Hooray for cooler weather! Tonight we’re going to try a simple workout which can pay some big dividends. It’s going to help the novices understand pace while the more experienced runners will learn how to run faster as fatigue increases. To keep it simple, we’re going to use a set distance of 400m or one lap of the track for the work interval followed by an equal distance of rest. In a set of 400m laps, start at your marathon goal pace for the first, run the second at half marathon or 10 mile pace, the third at 10K pace, the fourth at 5K pace and the last at 1 mile pace. Don’t worry about the first two seeming to be pretty easy. This is a progression run and the first work intervals should feel easy. Beginners should do one set of 5 for about 2.5 miles while advanced runners can do 2 or 3 sets or double up the intervals like 2 @ MP, 2 @ HMP, 2 @ 10KP, 2 @ 5KP and 2 @ 1MP. After a 10 minute cooldown, reawaken your legs with a minimum of 3 50m strides. Now at your next race, practice increasing your pace as the race progresses, just like you did here.

Session

Warmup: 10 minutes, include arm circles, reaches and upper body warmup as well as running

Session: 5 x 400m x 400m progression (marathon pace, half-marathon pace, 10K pace, 5K pace, 1 mile pace). Advanced runners do 2-3 sets or double the segments.

Cooldown: 10 minutes followed by some basic running drills – butt kicks, high knees, skipping, heel slides, crossovers – no more than 100m each. Follow with 5 50m strides.

It’s been darn hot and sticky for the past few days so we’ll shorten up the work intervals this week and make sure we get plenty of rest in between. With long rest intervals, we’ll be focusing on maximizing speed and efficiency and working on those neuromuscular adaptations which help your muscles to work better together. Since the overall work is going to be shorter than usual, make sure to follow the session with a strong set of drills and strides, paying close attention to form and all those little places that feel a little tighter or sorer than usual. If you’re getting ready for a key race, you’ll want to cut the rest intervals in half but maintain the same work interval.

Session

Warmup: 10 minutes, include arm circles, reaches and upper body warmup as well as running

Session: 6 x 400m x 800m @ 5K race pace – 15s. Advanced runners move up to 8-10 x 400m x 600m @ 5K race pace – 30s.

Cooldown: 10 minutes followed by some basic running drills – butt kicks, high knees, skipping, heel slides, crossovers – no more than 100m each. Follow with 5 50m strides.

This week we’ll take a look at a shorter version of a training favorite, the progression run. Many runners, especially beginners, have a habit of starting too fast and then encountering problems later in the race or training run. Progression runs will help you understand your pace and how to properly apportion your effort over a long distance so that you’re not completely spent halfway through the run. The progression run is simple – slowly speed up as the run progresses so that you’re running the fastest part of the run at the very end. For our purposes on the track today, we’ll use laps as a consistent reference point so run five laps beginning at a pace slightly faster than your warmup pace and then slowly increase your speed on each lap, taking splits at each lap if you have a watch.  Each lap should be about 5-10 seconds faster than the previous with the goal of hitting your 5K race pace on the 4th lap and 10 seconds faster than 5K race pace on the final lap. Take 2-3 laps active rest and then run another progression. After a short cooldown, make sure to finish off with the standard drill set and 4-5 50m strides.

Session

Warmup: 10 minutes, include arm circles, reaches and upper body warmup as well as running

Session: 2 x 5 lap progression run x 2-3 lap jog.

Cooldown: 10 minutes followed by some basic running drills – butt kicks, high knees, skipping, heel slides, crossovers – no more than 100m each. Follow with 5 50m strides.

It’s heating up on the Cape now and race season is in full swing so this week, we’ll go into maintenance mode, taking advantage of those benefits we’re getting from racing every weekend. This training session is based on a distance we don’t run very often, 300m. That’s a 3/4 of a lap around most tracks and if we separate the work intervals with a rest interval of 200m or half a lap, our intervals will be floating around the track. This is a great way to do a workout if you’re facing a stiff wind or track conditions that change around the oval. Every lap will give you a little something different. Beginners should start with 8 work intervals, advanced runners start with 12. Pace should start at about target marathon race pace and decrease about 5-10 seconds per work interval until you’re running the last 300 at 20-30 seconds faster than your 5K race pace. Follow this up with some 50-75m strides and you’ll be all set for that next race on the calendar.

