Training for Speed Workouts

After watching the finish of road races for many years and the different runners cross the finish line there is one noticeable thing that seems to stand out.

The lead runners seem to maintain the same pace crossing the line unless there is a sprint between two runners and then that sprint effort is the norm.

The sprint to the finish is seen more with runners in the middle of the pack or near the end of the runners. It can be a slow jog until about 30 yards from the finish line and then the pace picks up.

Whether it is the cheering of the fans and family or trying to get a few more seconds off the time the fast sprint to the finish line is not only for the lead runners.

It seems a strong finish is a must for all the runners from first to last.

The reason this part of a run occurred to me was I was thinking of different speed workouts. One of my speed workouts was a series of pace buildups for a specified distance.

Years ago, I used the distance between telephone poles for the workout. I had four different paces to use for each repeat interval. The first pace was a slow jog, the second pace was the speed used for a training run, the third pace was a race pace, and the fourth pace was a sprint. If the training run speed and race speed were the same I recommended the third pace as how fast a runner would use to run a mile for speed. Over the years the telephone poles on city roads have disappeared and I used a football field for the speed workout. I would run 20 yards at a slow jog, the second 20 yards at the training pace, the third 20 yards was the race pace and then finish the last 20 yards with a sprint like I was running 100 yards in a race. The last 20 yards is to slow down, turn around and start a repeat back for another 100 yards.

When using a football field for this workout the distance is only 100 yards. A runner has to repeat the run 18 – 20 times to get a mile distance in. This does not seem like a very hard workout but when the repeats are divided up the runner is running a half mile at race pace and within that distance a quarter of mile is a sprint. After 20 repeats of this speed workout it is more demanding than a runner realizes. With a mile warm up and a mile warm down after the repeats it is a good workout. One positive aspect of this workout is if the run is on a football field the grass or artificial turf is much softer than asphalt or concrete road. It makes that sprint to the finish line look much better for the fans cheering you on.

This workout is much like a fartlek workout with specified distances or intervals. Fartlek is similar in that it can use the same four speeds with the exception that the distance and sequence are not in any order. Fartlek means “run as you feel”. Instead of telephone poles or 20 yard intervals the distance is from a tree to a driveway, a sidewalk to that row of bushes, or from the blue house to the sidewalk of the red house. The speed instead of going from slow jog to training pace to race pace to sprint is whatever speed you want to use. Where you put the four speeds and the sequence you run is up to you. It might go from slow jog to race pace to slow jog to sprint to race pace to training pace and whatever comes next depending on how you feel.

This is a fun speed workout and is used in a race when you want to put on a surge to pass a runner in front of you.

If you fly by them going fast the chance of them trying to keep up with you or try to pass you later in the race is less.

For most runners in a race after the first mile there is not as much passing. Most have settled into their race pace and it does not change that much until the last 30 yards when they do their finishing kick for the fans. The only other passing is done when a runner gets tired and either slows down or walks for a few hundred yards and those runners still running will pass them. This is especially true if the course has several hills. I have seen more than a few runners reaching the top of that big hill slow down, and even stop, to catch their breath.

The key is to remember for every uphill there is a downhill. Running downhill is a perfect time to regain your breathing to normal and recover from the uphill effort.

To make it even more discouraging for a runner to think of passing you the first part of the downhill should be a sprint pace to get the distance between you and the runner you just passed.

After a short distance you can settle into a nice pace, recover your breath, and get back to a normal race pace. Run for fun but faster.