The Anytime Anywhere Speed Workout

This completed the second week working with my intermediate running group. Most of the participants are running 3-5 miles and they're ready for the next level. The 12-week program introduces the runners to a variety of "quality workouts" such as warm-up drills, fartleks, hills, and tempo runs. We meet twice a week and begin each workout with a 10-exercise core workout followed by a warm-up and some running drills, followed by the featured "quality workout" for the week. This week we did landmark and timed fartleks.

After Friday night's workout, I went home to feast on a crock pot of beanie weenies (turkey franks) that I fixed earlier in the day. I must have been really hungry, cause I ate two large bowls with two hunks of cornbread. The dining experience gave a whole new meaning to the term "fartlek." It had its benefits though, because for some reason I found myself enjoying the solitude of the family room later that evening. Sitting in front of the wide screen with the food network blaring, I soon drifted off to lala land where I dreamed that Rachael Ray had discovered my Rice-n-Bean Burrito recipe and was coming to the studio for a visit. This was one of those dreams so realistic that when you wake up you're not sure if it really happened or not. Of course the fact that Rachael Ray was coming to visit me should have been the immediate clue that it was just a dream, but one can be delusional if he wants, just for a little while, right?

Back to quality workouts and fartleks. Fartlek is a Swedish word for speed-play. Basically a fartlek is an informal interval thrown into a regular run. Sounds complicated, but all you do is speed up for a certain amount of time or distance during a regular run. They can be short (200-400m). They can be long (800m or 1/2mile). You can throw them in at the beginning, middle, or throughout. You can use landmarks to determine when you start and end the fartlek (i.e. run to the next block, or the next mailbox) or you can time them (run easy for 5 minutes and run fast for 1 minute). You're in control.

The other great thing about fartleks is that you don't need a track or a hill. No special location needed. The street right in front of your house will do. It's the perfect anytime, anywhere speed workout.

So why fartlek? Adding bursts of speed during a run is a great way to help increase your overall pace and endurance. It helps to increase your VO2Max (your body's ability to utilize oxygen at the muscle layer to make energy) and push out your lactate threshold (the point when you feel that burn in your legs). Also, if you've stagnated in your running and just can't seem to go faster or further, adding a weekly fartlek will soon have you out of that rut. Another cool outcome to a run with fartleks is looking at your time after you finish. You'll be amazed at how fast you just ran your usual 5-miler.

So, give it a try. Add some fartleks to one of your weekly runs. Who knows, you may even dream about Rachael Ray afterwards, or maybe that has to be in combination with a pot of beanie weenies.

Got a Treadmill? Got Speedwork!

Many runners at some point will find themselves in a rut. They’ve stagnated. Same mileage at the same intensity, week after week. They may even be putting on a few pounds even though they’re running. So, what’s up?

Well, the better question to ask might be “What’s not up?” Once you’ve become an established runner, it doesn’t take long for your body to acclimate to the demands you’re putting upon it. So, while that 5-miler you do every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday may be providing you some good base mileage and an aerobic workout, it’s probably not doing much to help make you faster, fitter, stronger. Nor is it doing much to ramp up your metabolism, the key in keeping those pounds off.

What’s the answer? SPEEDWORK! One weekly interval workout will do wonders to jack up your metabolism helping to shed those few pounds. It will also help increase your VO2Max, which is your body’s ability take in and use oxygen at the muscle level where it’s used to make energy. That weekly interval workout will also help push out your lactate threshold. Lactate is a byproduct of energy production. Ever get that burning sensation in your legs when you speed up and run hard? That’s due to lactate buildup. Usually the body is able to clear it out of the blood and there’s no problem. But when you ramp-up speed or intensity too quickly, the lactate can build up quicker than the body is able to clear it out of the bloodstream. Exposing your body to faster runs can gradually push out that lactate threshold, so it will take longer before you feel that burn.

So, I know some of you are saying, “I’d love to add speed work, but I don’t live near a track.” Well, if you own a treadmill, have a membership to a gym with treadmills, or have friend or family member with a treadmill, then you can get in an awesome interval workout.

An interval is nothing more than running fast for a certain distance and then running slow for the same distance or for a specific time. Typically a short interval (like a 200m interval) is run at a pace that’s about 30 seconds slower than your 5K race pace. Longer intervals (like the 800m or 1200m) are typically run at 30 seconds slower than you 10K race pace.

Does the math to figure out the pace for such a short distance make your brain hurt? Don’t worry. I’m with you. Put that calculator down and use The McMillan Running Calculator instead. Simply select the distance (5K or 10K) and then put in your race time and hit “calculate.” The next screen will tell you paces for every training distance you’d ever need to know based on your 5K or 10K pace.

Most interval workouts use some combination of 200m, 400m, 600m, 800m, 1000m, and 1200m intervals. Each fast interval is followed by a slow recovery interval. The recovery interval isn’t based on a certain distance. It’s based on time. The shorter the fast interval distance, the shorter the recovery interval time. The longer the fast interval distance, the longer the recovery interval time. For example, a runner doing a 6x800m workout would take about a 90-second recovery interval jog/walk between each fast 600m interval. A runner doing a 4x1600m workout would take about a 3-minute recovery interval jog/walk between each fast 1600m interval.

Most treadmills have an oval track diagram on the control display providing a wonderful visual to track your progress as you run your intervals. If you’ve never run intervals on a track you may not be familiar with the typical interval distances. The key below can help you better understand the distances you’re running as you’re looking at the track display on your treadmill monitor.

• 200m = 1/2 lap (1/8 mile on the treadmill)
• 400m = 1 lap (1/4 mile on the treadmill)
• 800m = 2 laps (1/2 mile on the treadmill)
• 1000m = 2.5 laps (5/8 mile on the treadmill)
• 1200m = 3 laps (3/4 mile on the treadmill)
• 1600m = 4 laps (1 mile on the treadmill)

Your body can acclimate to intervals just like it does when running that same old 5-miler three times a week. So, mix-up your interval workouts. Keep your body guessing by varying the interval distances each week. There’s no right or wrong way. Just remember to insert a recovery interval in between each fast interval. Below are some sample workouts for you to incorporate once a week into your normal running routine. 

• Workout #1—5x1000m @5K race pace with 2-minute recovery (walk or jog) in between
• Workout #2—6x800m @10K race pace with 90-second recovery (walk or jog) in between
• Workout #3—Do Three sets of the following:  1x1200m @ 10K race pace with 1-minute recovery, 1x400m @5K race pace with a 3-minute recovery (walk or jog) before repeating the set
• Workout#4—4x1600m @10K race pace with 3-minute recovery (walk or jog) in between
• Workout#5—8x800m @10K race pace with 90-second recovery (walk or jog) in between
• Workout#6—400m @ 5K race pace (30sec recovery); 800 @ 10K race pace (90-sec recovery); 1200m @10K race pace (2-min recovery); 1600m @10K race pace (3-min recovery); 1200m @10K race pace (2-min recovery); 800 @ 10K race pace (90-sec recovery); 400m @ 5K race pace

Your total mileage for an interval workout may be no more than 3-4 miles, but you’re getting a lot more out of this workout than your regular 5-miler. Think of the interval workout as a “Quality Workout.”

To better simulate outside running, be sure to set your treadmill to an incline of 1° or 2°. This will help account for uneven terrain of outside running.