As most people are currently training for long distance runs, I felt it appropriate to give some tips on how to improve your mile pace in preparation for the Mile Dash Challenge in May 6th.
Dropping down in distance means stepping up your commitment to speed training, but the work required to run a fast mile will translate to improved turnover, running form and efficiency, and therefore make PB’s in longer races more likely as well. This challenge requires you to continue putting in the long runs, tempo runs and interval workouts that are probably part of your program. But you also need to introduce regular fast running.
"This workout would be a way you could get the strength and flexibility benefits of fast running, but without the risk of an injury of doing high-intensity speed work that most people would automatically assume they need to start doing.”
Dropping down in distance means stepping up your commitment to speed training, but the work required to run a fast mile will translate to improved turnover, running form and efficiency, and therefore make PB’s in longer races more likely as well. This challenge requires you to continue putting in the long runs, tempo runs and interval workouts that are probably part of your program. But you also need to introduce regular fast running.
Here's how to incorporate speed work into your training plan:
Once a week, hit the local track (or a measured flat stretch of road) for a series of about 10 x 100m pickups at your goal mile race pace. For example, if your goal is to break 6:00 in the mile, run the 100m pick-ups in 22 or 23 seconds. After each, take a generous recovery in the form of a 200m walk. What you need to do is to reduce your heart rate to 60% of maximum. Then go again. The total volume of fast running in one session will be relatively low -- at most, 1,000m -- and you'll have introduced faster-turnover running without allowing lactic acid to accumulate and muscles to tighten up."This workout would be a way you could get the strength and flexibility benefits of fast running, but without the risk of an injury of doing high-intensity speed work that most people would automatically assume they need to start doing.”
Increase the number of pick-ups each week, up to as many as 20 or 24 in one session. After about a month of this once-a-week workout, increase the distance of the "dash" to 200m, with about half as many reps as you were doing for the 100s. When you're able to complete 10 or 12 x 200m intervals at goal mile race pace, you're ready to start doing 400m intervals, at which point you're turning the workouts into high-intensity efforts that are going to condition your cardiorespiratory system, not just your neuromuscular system. Start with six or eight 400s, with full recovery (a 400m jog) in between, and work up to 10 or 12.
Once you've done three to four weeks of 400s, replace that workout with 10 to 12 100s, just like you did at the start of your training, but now run significantly faster than goal mile race pace. For the runner who was running 100m in 22 seconds in week one, try to hit 19 seconds for each 100, which is closer to 5:00 mile pace. These faster intervals will allow you to feel more relaxed and comfortable biomechanically when you're running at your (slower) race pace. Here, too, take full recovery; for example, run a fast 100 on a straightaway, then jog 300m before your next 100.
Finish each weekly speed session with six 10-second hill sprints on any incline you can find nearby. These hill sprints will help you develop all your major working muscles -- your arches, calves, Achilles tendons, hip flexors, knees, arms -- so you have the requisite power to run fast. Recommended would be a 10-second limit on these hill sprints, again so that you don't get deeply into lactic acid and wind up straining something. Take a complete recovery of at least 90 seconds after each hill sprint so that you can run each one all-out.
The weekly speed work and hill sprints will activate musculature you haven't used in years, and give you the turnover and power to run your fastest .
You'll reap the benefits of your newfound foot speed in racing longer distances as well
SUMMARY
Distance Reps Recovery Speed
WK 1: 100m 10 reps 200m walk Mile Pace
WK 2: 100m 14 reps 200m walk Mile Pace
WK 3: 100m 18 reps 200m walk Mile Pace
WK 4: 100m 22 reps 200m walk Mile Pace
WK 5: 200m 6 reps 200m walk Mile Pace
WK 6: 200m 8 reps 200m walk Mile Pace
WK 7: 200m 10 reps 200m walk Mile Pace
WK 8: 400m 8 reps 400m jog Mile Pace
WK 9: 400m 10 rep 400m jog Mile Pace
WK 10: 400m 12 reps 400m jog Mile Pace
WK 11: 100m 10 reps 300m jog 1min faster than Mile Pace
…
Once you've done three to four weeks of 400s, replace that workout with 10 to 12 100s, just like you did at the start of your training, but now run significantly faster than goal mile race pace. For the runner who was running 100m in 22 seconds in week one, try to hit 19 seconds for each 100, which is closer to 5:00 mile pace. These faster intervals will allow you to feel more relaxed and comfortable biomechanically when you're running at your (slower) race pace. Here, too, take full recovery; for example, run a fast 100 on a straightaway, then jog 300m before your next 100.
Finish each weekly speed session with six 10-second hill sprints on any incline you can find nearby. These hill sprints will help you develop all your major working muscles -- your arches, calves, Achilles tendons, hip flexors, knees, arms -- so you have the requisite power to run fast. Recommended would be a 10-second limit on these hill sprints, again so that you don't get deeply into lactic acid and wind up straining something. Take a complete recovery of at least 90 seconds after each hill sprint so that you can run each one all-out.
The weekly speed work and hill sprints will activate musculature you haven't used in years, and give you the turnover and power to run your fastest .
You'll reap the benefits of your newfound foot speed in racing longer distances as well
SUMMARY
Distance Reps Recovery Speed
WK 1: 100m 10 reps 200m walk Mile Pace
WK 2: 100m 14 reps 200m walk Mile Pace
WK 3: 100m 18 reps 200m walk Mile Pace
WK 4: 100m 22 reps 200m walk Mile Pace
WK 5: 200m 6 reps 200m walk Mile Pace
WK 6: 200m 8 reps 200m walk Mile Pace
WK 7: 200m 10 reps 200m walk Mile Pace
WK 8: 400m 8 reps 400m jog Mile Pace
WK 9: 400m 10 rep 400m jog Mile Pace
WK 10: 400m 12 reps 400m jog Mile Pace
WK 11: 100m 10 reps 300m jog 1min faster than Mile Pace
…