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Forgive me for being thick as I'm new to speed training and am not sure if I've got the right idea.
I'm following a RW schedule but so far have wimped out of doing any speedwork because I'm a plodder and thought that speed work wasn't for the likes of me.
Anyway, I decided that obviously, the only way to get faster is to do speedwork and run faster doh!
Last nights session was 12 x 200m with 90secs recovery.
Now, for the 200m should you run as fast as you possibly can, or just a bit faster than normal.
Please clarify for me, coz if I'm gonna do it I want to do it right. Right?
I'm following a RW schedule but so far have wimped out of doing any speedwork because I'm a plodder and thought that speed work wasn't for the likes of me.
Anyway, I decided that obviously, the only way to get faster is to do speedwork and run faster doh!
Last nights session was 12 x 200m with 90secs recovery.
Now, for the 200m should you run as fast as you possibly can, or just a bit faster than normal.
Please clarify for me, coz if I'm gonna do it I want to do it right. Right?
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Comments
very short (200m) reps with longish rests (90s) will probably allow you to go much faster than normal running, but still way short of an all out sprint.
I would say 60s rest is more common on short reps - it takes a lot of mental fortitude to get through speed sessions that last a long time, so shorter rests can be easier to handle in a way.
I love 200m repeats and think they are highly beneficial, so I hope you find them helpful too!
Personally, I sometimes start with a few shorter recoveries (30secs or so) and slip back to 60sec rests once I'm working hard. Maintaining pace is the crucial factor though, whatever your approach.
Tough on the body - so take it easy and don't do it too often (once a week for short reps and once a week for long reps works well for lots of people)
Also 12 reps may be too many(maybe 8). As you get used to it you can either reduce the recovery or increase the reps.
You can have a number of different paces depending on what sort of race distance you are training for.
So you may do some reps at, or slightly faster than, your current 5k, 10k, or half marathon pace over a variety of distances.
If for example you were training for a marathon you may want to try a smaller number of repetitions (4-6) over some longer distances of between 800 mtrs - 1500 mtrs at say your 10 kms pace in order to build up speed endurance.
Or if you are training for a 5k race you may want to do 200-400 mtrs at faster than 5k pace (maybe your target time) building up to 8-10 in the first couple of months of introducing speedwork into your plans.
The important thing is to have fun doing them. It's bound to hurt a bit but that's part of the attraction as it definitely does work and you'll see hte benefit in your results. One word of caution : only do one interval session per week, whether that's hills, intervals, fartlek etc. Any more and you'll line yourself up for injury.
Best of luck!!
I do do Fartlek with lamposts, but that's not quite the same really, is it? And I wanna get quicker too!
Accuracy not crucial I think, but repetitions have to be the same to have meaning in terms of pace judgement and progress, so find a fixed distance and stick with it - I don't really like lampost running for this reason (my club seems fond of it though)
I am following the RW 10min/Mile Marathon Schedule.
Feel a bit more sure of what I'm supposed to be doing now.
Cheers
Dolly
I do nearly all my speedwork on my treadmill (the best single investment I ever made): otherwise I do timed fartlek sessions out on the road : that's more a perceived effort thing than a scientific measurement : so 8 mins at what to me feels like 10 k race pace with say 2 mins rest x 6 or 8 depending on how knaclered I am!! or 45 secs flat out with 30 secs recovery etc.
I always get to test out my "real" speed back on the treadmill whatever happens!
Why train your anaerobic system for an event taking you over 4hrs?!? If you had a test that was 99.9% Spanish and 0.01% French what are you going to spend your time revising..?
Lots of easy aerobic running will not only bring the time down but give you a platform for future progress.