Speedwork Works Speedily
I realize I’m not the first to discover this, but speedwork actually makes you run faster.
Yes, yes, stop the presses.
Over the last few weeks my training group has had us running two-minute intervals, then 880s the next week, then one-mile intervals, then 880s again. I hate speedwork because it hurts and makes you feel lousy. But just like taking your foul-tasting medicine, eventually it will make you better. In fact, if your speedwork doesn’t get you to that lung-burning, feel-like-I’m-gonna-die point, you’re wasting your time. Be sensible, but get out of your comfort zone.
It doesn’t matter if you run 12-minute miles or 5-minute miles. It’s the relative increase that matters. Push till it feels really bad, then hold it until you can’t hold it anymore, then hold it for another 10 seconds. Then recover. Going on feel may work better for you than using arbitrary time or distance goals.
It’s like getting into that scalding hot (or icy cold) bath. Dip a toe in. Then a whole foot. Then slowly sink your butt into it. There, that wasn’t so bad.
You’ll see results. After 4 x 880s on Tuesday night I went out on Wednesday morning and ran 4 miles in 31 minutes, which was far faster than I had been running the same distance for weeks. I was thrilled, but I still hate speedwork.
Categories: BQ or Bust Tags: speedwork, tips, training
Geb Says, “Calgon, Take Me Away!”
Winners of an Adidas contest got to hear secret marathon tips from world record holder Haile Gebrselassie after his victory in the Dubai Marathon. Surprisingly, Secret #1 was not “Run faster than anyone else.”
Even more surprising was Geb’s suggestion of “taking a long hot bath” after a marathon. That’s the opposite of what you usually hear.
iPlod
There is plenty of advice on other websites about how to improve your running. But what do you do on those days when nothing seems to work?
You know what I mean. Your intervals are slow. Your strides are uneven. Your mood stinks and you’re completely gassed about halfway through your 12-miler. You’re out there on the road, already flipping through your mental file for the proper adjectives to use to describe this travesty later in your log or on your blog.
I’m a big believer in getting something positive – anything – out of every training run. So when I find myself at the end of my tether and recognize I’m in the middle of a session I’m going to want to immediately forget afterwards, I make the decision to shift into low gear and enter plodding mode.
Of course, sometimes your body utilizes its automatic transmission and shifts into plodding mode all by itself. What I’m suggesting is to decide not to fight it.
You’re having a lousy run, maybe for reasons entirely out of your control. Don’t you think this could happen on race day? So don’t freak out about it. Train for it.
Slow down to what feels like a crawl. Take tiny steps. Shuffle, if necessary. Take the pressure off yourself. “Today’s training goal is out the window. Let’s see if I can just keep moving.”
Pretend you’re out with a slower friend and you’re simply keeping him or her company. Look at the scenery. Have some extra fluid or Gu. Breathe deeply.
The effect is partly psychological but has physiological benefits as well. If you stop being angry with yourself, if you slow down significantly and tend to your body’s needs, your heart rate will level off and you’ll automatically feel better. Some days that’s enough. But I find it works so well that I often end up exiting plodding mode and going back to a steady running pace to finish up strong.
In a race, it’s an emergency procedure, but if you have practiced it you’ll feel more confident in the outcome. It’s not the sort of thing that will produce a PR, but on a bad day it may help you to a respectable time instead of a DNF.
It’s important to note that you should not continue to plod if you’re injured. Be sensible. If your run is going south because of the stabbing pain in your ankle, an additional slow four miles is not the best treatment.
Some people might call these junk miles. Junk is in the eye of the beholder. Excellent runners think all my miles are junk. But one man’s junk is another man’s treasure, and the best way to overcome your fear of disaster during your target race is to prepare for it.
How to Run Faster
Type that phrase into Google and you get 43,000 hits (plus 48 videos). But who wants to go through all those agonizing drills? Here are 10 surefire ways to improve your speed.
Switch to the metric system. You’re running 5k and 10k races. Why are you telling people your mile splits? “Dude, I ran 6:12s the whole way!”
Join the Keystone Kops.
Change your apparel. While pasting wings on your heels will only make you look faster, stitching together a pair of bacon shorts and running past a pack of stray dogs will increase your pace significantly.
Try the Marion Jones program. The downside to this approach is that it could take you from the Fastest Woman on Earth to the Fastest Woman in the federal prison in Fort Worth, Texas.
Use the Six Million Dollar Method. If running in slow motion made Steve Austin super-fast, why not you?
Suffer a freak accident. Unintentionally inhale “heavy water vapors” or stand too close to chemical beakers struck by lightning.
Buy the fine products of the Acme Corporation. You can try the Super Speed Vitamins or the Hi-Speed Tonic with vitamins R, P and M.
Chase a celebrity runner. Running just behind Anna Kournikova will get you down to the 7:15 range while hanging with Lance Armstrong will improve you to 6:30 or better.
Run faster by, uh, running faster. That is to say, you increase speed the same way you increase distance. When you first got off the couch, you didn’t go out and do a steady six miles, did you? If you’re like me, you ran about 200 yards and stopped to put your lungs back into your chest. The basis of all speedwork is to run short—even tiny—distances at a faster pace than you can currently manage over longer distances.
Just as your body got used to running further, it will get used to running faster. With patience and determination, you’ll eventually marry the two together, hopefully on race day.
If all else fails, just claim you are a victim of time dilation.
Flexibility: Not Just for Muscles
You’ve heard it a million times. “Don’t try anything new on race day.” It’s good advice, especially for those tempted to wear the new running shoes or apparel they bought at the race expo the day before.
I follow it religiously. Every morning I get up at 4 a.m., have my wife drive me to the local Sheraton, where I hang around in the lobby for 15 minutes, and then take a 45-minute bus ride to the middle of nowhere. I sit on the curb for another hour or so, freezing, while I eat my breakfast out of a plastic bag. Then I stand outside a porta-potty for 15-20 minutes.
Then I start my training run, where I’ve arranged to have total strangers hand me their choice of food and drink along the way.
Yes, the bad news is that race day is unlike any of your training days, so it’s best not to lock yourself so tightly into a habit pattern that you’re unable to adjust on the fly.
I’m a firm believer in meticulous planning for an important race, but all good planning should include contingencies. Maybe you drink only a special mixture of Gatorade, GU2O and pomegranate juice on race day. What if you left it on the bus seat? You’ve got a Garmin, a heart rate monitor and an iPod, and the batteries all die at once at mile one. Are you going to let it ruin your race?
And I know I can’t be the only boob who fell for the “flat and fast!” and “PR course!” descriptions in the race brochure, only to find a long series of undulating hills, or a 300 foot climb followed immediately by a 305 foot drop (”net downhill!”).
So while you want to tailor your training to the specific race you’ve targeted, don’t forget some training for the unexpected. Always be safe, but run in the rain or the heat. Practice on broken or uneven ground. Seek out headwinds. Try different kinds of fluids and replenishment. Leave your watch at home. If you usually eat 15 minutes before running, try waiting for an hour or two. Or vice versa.
Stretch your routine as thoroughly as your hamstrings and you’ll be ready for anything race day throws at you. Well, almost anything.
