Char’s Fitness Weblog

Distances

From Dave’s to the bridge by the golf course on the Burke Gilman and back 3.4 miles 

From Dave’s, around the neighborhood, past the gas station and back 1.8 miles

From Dave’s to the elementary school and back 3 miles

From Dave’s, past the elementary school, to the end of the road and back 4.2 miles

From Cool Running

The Building Blocks

This section focuses on the three basic varieties of speed workouts (fartlek, intervals and tempo runs), along with the benefits of each and the most productive ways to use these tools. Meanwhile, don’t forget to review our pointers for hill workouts. 

Fartlek “Fartlek” is Swedish for “speed play” and consists of bursts of speed in the middle of a training run. Essentially, it’s an unstructured interval session, the track without the rules. Fartlek gets your legs used to a variety of paces and in the process gives you an enhanced awareness of your ability to keep up those paces at various distances.After warming up, run at an easy training pace, throwing in bursts of speed for various distances throughout the run. Vary the speed and times of the speed sections, from as short as 15 seconds to as long as two or three minutes. Between these bursts, allow yourself enough recovery time to match roughly 2/3 of the effort time. The recovery pace, though, should be faster than the recovery jog you might do during intervals on the track; keep it moving at an easy training pace.It’s a good idea to pick out a landmark — a tree or a fire hydrant or a bend in the path — where a speed section will end before you start picking up the pace. In other words, you have to know how far you are running for each section. Because the idea is to keep up a constant pace until you reach that landmark, it is important to pace yourself at the beginning. Don’t tear off so fast that you can’t keep up the pace through the end of each speed section.A fartlek session can be as easy or as difficult as you wish to make it. Use fartlek for anything from a light recovery run to a grueling workout. As always, however, start out easy. Your first fartlek sessions should contain distances and paces that you feel comfortable with and that you feel you can gradually increase in future sessions. A twenty to thirty-minute fartlek session should be adequate for most runners. There is very little reason for them to go as long as an hour.

IntervalsThe track. While most elite runners get their start there, the great majority of runners came to the sport by way of local roads, sidewalks and forest paths. For the average runner, the track seems all too intimidating, almost scary. Fact is, though, the track is not simply the domain of the elites. Any runner at any level can improve her performance with a little help from the 400-meter oval. This is what intervals are about.Interval sessions are the most formal of speed workouts in that the distances and target paces are precisely fixed before you run. The idea is to run a series of relatively short repetitions over distances from 220 yards to one mile, with rest periods of slower running in between. Because of their very nature, intervals involve a shorter period of effort than your usual run of, say, 45 minutes at a steady pace. This allows you to run much faster than you usually do, adapting your body to higher demands and your leg muscles to faster turnover. Over time, you become more physiologically efficient.Because of the clearly measured distances, the track is an ideal place to do intervals, but some may find the never-changing scenery to be, well, maybe just a little dull. In that case, you should feel free to do your intervals on the road, using permanent landmarks to measure distance.The various distances, as you might guess, are each best suited to runners with specific goals. The 220-yard run (1/2 lap, or 200 meters) is best for short-distance training (5K and under) to improve speed. The 440 (one lap, or 400 meters) helps improve overall conditioning at slower paces, and at faster paces is good final race preparation. The 880 (two laps, or 800 meters) is used to develop speed when training for races 10K and under and to condition form and pace when training for longer races. Finally, the mile is used most often to train for longer races, from 10K to marathon, to help improve pace judgment and overall conditioning.

