Speed Work Guidelines

I’ll show you what interval workouts are best for the most popular race distances.
Here are some general guidelines:

• ➤ Aim for a total of 15 to 20 minutes of hard running in your workout. This range means that the shorter your intervals, the more you should do of them. Don’t do more than 25 minutes total of hard running in a single workout.
• For intervals that take longer than five minutes to complete, allow a recovery time of about 50 percent of the time it took you to complete the interval. For example, if you run a fast mile in eight minutes, recover for four minutes before running hard again.
• For intervals that take from three to five minutes to complete, allow a recovery of about 75 percent of the time it took you to complete the interval. For example, if you run a fast half-mile in 3:30, recover for 2:30 before running hard again.
• For intervals that take less than three minutes to complete, allow a recovery time that lasts roughly as long as it took you to complete the interval. For example, if you run a fast quarter-mile in 1:40, recover for 1:40 before running hard again.
• Have the workout planned before you start. If you make it up as you go along, you’re more likely to quit too early.
• Figure out what your goal pace for an interval is in terms of time per lap, and then try to hit that pce on each lap. For example, if you want to run each of your interval miles in eight minutes, try to run each lap as close to two minutes as possible.
• Your time from interval to interval shouldn’t vary by more than 10 seconds per mile. If you run two interval miles in 8:00 each, and then a third one in 8:30, you did the first two too quickly.

How fast to run depends on how long your intervals are. I’ll show you how to figure that pace for specific workouts in the next three chapters.
Some runners add variety to their interval workouts by doing a ladder, or varying the distance of the intervals. The name comes from the visual image of going up in distance, and then coming back down by the end of the workout. For example, you might run two quarters, and then a half-mile interval, and then a mile interval to finish the climb up the ladder. Then you would come back down as you went up, with a half-mile interval and two quarters.
Ladders can help to break up a workout psychologically. You can tell yourself, “OK, just one hard mile, and then they all get shorter the rest of the workout.” If you sometimes need to coax yourself into finishing your speed work, ladders can be helpful. In general, though, it’s better to stick with intervals of one distance so that you practice pushing yourself mentally as your fatigue increases. That’s certainly how it happens in races!

Tips on Speed Work

The most popular place to do speed work is at a standard 400-meter outdoor track. Such a track is precise and unvarying, so you get objective feedback about how fast you’re running. When you do speed work on the track, you’re doing intervals.
An interval workout has a defined structure. First, you run fast for a specified distance (usually one to four laps, which equals one-quarter to one mile). You have a rest interval of a set length, expressed either in distance or time, during which you jog very easily to recover from the fast run. At the end of that interval, you run fast again. You repeat this process for the number of times you had planned at the start of your workout.
Technically, the term intervals refer to the recovery portion of the workout, but everyone has his or her own usage for this term. Some people call the fast runs the intervals, as in, “I’m going to do mile intervals today.” (I will use the term this way in this book.) Other people don’t use the intervals term at all; they call the fast runs repeats, as in, “I’m going to do half-mile repeats today.” Don’t let them confuse you. If they talk about doing intervals, that refers to the workout as a whole; it means they’re doing speed work on the track. (Some runners just say they’re “doing a workout,” meaning that they’re going to do intervals as opposed to a normal training run.)
Most runners do intervals of one to four laps. Doing intervals that are one lap long is called doing quarters, because a 400-meter track is just short of a quarter-mile long. That’s a standard distance for intervals, but for the wrong reason. Seems so logical to do one lap fast at a time, so quarters have become a regular part of many people’s training.
But unless you’re going to be racing the mile, quarters don’t help most runners as much as longer intervals do.
Quarters are too short to require any real sustained effort, so you have to do tons of them to get the benefits that you get from fewer numbers of longer intervals. When you do longer intervals, such as two laps or four laps, you’re working at the intensity that’s going to be required of you in races for a longer period of time on each interval. Running fast for a longer time provides a better stress to your system.
How do you structure an interval workout? What’s best depends on what race you’re training for. If you’re concentrating on 5Ks, then you’re better off runnin shorter intervals at a slightly higher intensity. If you’re getting ready for a half-marathon, you should do longer intervals at a bit slower pace.

