Every now and then a friend will approach me with the question, “How do I get faster?”. Before I answer in depth, I usually answer with “Practice running fast.”. I know this sounds overly simple but whether you’re a sprinter or a marathoner, the best way to get faster is to do speed work. While the type of speed work will vary depending on your goals, the concepts remain the same.

 

If you’re thinking of starting speed workouts, first ask yourself, “What is my race distance?”. When you have a goal race in mind, figure out what pace you would like to shoot for in that race. If you’re not sure, you may want to do a time trial or shorter race (shorter than your goal race) to figure out where your current fitness is. Charlottesville running guru, Mark Lorenzoni, often has his new athletes run a two mile time trial at the beginning of the training phase (when training for anything from the 10 miler to the marathon) so he can estimate the runner’s aerobic heart rate pace (the pace where you will run your long easy distance), and estimated race pace. Basing your workouts on a pace slightly faster than your time trial’s pace is a good place to start.

 

Speed workouts for distance runners typically consist of running near or at your race pace at a shorter distance. For example, if you’re training for a 5k, you might run a progression run of four miles with mile 1 being a warm-up, mile 2 being at 10k pace (:20-:30 slower than 5k pace), mile 3 at 5k pace, and mile 4 as a cool down. This is going to make your body adapt to your goal 5k pace by running that pace while you’re fatigued, but it isn’t strenuous or long enough to break your body down too much like a race might. This is also beneficial because you’re running your normal weekly mileage so when your race comes around and you are tapering (running less miles to be fully recovered) you’ll be even better prepared to run your race at your goal pace.

 

Intervals are also a great way to train for distance. As the distance goes up, usually the pace gets slower, and vice versa. An example of an interval workout with a 6:00/mile 5k race pace goal (1:30/lap on a track) might be a mile at 6:30 pace (1:37/lap), ¾ of a mile at 6:00 pace (1:30/lap), ½ a mile at 5:30 pace (1:22/lap) and ¼ of a mile at 5:00 pace (1:15/lap). The rest between these repetitions might be 1:30 after the mile, 1:00 after the 1200 meter interval, and :45 after the 800.

 

If you’re sprinting, a speed day would consist of short, explosive repetitions with longer recovery. A sprinter might do a “ladder” workout starting at 50 meters and going up 10 meters until they get to 100 then going back down to 50. The rest would be longer, maybe 1:30-3:00 between each repetition depending on the desired training effect. A long sprinter training for a 400 might do shorter rest and go all the way up and down the ladder while a short sprinter training for a 100 might go with longer rest and go from 50 meters to 70 meters and go back down. This type of workout isn’t meant to fatigue the sprinter, instead, it should be used teach the runner to run fast with minimal effort. This full-speed running (or close to it) is a great way to get the most of a runners sprinting ability later in the season.

 

For a sprinter later in the season when they’re getting closer to the “championship season”, the intervals will get shorter and faster with longer rest. The sprinter should start to feel “sharper” and running at full-speed should start to feel easier because of the work they did earlier at longer intervals with shorter rest. An example of a taper workout for a sprinter might be 3-4 x 50 meters with 4-5:00 recovery. These should be done out of the blocks (or whichever starting position the sprinter will take) and in spikes (or whatever footwear the sprinter will race in).

 

The number of workouts a runner will do during the week will vary based on the runner’s individual abilities and experience. Try to get 2-3 days between each workout, race, and long run to allow for full recovery. Treat workouts like a race; make sure you’re well rested (sleep and training-wise), do a full warm up, drills, and a cool down. Last but not least, keep your body guessing by switching your workouts from week to week. Change the terrain from hilly to flat with your longer workouts earlier in the training phase and your shorter workouts closer to the race.