Mild Weather and a Speed Workout
Last night I got home about 1½ hours late from work, but as my wife was busy around the house she kicked me out (get out of my way) to run. Of course I don’t need much prodding, I barely stopped to change before rushing out to complete my 14K/8.7M route.
It was a pleasant 27C/81F, sunny, and with a gentle breeze blowing as warmed up the first few minutes. As I passed over the bridge spanning the highway splitting my town with the neighboring town of Spoeck, I picked up the pace. As I made my way over the field paths, past Spoeck, and to the forest behind this town I just kept picking up the pace until I was cruising around 5:00/K (8:03/M), just under my 10K race pace. I continued on along the edge of the forest, eventually looping back through the lush forest trail within, all the while trying to maintain my tempo. Just before popping out into the sunlight I passed the tree marking my 10K point, 51:37, not too shabby for a grandpa ;-)
I slowed down for about a kilometer, but still feeling good, picked it up again as I headed over the dirt paths through the fields, running a kilometer in 4:51 (7:48/M). I finished the last two kilometers at a gentler tempo, then walked around the block a couple times to cool down. My average pace for the 14K/8.7M run was 5:06/K (8:12/M) which is a good solid speed workout for me, and with the mild temperatures, a most satisfying run.
Question of the day: What is your interpretation of a "speed workout"? Of if you prefer, what kind of speed training do you do?
There are lots of way to train to increase your speed. What generally fits best to my schedule is to run all or part of my 14K route as fast as I can. Probably primitive to many of you, but I'm not training for a 10K, only trying to add some faster paced running to my otherwise slow marathon/ultramarathon training runs. I'd love to hear what you do (or would like to do ;-)
Comments
well, speedwork can consist of anything from running periodic faster paces during a run, to hitting specific times and intervals on a track.
fartlek's, pick-ups, intervals, tempo...they all help with speed.
i typically do three types of runs for speedwork. first, some of my regular training runs are progressive, where i start out mild and then hammer it home on the last mile or two. i'll often do this on long runs, too, where, say on a 20 miler, the first 15 will be at lsd pace, with the last 5 at marathon pace. next, i'll often do fartlek or pick-ups during a workout. like yesterday's 8 was to include seven times one minute hard, one minute recovery. and finally, there are the track workouts. usually those consist of 2-3 miles of warm-up and 2-3 miles of cool down, with varying quantities of varying distances. 10x800 or 20x400 or 5x1 mile, with a specific time or distance recovery in between each interval. i'll usually hit the track for the shorter distance intervals, and stick to the road on longer distances.
in a nutshell, that's what i do for speedwork.
Posted by: jeff | August 8, 2006 3:15 PM
Hmmmm. Speedwork. For me, it usually consists of darting across the road whenever there is a break in traffic. Kind of like intervals, don't you think?
Seriously, I don't really "do" speedwork. Maybe now that I am healthier I'll get a chance to give it a try. In the past I've struggled too much with the imposed hr limits to be able to pull it off. Maybe now that it is consistantly lower, I'll be able to. For now I run a lot of hills, which is supposed to help.
Posted by: backofpack | August 8, 2006 4:27 PM
speedwork = running away from wildlife as fast as I can go :)
4-mile fartleks when I fill like it
8-mile tempo runs occasionally
and I dream of doing speedwork at a track...
Posted by: angie's pink fuzzy | August 8, 2006 8:22 PM
Thanks for stopping by the blog. I'm impressed by the way you can cruise. Stop by any time.
Posted by: craig | August 9, 2006 5:50 AM
Speedwork to me is anything that's faster than marathon pace.
That includes tempo runs, intervals, strides, fartleks and progression runs, which just about covers the whole spectrum.
Posted by: Thomas | August 9, 2006 9:21 AM
Some of my runs might be classified as tempo runs. But other than that I really haven't done much speed work. My goal for my next training cycle is to get to a track and do some 400 and 800 intervals.
Posted by: Sarah | August 9, 2006 9:36 PM
I must say I never really set out to do speedwork. I have the weeks mileage that I stick to, and depending on how I feel, I'll do a tempo run or not.
Tempo run for me is all about heart rate. I normally keep my HR in the low 130s for my easy and long runs. I bring it up to mid 150s for speedwork. I can only go by my HR because the humidity can be so bad here. And I make sure not to do any speedwork or strength training three weeks before my A race--which is the Chicago Marathon this year.
Posted by: Lora | August 10, 2006 1:56 PM
I enjoy progressive paced runs where I start with a 8 minute mile and run 5 to 6 miles finishing the last mile as fast as I possibly can. My other favorite is mile repeats on the track. Oh, and I say favorite in a painful sort of way.
Posted by: Rob | August 10, 2006 3:27 PM