Trying to get in the fast lane

I used to think I was just a slow runner, I mean ever since I was in middle school I only remember running 8 minute miles and thinking I'm just not athletic.  Turns out I was wrong, there are actually ways to get faster it just takes INTERVAL training!  There are a couple of different ways I feel people do intervals:

First of all there is the TRACK:  For instance yesterday's workout I ran 1.75 miles to warm-up followed by 3x800 (2 laps) at 10k pace and 3x800 at 5k pace with 200 recovery in between (half a lap).  Now if you don't know your pace times there are a few ways to look it it up.  I usually look up times on http://www.mcmillanrunning.com/mcmillanrunningcalculator.htm You just plug in your most recent race time and the distance you raced.  I use my Garmin to keep track of laps and according to this calculator I should be about 3:38 to 3:43 for my laps according to my half marathon race time.

Then there is TREADMILL INTERVALS:

During the school year I can't hit the track as often, especially since food and speed workouts don't agree with my stomach.  I'm big on treadmill intervals!  I will often do whatever I have planned for track on the treadmill, this one sometimes gets hard because I have to do math in my head, but it still does the job.  I find these often break up the monotony of the dreadmill.






You can also do HILL REPEATS!

I actually love these, but my piriformis doesn't so much.  Usually there is a certain amount of time you will run up the hill i.e. 90 seconds and a certain amount of sets you will do i.e. 4.  Your recovery is usually the downhill, but be careful of your knees.




Then there is the FARTLEK:

I'm just starting to get these into my routine.  A Fartlek is a combination of sprinting and jogging during a run.  This means that you might run 2 minutes hard (after you warm-up of course) then 2 minutes easy about 5 times or so.

Then there is the TEMPO RUN:
tempo is when you warm-up and then start running for a certain number of miles at your half marathon or marathon pace (depends on who you talk to about this).  So I may have 2 miles warm-up followed by 4 miles at half marathon pace and 1 mile cool down.  This means during my 4 miles I would try to maintain a 7:28-7:47 pace.  I usually try to find flat areas to do this.

My hope this time around is to bring down my marathon time from a 4:14 to at least under 4 minutes.

What is your speed workout of choice?

Happy Training!