On the Fast Track: Speed Work

Speed work is the best way to train the physiological systems that are stressed when you race. Your regular daily runs give you the base to cover the distance; striders help you to run fast smoothly; long runs give you a little extra boost of endurance so that you can keep running strong when you get tired. But to boost your performance in a race, you need to do some running at the pace that you hope to maintain in the race or even a little bit faster.
Running fast works in the same general way as running long does. After you do a long run, your body rebuilds itself so that it’s better prepared the next time that you try to do such a silly thing. Same thing with running fast—your leg muscles get more used to turning over quickly, your heart gets used to working at a higher rate for a sustained time, and your lungs get used to processing a lot more oxygen. Just as important, your mind gets used to putting up with a certain kind of pain, but persisting nonetheless.
When you do speed work at the right intensity, you’re going to be near your maximum effort. A little voice (OK, sometimes it’s huge) inside your head will beg you to get off this crazy ride. You’ll learn how to keep this voice at bay as you become more used to pushing yourself to keep running fast despite your fatigue. By combining the physical and mental benefits of speed work, you’ll be able to sustain a faster pace in your races. Aim for one speed workout a week when you’re building toward a race. The best ways to make speed work more bearable are to stay focused on your race goal to remind yourself why you’re doing it and (does this sound familiar?) to do speed work with others of similar ability (see the following figure). Many runners who run on their own every other day of the week seek out people to do speed workouts with. They know that they’ll be less likely to bag the workout when they’re running with others, and they know that sharing the effort with others helps the workout to pass more quickly.

Warming Up and Cooling Down

You should start all of your runs at a gentle pace and spend the first 5 to 10 minutes of the run building to your normal training pace. This gradual building allows your muscles, heart, and lungs to warm up and work better when you want to get going. You also should ease off during the last bit of a run to allow your heart rate to return to normal more gradually. When you start doing races and fast workouts like the ones in this chapter, you need to make your warm-up and cool-down much more pronounced. Most people know that they should warm up before trying to do something hard, whether it’s running fast, lifting a heavy weight, or what have you. The best way to warm up for any activity is by doing that activity at a low level of effort. So a weightlifter might do a few bench presses at a very low weight, and runners might run one to three miles very slowly before they try to run fast.
Where many runners fall short is on the other end of the workout. They neglect to do a good cool-down after a hard effort. Usually that’s because they’re exhausted, and think that more running is just going to exhaust them more. But cooling down (you’ll also hear runners call it warming down, but that’s really the opposite of what you’re doing) helps you recover more quickly from your hard efforts. When you finish a race or a hard workout, your heart rate is near its maximum, and waste products have built up in your muscles. You’re tired, so you plop down and consider yourself done for the day. The next time you run, your legs are still sore because those waste products have pooled in your muscles. A good cool-down flushes those waste products out. Cool-downs don’t have to be long. One mile is often plenty. After catching your breath, run very slowly for at least 10 minutes. A cool-down run should be at a much slower pace than your regular runs. By the end of the cool-down, I guarantee that you’ll feel better.

The Long and Short of Long Runs

When I was training to be the best marathoner in the world, my long run was the focus of my week. But you don’t have to be a marathoner to benefit from long runs, and your long runs don’t have to be 20 miles or more, like mine were. What counts as a long run is relative to how much you usually run. Marathoners need to build up to at least a couple of runs of 20 miles or more before they should try to cover 26.2 miles. But for a 5K runner, a long run could be as short as six miles.
There’s no set standard for what constitutes a long run, but here’s a good guideline: Two out of every three weeks, do a run that’s at least one and a half times longer than any other run you do that week. If your normal run is three miles, then five miles is a long run for you. Hard-core runners who log 10 miles a day would say that they’re “going long” if they went 15 miles or more. If you measure your runs by time, the same standard applies. If you usually run for half an hour, then going 45 minutes or more would be a long run for you.
Many runners do a long run every week, but you don’t have to. Two out of every three weeks is a good goal. This frequency is enough to progress in boosting your endurance, but the occasional week off gives you a chance to recoup physically and mentally. A plan that many runners use is to do a long run on weekends that they’re not racing. This plan mixes things up nicely.
What do you get from doing long runs? Obviously, marathoners need to train their bodies and minds to be out there for a long time. But every runner, even ones who aren’t going to race, should incorporate runs of varying lengths into their training. When you do a long run, you deplete your muscles’ glycogen stores more than usual. During your recovery from the long run, your muscles develop the ability to store more glycogen. This means that the next time you run as far, your muscles won’t get tired as soon. Psychologically, long runs help your usual runs seem easier. When you’re used to being out there for almost an hour once a week, then your normal 30-minute runs don’t seem as daunting. And obviously, the longer you run, the more calories you burn, and the longer you’ll burn calories at an accelerated rate after your run. Long runs are great for losing weight.
Do your long runs at your normal training pace. These runs count as hard workouts because of the increased distance, not because you maintain a faster pace. You should be able to finish your long runs at the same pace you start them. If you have to slow dramatically at the end, then you’ve prematurely depleted your glycogen stores by starting too quickly.
The key to successfully increasing your long run is progressing gradually. When you can comfortably complete a long run at a given distance, try going one mile farther the next time. This is the approach I take. After my racing season ends in the fall, I take it easy for a while. My longest run for a month will be 10 miles or so. Starting in December, I’ll go 12 miles or so once a week, and then start adding one mile per long run until I’m at my target distance.
Make your long runs special. Try to do them in a nice setting, and try to do them with friends. These factors will make these runs more enjoyable, and the miles will pass more easily.