Session

Warmup: 10 minutes, include arm circles, reaches and upper body warmup as well as running

Session: 8-12 x 300 x 200.

Cooldown: 10 minutes followed by some basic running drills – butt kicks, high knees, skipping, heel slides, crossovers – no more than 100m each. Follow with 7 50m strides.

Hopefully there won’t be any cars parked on the track tonight since we’ll be needing a good open space for this week’s session, endurance step downs. As discussed already, there are two major changes that you can make when working with intervals, the duration of the work interval and the duration of the rest interval. For this session, we’ll look at the rest interval and use it to boost our endurance for 5 mile to 10K race distances. After a good 10 minute warmup, begin with a single lap with a full rest lap. Now start to shorten the rest interval by 50-100m each lap until you run 3 400m laps back to back at the same pace as you started. You should aim for your 5 mile race pace for all intervals since this session is aimed at endurance speed rather than neuromuscular speed. Intermediate and advanced runners can climb back up the ladder by slowly increasing the rest interval but at the same time, increasing the speed until the final 400m lap is at 5-10 seconds faster than 5K race pace. Advanced runners may want to try 2 x work interval (e.g. 800m work) in place of the single lap. After a few cool down laps, be sure to end with 5-10 50m strides to enhance those springy legs.

Session

Warmup: 10 minutes, include arm circles, reaches and upper body warmup as well as running

Session: 1x400x400, 1x400x300, 1x400x200, 1x400x100, 1x400x50, 3×400, 2×400 rest.

Cooldown: 10 minutes followed by some basic running drills – butt kicks, high knees, skipping, heel slides, crossovers – no more than 100m each. Follow with 7 50m strides.

Races from 5K-10K are most common this time of year and as we have a flat and fast 5K coming up this weekend, here’s a challenging speed-based workout to get you ready. The idea is to complete about 5K worth of distance in your work intervals in a combined time that is faster than your target 5K race pace. How do you do that? You take a little bit of rest in between work intervals. After a 10 minute warmup, run a descending ladder, increasing the pace and decreasing the rest interval as you go. Start with a mile and then descend through the ladder as written below. The total volume of this workout is about 10K so it’s best to do this with rest days on both sides or at least 5 days before a target race. For those who aren’t up to the volume yet, start at the first sequence of 800’s and skip the opening mile and a half. After the workout, add up the times of the work intervals. You’ve just set a 5K PR in the middle of a 10K run! Now go race that 5K.

Session

Warmup: 10 minutes, include arm circles, reaches and upper body warmup as well as running

Session: 1x1600x800, 1x800x800, 1x800x400, 1x400x400, 2x400x200, 1x200x200, 1x200x100, 2x100x100.

Cooldown: 10 minutes followed by some basic running drills – butt kicks, high knees, skipping, heel slides, crossovers – no more than 100m each. Follow with 4 50m strides.

Fartlek is typically translated as “speed play” … and that’s the order of business today. Fartlek workouts can be done anywhere, on any surface, alone or with buddies, and in any weather … because the whole point is to run fast while having some fun. Today, we’ll set up some cones around the track and you decide where you want to run fast and where you want to run slow. Run two cones fast and rest for four, run one fast and one easy, ignore the cones completely and use spots on the ground, airplanes flying over, or the soccer balls from after-school practice as your signals to start and stop. The key is to mix it up with a lot of variety and end the day with a good bout of speed. You can even ignore your watch and your pace today since it’s all about having fun while running hard!

Session

Warmup: 10 minutes, include arm circles, reaches and upper body warmup as well as running

Session: 20 minutes fartlek – cones, telephone poles, mailboxes, trees, holes, school buses, whatever gets the job done.

Cooldown: 10 minutes followed by some basic running drills – butt kicks, high knees, skipping, heel slides, crossovers – no more than 100m each. Follow with 4 50m strides.