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Photography by Geoff Wilkings
Building fitness through speed-for runners and the rest of us.
If you have ever watched a kid run, you know that running is all about speed. They take off as fast as they can without a care in the world, and within thirty seconds they are winded and grimacing and have to stop and walk. But that first burst of speed sure is thrilling!
Running fast is fun and allows you to experience the full range of motion that your body is capable of, and it teaches you just how well you can perform in a chosen distance. Runners discover the body is capable of holding different paces and efforts over different distances. Speed training is an interesting and important addition to any training regime. For serious recreational runners training for distances from five kilometres up to the marathon, speed work will improve strength, delay that middle- to late-stage race fatigue, and enable you to run better during this typical period of race discomfort.
Speed work builds the anaerobic threshold (simply, the point at which waste from muscle metabolism overrides oxygen delivery efficiency, commonly felt as the "burn"). Improving threshold performance allows you to race at a faster speed with a lower heart rate, meaning you can go faster for longer than you did before.
Speed training also builds leg strength by creating an ability to hold a longer stride length (which engages more muscle fibres and requires more work) for a greater length of time. Think of it this way: if you take a consistent ninety steps per minute (the average cadence or turnover of trained distance runners, no matter how fast they are going), then the only way to go faster is to increase the length of your strides. To increase the length of your strides, you need to have strong, supple muscles. Speed work teaches your body to lengthen and strengthen your leg muscles. Trained athletes can hold dynamic stride and fast cadence for the duration of an event.
Finally, running fast requires efficiency (you only have to watch the best sprinters and distance runners in the world to understand this). Elite runners are often called graceful, beautiful, floating, and rhythmical. Everybody can discover their own innate efficiency and grace by running fast and with good posture. Efficient running translates again into a reduction of fatigue, allowing faster running for longer.
Lucy Smith out for an easy run in Victoria, British Columbia.
Speed work, or speed interval training, is a method of training used extensively by elite and professional athletes to improve performance. Workouts can be adapted to anyone who has some basic run conditioning. A healthy runner who is not injured, who has run for at least six months, and who can run three to four times a week for thirty to forty minutes at a time should be able to start some speed work.
Speed work for endurance events (a ten-kilometre distance or greater) typically includes a number (or set) of short bursts of running that is faster than your goal race pace, followed by a short rest or recovery interval of slow jogging to lower the heart rate. During the fast intervals, your heart rate will increase steadily, as will your breathing, and when run correctly, there will be some discomfort and burning in the legs and lungs starting after halfway through the interval. The rest intervals allow your heart rate to come down so that multiple intervals can be run, but with the workout pace becoming progressively more difficult to maintain. Being able to pace a speed workout evenly-that is, running all the intervals of a set at the same pace-takes some practice, but it is ultimately better than running so hard that you fail halfway through the set.
If doing long aerobic base runs is like the foundation to a strong house (they are called foundation miles for a reason), then speed training is the wiring and the plumbing and the rest of the fixtures. Speed training helps the house do best at what it is supposed to do. (The décor and furniture are pretty to look at, like the flashy race shorts we wear, but they are not necessary to performance). The higher the quality of your speed training and the better it is implemented, the better your finish is going to be.
Speed sessions should be used wisely. They are more dynamic and challenging on the body, and improper use of these workouts can lead to breakdown and injury. Most athletes should do speed only once per week after a base training period, and should take a break every third or fourth week, to allow their body to absorb the training and recover from the intensity.
Speed sessions should be done after an easy or light day of training to allow the body to fully perform, and there should be a light day of training or cross-training after speed sessions as well, to allow for recovery.
Speed requires the muscles to be well warmed up and supple. Sprinters will warm up for more than an hour for a ten-second race! This will allow your body to go through its full range of motion easily and decrease the risk of injury. A good twenty minutes of light jogging before running fast is a good idea. If you feel any pain or tightness while warming up, wait another day. Injuries happen most commonly with high-distance or high-intensity training. Easy cool-down jogs of fifteen minutes help with recovery and tight muscles.
During the speed interval, focus only on the task at hand. Be relaxed in your face, shoulders, and torso. Focus on quick legs and "floating," and be tough and positive when the burn creeps in. Between intervals, jog lightly and get yourself pumped for the next interval.
Lucy's Favourite Speed Workout
Run Fartlek
Fartlek, or "speed play," is an excellent introduction to speed work and doesn't require any special venue. Simply head out to your favourite trail or park, warm up for twenty minutes, and alternate fast with slow running.
