speedwork ideas are doing a fartlek, which is just alternating faster running with slower running during a run. This can be done based on time or distance. Another really simple idea is adding some accelerations or striders after an easy run. These help with overall leg turnover and provide benefits without a lot of pain.
These are all good suggestions. If you've never done speedwork before you don't want to jump into it and start doing it every day, ease into it.
I recommend the Smart Coach program on Runners World. The only thing I don't like about it is that it only schedules speedwork once every 3 or 4 weeks, but it will give you a good idea as to what speeds and distances you should be doing for your speedwork.
The only thing I know is that running hills work well. hal hidgon has a great book.
Thanks everyone for your help! I had already incorporated some suggestions in other trainings but wanted to get some new ideas. I really appreciate your suggestions!
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