Tempo RunsThis is hands-down the least complicated variety of speedwork. There are no distances to keep track of, no split times to remember, no hassles. All you have to do is run faster than your usual training pace, somewhere right around your 10K race pace. Unlike most speedwork which consists of relatively short bursts of high effort, tempo runs call for a single sustained effort. The result is that your body learns race economy: running at a fast pace for relatively long periods of time. Tempo runs will give your top speed a boost, too. By running nearly at race pace, your body becomes accustomed to running close to its upper limit (though not exceeding it). In doing so, you actually increase that upper limit, and you become gradually faster.After your usual warmup routine, run at your easy training pace for at least ten minutes. Then pick up the pace. As mentioned above, this speed should be right around your 10K race pace (around 80%-85% of maximum heart rate, if you use a heart rate monitor). The time, distance and pace of your tempo run, as with all phases of your running, depends on both your ability and your goals. For the distance you choose (3 and 5 miles are popular tempo distances), find a pace that is not so fast that you cannot sustain it for the distance, but not so slow that you do not feel challenged toward the end. Tempo runs should be tough, but not impossible. Depending on how you feel on any given day, how much spring is in your legs, and how far you are running, your tempo pace may vary from session to session. That’s fine. The consistency that counts is the pace within each session. Try to keep your speed level for the full length of each tempo run.Don’t worry too much about figuring out the exact distance of your tempo run. It’s really not terribly important. Three to six miles is probably a good range. The one value of knowing how far you are running, though, is that you are able to gauge your improvement over time. Still, this is easily done by doing most of your tempo runs on the same route. You may not know the specific distance, but you can still compare your times for that same fixed route.Every runner has different needs, and you should tailor your speedwork program to both your ability and your training goals. Seems like common sense, but juggling the variables of distance, repeats and rest intervals can be a confusing business. Never fear, Cool Running is here with some handy guidelines to help you design a personal speedwork program.First, as a general rule, be conservative. While speedwork is the best and fastest way to improve, it is also the best and fastest way to injure yourself. Increase the intensity and duration of your workouts only gradually. Push yourself, but as always, don’t overtrain. Listen to your body and don’t be afraid to quit a session if you feel you’ve reached your limit. If, for example, you are running track intervals and you find it impossible to maintain the same pace through all your repeats, you should strongly consider calling it quits for that session and adjusting your pace the next time around.

How Far?In general, you should run shorter repeats if you’re preparing for shorter races and longer repeats if you’re preparing for longer races. The longer the distances, the fewer repeats you should run.The total mileage of a speed workout, excluding your warmup, will be one or two miles for beginners and as much as five or six for experienced speedsters. You are of course welcome to run a variety of interval distances, even within a single workout, but if you are just beginning you might want to keep things simple by running one distance at first. How long that distance should be depends on your needs:220 Yards (200 meters or 1/2 lap)To train for short distances (5K and under) and to sharpen speed.440 yards (400 meters or 1 lap)To improve aerobic conditioning at slower paces and to improve speed in the last stages of preparation for short races (5K and under).880 yards (800 meters or 2 laps)To train for distances 10K and under for speed. For distances above 10K the distance helps sharpen your sense of pace and improve aerobic conditioning.Mile (1600 meters or 4 laps)To develop ability to hold onto a strong pace for significant distances, particularly for those training for longer races (10K and up, including the marathon). Like 880s, miles help sharpen your sense of pace.Short HillsYes, running hills is a form of speed work, ideal for building strength and good form. Short hills should be steep enough to give you pause, but not so steep that your form falls apart. Look for inclines between 100 and 200 yards long.Long HillsTo develop strength, stamina, and at least as important, confidence. Hills should be about 1/4 mile long and not quite as steep as your short hills.

How Much Rest?The amount you rest during the intervals between repeats is just as important as the amount you run. You need more rest when you run longer distances, faster paces or more repeats. Beginners to speedwork will need more rest than more experienced runners.The idea here is to give yourself an opportunity to recover, but not completely — just enough so that you can complete the next interval at the same pace. Depending on the speed and distance of your intervals, rest time will last between 30 seconds and three minutes. If you find that you can’t recover in this amount of time, you are running the distance too fast — slow down. Likewise, if you don’t need so much recovery time, you’re probably running too slow (or not running enough intervals).In hill workouts, your rest time is determined by how long it takes you to run back down the hill (or get to the next one). You should run up the hill at or near race pace and back down at or near your easy training pace.

How Fast?Your speed workouts will come in two flavors: on pace and fast. Your on-pace workouts will be run at race pace to get you comfortable with the pace at which you’ll run your race. Every interval in an on-pace workout is run at the same pace, preferably within just a few seconds of each other. This helps you sharpen your sense of pace and teaches you to hold back at first to save energy for the end of your workout — just like in a race.The “race pace” you are running is not your target pace for your next race; it should be the pace you think reflects your current level of fitness and your present ability to run the race distance. Over time, this pace should gradually become faster as your workouts improve.In contrast, fast workouts are run faster than your race pace. Brace yourself, these are meant to be a little uncomfortable. The payoff is that they make you tougher, better able to keep up your target pace on race day.Your pace will vary depending on the distance of the intervals you run and the amount of rest you get between them. Depending on your goals (improving race speed, adjusting to your race pace, improving strength, developing stamina, etc), you will run your intervals anywhere between a near-sprint and your 10K race pace.

