Can you guys give a sample of one of these speed workouts? And how often should I incorporate these?

From a career weightlifter who's just getting into running with a goal of competing in a Half Marathon late this year or early next. Always keep a clean diet and stay lean (abs visible). Trying to focus on running now, with a few weight training/core days mixed in per week.

Brutally honest recent training stats (outside in the La. heat nonetheless) 27:00 5K (166 avg BPM/183 max), 49:00 5 miles (162/177), I trodded through 9.30 miles (166/178) in 1:40 last week at the LSU Lakes. I've been trying to run at least 20 miles per week, and am looking for any training tips I can get. Gonna start the Hal Higdon Half program in a couple weeks, with a goal of the Jazz Half in NOLA on 10/27.

Also: Is there any worthwhile work that can be done on a treadmill indoors? Generally not a fan of treadmill running at all. I work shift work so when I'm on nights, I sleep until around 11:00, then have to be back out the door for around 2:30. This leaves my only real training window between noon-2:00 or something like that. Not the best time to try and get anything done outside with the heat/dew point, although I've been doing what I can lately.

This post was edited on 7/18/18 at 8:39 pm

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Posted by McLemore

Member since Dec 2003

31587 posts

Posted on 7/18/18 at 9:26 pm to TigeRoots

I'll defer to the pros on here. But I'll chime in tomorrow. I'm beat.

I totally agree re tradmills. The other day I was running on one watching world cup, listening to music and a podcast and was still bored.

I do speed work on them when it's hot out + to avoid crazy Atlanta hills. I try to carry the incline from .5 to 3 a lot. Seems to help knees.

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Posted by 3nOut

Central Texas, TX

Member since Jan 2013

29065 posts

Posted on 7/18/18 at 11:03 pm to TigeRoots

quote:
Can you guys give a sample of one of these speed workouts? And how often should I incorporate these?

Preface:There are better runners than I on here.

I don’t go out with a specific, “todays speed work will be this, and I do it every Tuesday.”

It’s more of a supplement.

That being said I do it a few different ways. Some days I do a progression run where I try to make each mile faster.

Last one went like

8:00
7:45
7:15
6:55

You’ll find it’s easier to speed up after your heart is already going.

Some days I take off on a 4 mile run and I do 1 minute decent pace (8-8:30) then do 30 second sprint (7:30 or under)

At the track behind my house I’ll do fartleks of hard pace on straightaways easy on curves.

Then some days I just decide we’re going to try and break a 5k or 10k PR.

I might suggest strava as well. People have segments and you can run against others best times to try and get top spot. That’s honestly where I do most of my speed work. I just find an area where there’s a lot of segments and I sprint the segments and take it easy till I get to the next one.

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Posted by Salmon

On the trails

Member since Feb 2008

83653 posts

Posted on 7/19/18 at 7:16 am to TigeRoots

quote:
Can you guys give a sample of one of these speed workouts? And how often should I incorporate these?

I think its important to have at least 1 day of speedwork a week.

As for samples, there are so many, but I'll give you a few of my favorites.

400m repeats are kinda the standard. To establish a baseline, run 1 as fast as you can, then for your sprints workouts, try to keep all of them at 80% of your fastest time. Do as many as you can at 80%. Try to add as you progress.

A ladder workout is brutal but really effective if you have access to a track

example:
100m
200m
400m
800m
1600m
800m
400m
200m
100m

I'll incorporate some 800m sprints later on in my marathon training. The goal being to keep the time in minutes the same as my goal in hours as a marathon (ex: 3:30 hr marathon equals 3:30 min 800 m times)

You could do 30 seconds fartleks, where you sprint for 30 seconds, jog for 30 seconds, sprints, jog, and so on. These are good for beginners or for people without a access to track or have a gps watch. The key to fartleks is to really sprint for that 30 sec though.

quote:
Also: Is there any worthwhile work that can be done on a treadmill indoors?

Incline sprint repeats are the only thing really worthwhile IMO

I'll do these on days where its just too hot, raining, or if I couldn't run in the morning and I have my daughter in the evenings and have to go to the gym .

But there are also so many other options for cardio training in the gym, like burpees, box jumps, wall balls, etc

Anything that works the legs and keeps the heart rate up will be beneficial

This post was edited on 7/19/18 at 7:23 am

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