re: Official Running Log/Marathon Training Thread

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

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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.

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

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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