Five Magic Workouts for Faster Fall Racing
It is now early fall, and those dog-days of July and August are slowly slipping from our memory. If you have been spending the summer running easy and building your aerobic base, now is the time to hit the track and the roads to build your speed for fast racing in the fall. I am listing five favorite workouts that have helped the runners I coach race fast. Perhaps they can do the same for you.
I recommend that runners go from their base period into Phase II anaerobic threshold (AT) training, which is run somewhere between your current 10K-10 mile race pace or 80-85 percent of the Karvonen heart rate formula. I recommend running two or three AT workouts a week, making sure that you have at least 36 hours recovery between sessions. Running between the sessions should be at 60-65 percent effort, or about two minutes per mile slower than your 10K race pace.
Workout 1: Three one-mile laps at 80-85 percent with a 400-meter recovery between miles. You should try to run all three miles at the same pace. Beginners tend to run the first lap or so at too fast a pace, with the result that lactic acid builds up in their legs and they slow down appreciably.
Workout 2: You don't need a track or a measured course for this one. Warm up for at least one mile and then begin running at your 10K race pace until you hit 80 percent of your maximum heart rate. Then run for 15 to 20 minutes nonstop in the 80-85 percent heart rate range. Those of you without heart rate monitors should feel that you are working hard but can hold the pace, and that if you were to pick up the pace at all you would want to stop.
Workouts 1 and 2 are mentally tough but you will be amazed at how good you feel 10 or 15 minutes later. These workouts will get you into great shape very quickly.
Workout 3: This will help boost your VO2Max. It is best done by pace rather than with a heart monitor. Run at your current 5K race pace; running faster will not only make you more susceptible to injury but, according to Scott Douglas and Pete Pfitzinger in their recent book Road Racing for Serious Runners, it may in fact be counter-productive.
Run four times 1200 meters or six times 800 meters at your 5K race pace with a jog recovery (400-800 meters) equal to the time it took to run the 800 or 1200. Again, your goal should be to run each 1200 in the same time. I prefer the 1200 because you really have to mentally focus on the last two laps.
The final two workouts can build your running economy and sharpen you for 5K to half-marathon racing. These workouts should begin just before your racing season and can be continued through the end of the season.
Workout 4: Find a hill, such as Capitol Hill, that is roughly 300-400 meters long and moderately steep. Run six to eight hard repetitions, trying to get your maximum heart rate up to 90-95 percent by the end of the last repeat. Concentrate on your form as you run.
Workout 5: Run 10 to 12 400-meter intervals with a 200 meter recovery. These should be about five seconds per lap faster than your 10K race pace. If you run a 20-minute 5K, this is a pace of 6:26 minutes per mile or 96 seconds per quarter. Thus, you should run your 400s at 91 seconds even though you know that you can run them much faster. Why so slow? Again, check the Douglas-Pfitzinger book. You want to be running these 400s concentrating on your form and power instead of flailing away in order to run a few seconds faster. After all, the goal is not to run fast 400s but to run fast races.
I wish every MCRRC member a great fall racing season.
Coach West is a licensed coach, affiliated with MCRRC, and available to coach motivated adult runners. A portion of his coaching fees for MCRRC members is returned to MCRRC. For further information about personal coaching opportunities, contact Coach West at kirtwest@comcast.net.
