Heather Fell: Sure, running more miles in training is going to help improve your overall running,
but adding in some specific and varied speed workouts will have an even greater impact
on you getting close to a best time. Today, we've got three different speed workouts for you to try
that will get you close to breaking that personal best next time you race.
[music] Let's get started with
the good old intervals, one of the most common and popular training sessions for clubs and individual
runners alike. They don't need to be daunting, there needs to be nothing complex about these.
It's basically going to be pushing you out of your comfort zone for a set amount of time or
a set distance followed by a set amount of rest or recovery so you can maintain that increased
pace throughout the whole of the interval efforts. You want to walk away feeling like you've really
done some decent work, but you could still maybe get one more interval out if you really had to.
We've got an example today of some intervals that you could actually work to progress as you
move forward. Let's take a look. 6 to 8 lots of 400 meters running hard, followed by 100 meters
super easy jog. If you don't have a distance, you can do that in time, so 90 seconds to 2 minutes of
running hard, followed by 1 minute of recovery. Then, you can progress onto 4 to 5 lots of 800
meters hard, followed by 200 meters easy jog, or, in timewise, that would be 3 to 4 minutes hard
followed by a minute and a half or 90 seconds of recovery. Then, if you've got through that,
you can move it up again to 4 lots of 1,000 meters running hard, 400 meters easy jog,
or in time equivalent, 5 to 6 minutes hard, followed by 2 to 3 minutes of recovery.
The great thing about these intervals, they can be done pretty much anywhere.
If you've got a track, that's great because you can mark out the distance,
but it really doesn't matter at all. Maybe you've got a housing estate you can run around in.
Running to time makes them really flexible to be done anywhere. The key point being, though,
that you can really notice the contrast between those hard efforts and the easy recovery,
so you can maintain that hard effort throughout all of those intervals and making sure you get
enough rest in between. [music]
All right. This next speed workout is a bit of a twist on those previous intervals, in the fact
that-- Well, it's "fartlek," and that translates from Swedish as "speed play." It's far less formal
in a sense. You're basically going out for a run and you're going to be changing your pace
and working both your aerobic and your anaerobic systems. You want to see a significant change of
pace, but you don't want to have an exact set time maybe. You can use the terrain to help you for
these. Although it is supposed to be very much natural, just to get you started, we've got an
example that you can try out in your next run. Starting with the Mona Fartlek named after the
famed Aussie runner, Steve Moneghetti. 2 lots of 90 seconds running hard, 90 seconds easy. 4 times
60 seconds hard, 60 seconds easy. 4 times 30 seconds hard, 30 seconds easy,
and then 4 times 15 seconds hard, 15 seconds easy, which gives you a total of 20 minutes.
Secondly, pyramids are also a great way to incorporate fartlek and build up the length
of the effort, so here's an example. 30 seconds of running hard followed by 30 seconds easy. 1 minute
hard, 1 minute easy. 90 seconds hard, 90 seconds easy. 2 minutes hard, 2 minutes easy. 2.5 minutes
hard, 2.5 minutes easy. Then, the pyramid goes back down from the 2 minutes 30,
and that gives you a total of 25 minutes. You've got two options of how you approach
these workouts. You could do them very similar to the intervals and you do your hard bits very hard
and your easy bits really easy, or you could have more of a relaxed format where the hard
bits aren't quite so intense, but to counter that out, you actually don't go slow on your recovery,
so you're constantly keeping your heart rate a little bit higher, but in a smaller range.
[music] Finally,
we have hill repeats, which are brilliant for your strength. They're kind of intervals in disguise,
in a sense. You're going to be working on the power phase, really firing your glutes,
your hamstrings, and your quads. The brilliant thing about hill repeats, you're working hard,
but it's not going to have that same impact as, say, you're running on the flat.
You've got two options of sessions here. For short hills, find a relatively steep and short slope,
say something like 5% to 7%, and aim for around 8 to 10 intervals at 20 to 30 seconds
giving yourself a long, easy jog between reps to recover properly. Now, for longer hills, aim to
use a hill of less than 5% gradient and complete 4 to 6 lots of 90 seconds to 2 minutes with an easy
jog back to the bottom as your recovery. Those shorter, steeper hills will work on the explosive
element and the power part of your running, whereas the longer, less steep hills are going
to work more on your strength endurance. [music]
All right, that is our selection for today. There's obviously loads of variations you can
do on that or a completely different speed works. Again, if you've got a favorite that you go to,
do share it with us in the comments section below so we can all go and give it a go.
If you are going to start incorporating speed and you haven't done so before,
I'd recommend starting off at just doing one per week. If you want to,
build it up to twice a week, but make sure you keep them nice and spread out. Hopefully,
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