Here are some quick-and-dirty guidelines for figuring out which pace might be most appropriate for you:

Near-sprintThis is the pace that it would take you to run one or two miles at maximum effort (around 20 seconds per mile faster than 5K pace, 30 seconds per mile faster than 10K). This is a pace that should be used only by very experienced runners doing 220s or, at most, 440s. Running at this blistering pace will make for an anaerobic workout that can do wonders to sharpen your speed.

Fast intervalsThis is the pace you should run for most of your fast workouts (as opposed to your on-pace workouts). It’s a shade slower than the near-sprint, about 10 seconds per mile faster than 5K pace, 20 seconds per mile faster than 10K. This pace will help you increase your race speed and improve your aerobic capacity.

5K on-pace intervalsRun your intervals at your 5K pace. If you’re training for a 5K race, this will help you get acquainted with your pace and condition you to run it comfortably. If you’re a 10K runner, this pace will sharpen your speed and help you get used to toughing out a fast pace. 10K on-pace intervalsThis pace is good for those training for 10K and higher races, making you familiar with your pace and helping you to get comfortable with it. This is also a good pace for those new to speedwork.

Begin with distanceSpecifically, begin by increasing the number of intervals that you run, while keeping the distance and speed of those intervals the same. Add no more than one or two intervals at a time. Remember that you should be able to run all of your intervals at the same pace. If you are not able to maintain your speed, you are probably not yet ready to increase the number of intervals; go back to the original number for a few more workouts.After you have done several workouts and added a few intervals to your routine, try increasing your pace slightly. This should be on the order of 1 or 2 seconds per 440 (or 5 to 10 seconds off your mile pace). As you do this, decrease the number of intervals that you run. As you get comfortable with this new pace, gradually increase the number of intervals as you did with your original pace.The idea, of course, is to build up your speed gradually and in steps. Be patient. It will take some time for your body to respond and adapt to tougher workouts. If you are new to speedwork, you will very likely make rapid gains in the first few weeks. Over time, however, it will become more and more difficult to become faster. Don’t be surprised or disappointed if it takes several months to increase your per mile pace by even a few seconds. Uphill Battle  Be cautious about hillwork if you have an injury in your calf or achilles tendon. Even if you do not, you should still be sure to stretch these areas of your legs especially well before starting.While our speedwork programs are built around running sprint repeats on one hill, there’s no particular reason that you should stick to this. Running a rolling course with numerous hills will also do the trick while adding the change of scenery that makes running so pleasurable. Wherever you choose to run, make sure that the course will give you the opportunity to run at least five or six hills 200 yards long or more.Remember that the idea of hill work is to negotiate the hills efficiently, with as little disruption as possible to your rhythm. Think of yourself rolling over the hill, almost as if it isn’t there. Concentrate on keeping your upper body relaxed, while you let your legs do the work.On gradual inclines, try to run a bit harder than you had been running on the flat before the hill. On steeper inclines, concentrate on lifting your knees and pushing off hard with every step. This attention to your “vertical” motion is at least as important as your forward motion up the hill. The steeper the hill, the more you should lift your knee; on the steepest inclines try to lift your knees so high that your thighs reach horizontal. The strong push-off and high knee lifts will increase both your stride length and the range of motion in your hips: voila, you’ve increased your speed.Even for very long hills (a mile or longer), try to maintain the exaggerated knee lifts. The benefits will make themselves known soon enough. The knee lifts, incidentally, are not easy. But even with the extra workout, your legs take less of a pounding running uphill than when running hard on the flat or downhills - you’re not hitting the ground as hard.As you reach the top of each hill, focus on running all the way over the top until your reach the flat, and pick up your regular running rhythm again. Use the flat or downhill on the other side for recovery. As always during the easy portion of any speedwork, keep running - even if at a gentle jog.Go carefully on the downills - they can dish out a nasty pounding, particularly to your quads. The best way to run downhills is to lean into them, to the point that you feel you’re about to fall on your face. Try to get your legs turning over as fast as you can with short, quick strides. Not only does this help reduce the pounding on your legs, but it also helps you increase your stride frequency. With a little practice, you’ll find yourself running down hills with less effort, less pounding, and more speed. Not a bad combination.Those just beginning hill workouts will likely find hills a struggle at first, but before long hills become more of a friendly challenge than a mortal enemy. The more you run hills, the more you’ll find yourself adjusting to them automatically and your stride shifting to “hill mode” without any thought or effort.