Workout 1: 6 x 2 minutes with 1 minute easy
During the fartlek, focus on feeling fast and powerful and relaxed. Be aware of your body and how good it feels to run fast and smooth. Fartlek is great as a building block to intervals; also when you aren't feeling one hundred per cent and don't want to test yourself on a measured course.
Repeat Routes
My favourite speed sessions are on routes that I know well and places where I have consistently had great workouts. In every city I have lived, I have at least one venue where I have a measured kilometre or mile for running repeat intervals. I know every stretch of the trail, so know intuitively how long I have to run in discomfort. But because I have had success on these trails, I can easily visualize doing well and succeeding in the workouts.
Workout 2: 5 x 1 km with 2 minutes easy jog between
Do these on trails, if you can, to minimize impact. Do intervals at five to ten seconds faster than your goal five-kilometre road pace, or for novice speedsters, at a faster pace than you would normally run a thirty-minute easy run.
Run the Treadmill
Running on a treadmill is a great way to learn to run faster and is easily quantifiable for people who aren't sure of their ability to go faster. Using the manual setting, and with the treadmill at one per cent grade, warm up for fifteen minutes, gradually increasing to the speed that is equivalent to your long-run pace. Increase the speed of the treadmill to your goal ten-kilometre pace or a speed that is ten to thirty seconds faster than your warm-up running. (If you are a novice speedster, start at ten seconds faster and gradually test yourself.)
Workout 3: 10-15 x 1:30 minute fast running with 1 minute recovery
For the recovery, simply jump to the side of the treadmill and leave the belt running for one minute. For the next interval, hang onto both bars and lower yourself back onto the belt with your legs poised and ready to start running once they hit the belt.
Run the Soccer Fields
Grass is an excellent place to run, and if you can find one, soccer fields can be fun places to work on speed. Golf courses are, too, but tend to be less accessible to runners.
Workout 4: Run fast the length of the field up one sideline
Jog across the top, run fast diagonally across the field, jog the end line, run the other sideline fast. Run back diagonally to where you started. Do this continuously for ten minutes. Take five minutes to jog lightly and recover. Repeat the set. Make sure your slow jogs are slow enough so that you really feel the change of pace during the sprints. This is fun with a partner, starting on opposite sides of the field.
Run in Thirty Minutes
If you only have thirty minutes, you can still get your endorphin fix and your heart rate up.
Workout 5: Run 10 minutes lightly, relaxing, breathing well. Do 5 x 1 minute fast run with 1 minute easy between. Run 10 minutes easy cool-down
During the one-minute fast sections, don't hammer or pretend you are Bolt. Aim for high cadence, strong arms, great posture, and race-pace feel. Goal for this speed session is to love running!
Hills
Hill work requires you to use more power and will increase your speed. Grassy hills are best as they offer less impact on the recovery descent, but any moderate hill can be used. Look for a hill that you can run for thirty seconds fast, and, when running, look to the top of the hill, drive your arms and knees, and increase your cadence.
Workout 6: Do 5 x 30 seconds of hills
Jog down easy for recovery, increasing over several months to ten repeats on the same hill.
Working on speed is a staple of the yearly cycle of training, which creates the strength runners need to run fast for the duration of an event. Of all the types of training, speed is the hardest to nail correctly because it is so intense on the body and mind. But the thrill of running fast and running personal best times is worth the effort. Doing a progression of similar speed workouts will show you that you are getting faster.
There are also a few other added benefits to speed training: working through the discomfort of running fast in a workout will make you tougher in races and tougher in life, and if you are ever running head to head with another competitor, both literally and metaphorically, your speed training will allow you to unleash a wicked finishing kick and get there first!
Training your speed will ultimately make you a smarter, stronger, and fitter athlete, and, of course, a much faster runner.
About the Author and Photographer
Lucy Smith, a nineteen-time Canadian running, triathlon, and duathlon champion with a 5,000-metre PR of 15:42, now forty-two, still does speed work (because it’s fun) and recently set a Canadian Masters road record for five kilometres (16:49). Smith combines her love of racing with writing and coaching others who want to improve and excel. A LifeSport Senior Coach, she can be reached at
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Geoff Wilkings is a professional photographer in Calgary, Alberta. Wilkings has participated in several full and half-Ironman events and competed in the Half Ironman World Championships in Clearwater in 2007. See his work at www.geoffwilkings.com.0
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