Smooth Striding

One of the best ways to introduce fast running into your program is by doing striders. Striders are good because they’re fast enough to teach your muscles and nervous system how to run smoothly at a fast pace, but they’re so short that they don’t fatigue you. Striders don’t really count as a hard workout. Still, I think that all runners should do them once or twice a week. Striders move you through a fuller range of motion than regular moderate runs. They also feel great—it’s fun to run at close to top speed, knowing that you’re only going to be doing so for 20 seconds or so. Most runners do striders at or near the end of a normal run. When you do striders, do 8 to 12. Some runners like to do them on the straightaway of a track, so they know that they’re going about 100 yards and that the footing will be good. But you can do them anywhere you can run smoothly for 100 yards at a time on a flat, level surface. A good day to do striders is the day before a fast workout or a long run. Striders wake up your body from the usual plodding. That’s why most serious runners also do a few striders just before starting a fast workout or a race.
The key to doing striders is to stay relaxed. Watch the top sprinters in the world, and you’ll see that although they’re running faster than 25 miles per hour, their entire bodies, especially their shoulders, neck, and face, are incredibly relaxed. Shoot for this lack of tension when you do striders. Accelerate smoothly to what feels like the fastest pace you could maintain for half a mile. Try to reach that speed by halfway, hold that speed for a bit, and then gradually slow down. Wait a minute or so, and then start your next strider. Striders are a great way to improve your running form. By learning to run smoothly when you’re running at close to top speed, you become better able to do so at all speeds. On each strider, concentrate on one aspect of good running form. For example, concentrate on keeping your shoulders low and relaxed during one strider. On the next, think about maintaining a quick, smooth turnover of your feet. On the next, concentrate on keeping your hands cupped, relaxed, and passing your body at about your waist. Pretty soon, you’ve done your 8 to 12 striders.

The Hard-Easy Principle in Running Training

I told you that you progress in your running by applying a stress, allowing enough recovery time for your body to rebuild itself a little stronger, and then applying a slightly higher stress. When you start adding different types of workouts, apply that principle to your training as a whole. You want to start training by the hard-easy principle—you run faster or longer than usual on one day, and then follow that day with a run that’s shorter or slower than usual.
The hard-easy principle helps you in two connected ways. Say I have a fast track workout planned for Wednesday. On Tuesday, I’ll be sure to run very easy. This might mean running a bit less than usual, and it definitely means running at a slow pace for the entire run, no matter how good I feel. This slow pace reserves my body’s strength for the next day and allows me to have a better workout than if I had gone into it more tired. By running easy before a hard effort, you progress because you’re able to get more out of yourself on your hard days.
For at least one day after my fast workout on Wednesday, and more often two days, I’ll take it easy again. After a hard workout, it’s usually easy to go slow enough because I’m beat from the previous day’s work. Taking it easy allows me to consolidate the gains from my hard workout and helps me to avoid injury. If you run too fast or long on the day after a hard workout, then you’re risking injury or staleness later on. Your body needs that chance to rebuild itself.
Remember that the general rule is to plan an easy day the day before a hard workout and allow for at least one or two easy days after a hard workout. By hard workout I mean either a run that includes at least a couple of miles at race pace or faster or a run that’s much longer than usual. What counts as an easy day varies among runners. For some runners, an easy day means a day of no running—that’s certainly a good way to make sure you don’t work too hard! In running terms, an easy day means making sure that you can pass the talk test the entire run.
Before and after fast running, it’s OK to run your usual distance, as long as you keep the pace easy. Before and after runs that are longer than usual, you should not only keep the pace easy, but also run a shorter distance than usual. The longer runs drain your glycogen stores.
The day before, you don’t want to run too far because you might start your long run low on glycogen. The day after a long run, your muscles will still be a little low on fuel, so you’re risking injury if you ask them to go too far.