Runners: Speedwork Question

speedwork helps increase you pace/speed in races and also strengthens your cardiovascular system and burn more calories. Its best if you do speedwork on a track because its the closest you can come to a road race and it makes you more aware on keeping steady at that pace. But a treadmill works just as well and a TM keeps you consistent at the pace youre working on.

I use both. TM when theres bad weather and a track on nicer days

I used to do all my speed work on a treadmill. A lot of runners do both "real runners" and recreational runners, like you and me. Most speed work is challenging, so you should be all set as long as you are running at a faster pace than you normally do. But if you want to ensure that, or if you want a challenge, increase the incline to 1% to 2%. Speedwork on a track is fine, but I get annoyed with the other runners who always seem to be running in the wrong lane. I much prefer speedwork on the road. To do this, though, you need to be a genius of innate pacing or you need to have a well mapped route (try the 'map my fitness' app, maybe) or you need a satellite watch, like a Garmin. I have a Garmin. Since I got this watch last year, I do almost all of my speed workouts on the road. I usually do one tempo and one interval work out (i.e. short-ish, fast pace) a week. Maybe, if you are new to this, start with one or the other. If you are looking for a beginners speed work-out, go to the Runners' World website (www,runnersworld.com) and look under the training tab. They have lots of good speed work suggestions for beginners, intermediate and advanced runners of all abilities. Have fun!

Up until now I've only done minor speedwork, and never with a really defined plan. I'm going to be starting this shortly and I had a question about pacing/location. Is it best to do speedwork on a track/road or on a treadmill? I feel like I might not keep a consistent enough speed on a track, but I know that running on a treadmill isn't half as difficult. Should I start on the treadmill and then move to the road once I get a better feel for it?

Or does the exactly pace not matter as long as I'm just running faster than I normally do??

Yes, no, maybe.

At where you are right now in your program, probably just running faster in any form will be of benefit--you don't need any intricate workouts right now.

The location is not that important. Just keep in mind that if you train on a treadmill, there is always some "adaptation" time to translating that into road effort.

A track is a good place for consistency because you know the exact distance and can use a stopwatch to track your pace.

I would work on both "medium" and "harder" intervals. Medium is something that is closer to 5K race pace, held for longer periods (with shorter recovery time)--you might do 1/2 mile (or the equivalent time) intervals, followed by 1-2 min recovery.

Harder days would be speeds that are in the 85%-90% effort range, but for only 1-2 min. You don't need to do anything super hard (like sprints) at this point.

Another fun thing on a treadmill is to keep the speed constant, but do a random hill program. Set the level so that the incline stays in a 1%-5% incline range and just go with the profile. That's a good way to learn to handle varied courses and maintain speed and effort when running hills.

Good luck--I saw the Naperville reference in your signature, so I looked at your profile. Small world--I live in Lisle as well. (REALLY smalll).