When should I start intervals and how many times a week and what distances if I’m doing a sprint?
I am currently running 3-4 miles 2x a week , and one long run of 6 miles 1x a week so about 12-15 miles/week. If I am only running that day I can do about a 8-815/mi pace, if doing a brick i’m 845-900. I’d like to get closer to 8min/mi for raceday. Any thoughts?
Almost any intervals will help if you’re not doing any. An old standard is 400s at open 5k pace with a 400 easy recovery jog between each one. 4-10 of these is good for starters, depending on your existing mileage base. Intervals are typically twice a week for runners (plus a weekend race), but once for many triathletes since we have other sports to worry about.
Another option is to just run some local 5Ks on the weekends that you are not doing tris.
If you can give some details on your current training volume, speeds etc. and 5k runs in triathlons I’m sure the folks here can get more specific.
Run more.
Somebody used to have the sig. line - “speedwork is the icing on the cake, and you don’t have a cake yet.”
Substitute intervals for speedwork, and you still get a similar gist.
For me (n=1), intervals do indeed help me get faster at running… right up until I inevitably get injured.
(I’m an old decrepit has-been, so you may not have this problem)
I’ve gotten (slightly) faster this year, just by being consistent, and not missing huge blocks of time for injury or illness.
Somebody used to have the sig. line - “speedwork is the icing on the cake, and you don’t have a cake yet.”
That was one of my favorites!
200m-1000m intervals between 3k-10k pace will all help. Some running should be done at faster than goal pace.
Knowing some times from a 1mile and 5K would help understand if speed or endurance is a limiting factor. Remember that a 5K is mostly aerobic so “base” fitness counts (hence the run more comment above).
I got really fast for a slow twitch using the plan in FIRST by the folks out of Furman university. It’s clear, doable and intuitive, but you’ll have some asses get on hear and tell you otherwise. Do an interval run, a tempo, and a long run .
Here’s my schedule for a non race week after establishing an aerobic base:
Monday - easy run (optional off day?)
Tuesday - speedwork on track (last workout was 6 x 800 w/ 200 jog rec at 5k race pace)
Wednesday - easy run
Thursday - progression run (start easy and gradually increase the pace to 5k race effort)
Friday - off
Saturday - Long run mixing 15-20 minutes at threshold pace, which is the pace you can hold for an hour at max effort
Sunday - easy run
If you don’t want to run 6 days a week, take off the Monday easy run, but do not skip the speedwork or long/threshold run. Of course you can do less, but you asked about running faster. There are no short cuts, it a lot of hard f-ing work unless you hit the genetic lottery.
One thing that should always be mentioned is addressing body composition. Free speed.
Get the book Daniel’s Running Formula. Seriously. Read it cover to cover and you will have no doubts on how to get running faster.
If I may, I have a related question: how to improve speed in the face of inhospitable weather conditions?
A few months ago when it was relatively cooler, I could average 6:40 in an open 5K, about 7:00 off the bike in a sprint. Nothing special, but I want to run sub 20:00. Well, I want to run as fast as possible but sub 20 seems like a reasonable short term goal, and a psychologically meaningful barrier. FWIW: 6’2" 175 and low body fat, e.g. don’t think I can cut weight without an amputation. No free speed, has to be hard work to boost fitness. My running volume is admittedly low and inconsistent, about 20 miles in a good week, so I need to improve both speed and endurance. I’ve read Slowman’s article on how to kill your 10K PR, follow the forum and read all the magazines, and think I have a grasp on the underlying concepts: run more, run long, run hills, run faster than goal pace, expand “gear range”, etc.
Here’s the problem: I live in the Florida Panhandle. I’ve read the recent threads on dealing with heat (“Am I screwing myself …” and “Ok it’s d@mned HOT”) and again I get it: suck it up, hydrate, hydrate, and slow down. Oh and run when it’s cool. Tonight, well after sunset, I did 6 miles averaging only 8:50 and thought I was going to die. I’ve lived here three years but still hate the humidity. Running intervals at or faster than goal pace (~6:20) seems like a recipe for heat stroke.
I need to build endurance for my first HIM (Austin) in October, and my goal is simply to finish, so I’ll keep putting in the miles. But how can I build speed to be competitive in local 5K’s and sprints later this summer and early fall? I hate the treadmill, but should I take speedwork inside where I can at least get a full training session in? Or do I simply need to man up and keep slogging through the heat to build mental toughness? Somehow there are always dudes clocking sub-17:00 whatever the conditions, so they’ve found a way to deal with it. I just don’t know how they train. Maybe I need to readjust my threshold for suffering? A lady tried pushing hers in a recent sprint and died. I’m willing to suffer, but I like life too …
I know there a lot of ST’ers who live down here so I’d appreciate any advice, even if it simply reaffirms that I need to STFU and keep running, infernal swamp be damned.
