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Here’s the thing about running: If you don’t ever run fast, you’re never going to get faster. So if you’re trying to improve your running performance—even if it’s just to get those miles over with more quickly—then you need to incorporate fast sessions into your routine. The way you do that is with speed workouts.
What Is Speedwork?
“Any running that’s faster than your current tempo (steady-state) pace can be classified as speedwork,” says John Honerkamp, running coach and former head coach at New York Road Runners. “Running at goal race pace, track repeats, tempo runs, striders, fartleks—they all fit into the ‘speed’ category of training,” says Elizabeth Corkum, a USATF-certified running coach at Precision Run in New York City.
What Are the Benefits of Speed workouts?
However you do it, speed workouts are important because they help improve your form and efficiency at all paces.
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“Fast workouts help recruit and develop fast-twitch muscle fiber, build muscle, elevate heart rate, and increase calorie burn,” Corkum says.
And those speedier workouts hold the ticket to you getting more fit if you hit a plateau.
“Flirting with faster paces during interval training and other speed workouts will get you to faster results over time and help you break through,” Honerkamp says.
Speedwork also works because it makes you uncomfortable, forcing you to change your breath, stride, and effort.
“Steady-state runs help with aerobic strength, whereas speedwork is more anaerobic,” Honerkamp says. “Speed training helps your body get better at supplying oxygen to your muscles in a more efficient way,” which will make a runner improve at any distance.
Adding in speedwork to your workouts just one to two days a week can yield huge benefits—especially if you’re new to it. (Just give your body enough time to recover before your next high-stress workout.) Try one of these four speed workouts—two for beginners and two for advanced runners—and watch how quickly you pick up the pace.
Beginner Speed Workouts
Workout 1:
“I usually start runners new to speed workouts with striders,” or short bursts of speed, Corkum says. “Speedwork is high stress, and so striders are a short taste of that stress. Like anything new to the body, diving into the deep end increases injury risk,” she says, so be sure to start here, and progress only when you feel like you’ve mastered and adjusted to this workout.
- Warm up with some dynamic drills
- Run 45 minutes at an easy pace that feels like a 4 or 5 out of 10 on your personal scale of perceived exertion
- Finish with 4 to 6 x 20-second striders on a track, flat road, field at max effort, with 30- to 45-second recovery jogs between each
- Cool down
Workout 2:
“I use 400 repeats to ease a runner into intervals,” Honerkamp says. If you don’t know your 5K or 10K paces, go off effort and build up once you become comfortable.
- Start with an easy 1- to 2-mile warmup or jog for 10 to 15 minutes
- Perform 5 to 10 minutes of dynamic drills
- Run 8 x 400 meters (about 1/4 mile) with 2 minutes rest in between each interval
- Finish with a 1- to 2-mile cooldown
Advanced Speed Workouts
Workout 1:
“This workout is pretty intense, and those short recoveries should not be underestimated,” Corkum says. “The workout ends with faster paces than the bulk of the workout, teaching the runner to find that next gear while tired.”
- Start with a 1-mile warmup, jogging easy
- Run 8 x 600 meters (1.5 laps of a track) at 5K goal pace, with 200-meter recovery jogs between each interval
- Run 4 x 200 meters at 1-mile pace (or slightly faster than 5K pace), with 200-meter recovery jogs between each interval
- Finish with a 1-mile cooldown
Workout 2:
“Use the first one to two intervals as part of your warmup,” says Honerkamp. “And pretend you have two more intervals on the last one. You don’t need to go out too fast or all-out at the end. Stay relaxed.”
- Start with a 1- to 2-mile warmup
- Do 5 to 10 minutes of dynamic drills
- Run 5 x 1,000 meters (2.5 laps of a track) at 5K pace, with 2:30 rest between each interval
- Finish with a 1- to 2-mile cooldown
