Question for runners...

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josiereside
josiereside Posts: 720 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I am currently in the midst of training for a half marathon. However, I am planning to do a mile race in about 2 weeks. I never really do speed work or anything like that, just basically run by how my body feels. I want to somehow incorporate speed training in my current weekday runs which are shorter, 4-5 miles. What would be the best way to do this? Get the fast running over with first? Do it toward the end?? Intervals?? and if intervals how long of a distance??
I actually did this mile race last year with no speed work training but I am in better running condition this year for sure. I did it in 8:32 last year, which I know is probably slow for a lot of you runners, but it was fast for me and I hope to beat that time. Currently when running my longer distances I am around a 10 min mile.

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  • CarsonRuns
    CarsonRuns Posts: 3,039 Member
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    What is your goal for the speed work that you wish to do? Is it to help with your mile time, HM time of some other goal? With two weeks to go before the race,t here really isn't a lot you can do to improve from where you are now.

    For the general question about when to do speed during a run, I believe it's always best to do it at the end to get the body used to running on tired legs and to ensure that you muscles are properly warmed up before you start running fast.

    One of the easiest things to incorporate are strides or pick-ups. Near the end of a run, do a set of 6 to 10 strides (run between 5K an mile race pace) for 60 to 100 meters, or from 15 to 30 seconds. How many you do and what duration depends on your current level of fitness. Start out slowly and work up. Do this once a week.

    Any other type of speed work would depend on the goal. You should include a tempo run once every two week or so. If you are aiming to improve your pace for the HM, then I would suggest more tempo and longer interval sessions (800m to 1M). The quantity and pace depends, again, upon your current level of fitness. You can use McMillan's running calculator to determine what the pace should be for your tempo run and intervals.

    http://www.mcmillanrunning.com/index.php/calcUsage/calculate
  • reggie2run
    reggie2run Posts: 477 Member
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    bump :smile:
  • josiereside
    josiereside Posts: 720 Member
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    What is your goal for the speed work that you wish to do? Is it to help with your mile time, HM time of some other goal? With two weeks to go before the race,t here really isn't a lot you can do to improve from where you are now.

    For the general question about when to do speed during a run, I believe it's always best to do it at the end to get the body used to running on tired legs and to ensure that you muscles are properly warmed up before you start running fast.

    One of the easiest things to incorporate are strides or pick-ups. Near the end of a run, do a set of 6 to 10 strides (run between 5K an mile race pace) for 60 to 100 meters, or from 15 to 30 seconds. How many you do and what duration depends on your current level of fitness. Start out slowly and work up. Do this once a week.

    Any other type of speed work would depend on the goal. You should include a tempo run once every two week or so. If you are aiming to improve your pace for the HM, then I would suggest more tempo and longer interval sessions (800m to 1M). The quantity and pace depends, again, upon your current level of fitness. You can use McMillan's running calculator to determine what the pace should be for your tempo run and intervals.

    http://www.mcmillanrunning.com/index.php/calcUsage/calculate

    My goal is to try and do better on my previous mile time, not worried about the HM. I just figure I want my legs to get used to going faster than they normally do.
    I am really not interested in doing tempo runs, fartleks, speed work in general for my running. All of that takes too much thought for me, and I use running as an unwind and prefer not to focus on how fast I should be running at different intervals. I just prefer to run how my body feels. I am not looking to break any records or win any medals.
    Thank you so much for your answer!
  • arc918
    arc918 Posts: 2,037 Member
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    Carson is a wise man.

    I also like fartleks (Swedish for speedplay) as "speedwork 101." Totally unstructured changes is pace, done on the fly as you run. Warm up for a couple miles, then full blast to the stop sign, easy to oak tree, medium pace to the telephone pole, you get the idea.
  • runfatmanrun
    runfatmanrun Posts: 1,090 Member
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    Carson is a wise man.

    This.
  • Teresa712
    Teresa712 Posts: 32
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    bump

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