Ken
There was an interesting article in the newest issue of Runner’s World (which included some quotes from my Physiology professor at med school), that said that for every 5 degrees about 60 you lose a certain amount of speed…hmm…I can’t remember the exact number - but look it up, it was really interesting.
Get the book Daniel’s Running Formula. Seriously. Read it cover to cover and you will have no doubts on how to get running faster.
Funny, I just ordered this from Amazon last night. Looking forward to reading it. I don’t seem to be able to increase my mileage or intensity without injuring my legs…hoping a more structured approach might help…
just keep running the slow ass hot runs. when the weather begins to cool the fitness will be there.
Hope you get to this post…The idea that speedwork is just “icing on the cake” is crap. You can take a fat chick training for a “5K marathon” and make her faster by integrating intervals into her 10 mile weeks. IMHO, intervals are the quickest way to improve endurance, as well as speed. Bart Yasso, the legendary marathoner and editor of Runners World, has this prescription for speed work. This set is known as Yasso 1200’s:
At a track do a one mile, easy warmup.
Set your watch timer to 0:00, and then do a 1200, balls out.* Note the split time*. Jog a 400. Whie jogging, set your timer to the 1200 split time, 3:19 say, but not REALLY 3:19, 'cause that isn’t realistic. At the end of the 400 jog, start your timer, and go fast, (but NOT max) for 3:19, then easy jog for 400, re-setting to 3:19. Repeat for 4 sets. Your start/stop places will become arbitrary on the track, this workout is based on time. If you can manage more than 8 sets, you weren’t going hard enough on your opening 1200.
(The rationale behind this workout is that 1200 is the magic distance for milers. Most start to fade in the 1200 range, and if you can push through the 1200’s you will be golden for the bell lap.)
When you start each successive 1200, you should NOT be recovered from the previous 1200. This is where the growth comes from.
Do not do this more frequently than once a week, er, month.
I agree with Jack mott keep the slow running in the heat and keep your base.
If you have access to a treadmill there is no reason you cannot go inside and do some speed work on it. I am at the same level you are with the 6:40 miles for a 5k and so want to break that 20 minute barrier. I had it done in the gym and outside till 4 months of injury prevented me from doing a actual official 5k. So now almost back to where I was before. I put the gym dreadmill on a 1% to 2% incline and within 2 minutes have it going at 7.6 mph which is around a 7:58 mile. Every 2 minutes I speed it up to 8.5 mph - 9.5 mph for 2 to 2 1/2 minutes. The last 2 minutes are done at 10 to 10.5 mph. Then a minute cool down at 7.5 mph and a slow walk to locker room after :0) The work out last any where from 30 minutes to a hour depending on time. Other days if I have to work out at gym on treadmill I will do a 40 minute to hour run @ 8 to 8.5 mph and just keep it there after a two to three minute warm up. Come fall or late summer you should have that 19 and change if not better 5k. At least I hope as thats what I am doing to try to get there when I have to run inside.
I think the idea with that quote is that structured intervals are “icing on the cake”. So that 10 mile runner you mention won’t get much out of 400 repeats, but she will get something out of incorporating faster efforts within normal runs. Really, I do not think the track is necessary unless a runner gets well below 17 min in a 5k. Before that, progression runs and fartleks (focused on accumulating aerobic base) can accomplish as much without the injury risk.
I disagree…I don’t know if a track workout is necessary, but it’s the best way to gauge top-end speed in consistent conditions. What’s the big deal w/going to a track to run? Why do you have to be a 17 min. 5k runner to benefit from measurable intervals? I believe in terms of incremental gains, the more novice the runner, the larger the gains, from precise interval training. The whole point of intervals, to me, is to be precise, so you gut out those last few meters. Most newbie runners way underestimate what their potential is, and therefore never push the lactate threshold.
Also, back to Jmotts original post, one more thought: To run faster, run with faster people. Jump in w/a fast group run, and red-line your effort for as long as you can stand.
I have a similar training schedule that you do, and Im doing sprint races. I run only 3 times a week.
Ditch your 6 mile run. You don’t need to run that far if you are doing sprints. You may not even need to
do a 5 miler, depending on your conditioning. All 3 of your runs need to be fast. There are
no easy days if you can only train 3 days a week. Do 2 tempo runs, and do intervals once. This is a bitch,
especially since your brick will include a tempo run or intervals, but you will get faster.
By tempo do you mean faster than race day pace? What type of intervals, 1200m all out with a 400m recovery 3-4x?
The best way for you would be to run more, run more often, run more volume.
agree
run more, increase volume
.