28 January 2009

speed hurt

The combination of being a bit lazy and having some difficulties at work have meant that the glory of Strathpuffer was quiet short lived. In the past week I've managed a couple of hilly road runs, filled in 3 job applications, joined a union but most importantly completed my first ever speed work session.

I've always found the nature of speed work a bit mystifying and could never work out how to incorporate it into my runs. So today after work we both decided it was time to discover for ourselves what lung busting torture could be had if we went to the local track. Well, it's certainly easier to work out distance and pace. All you have to think about is your stride and not whether you're about to tread in dog shit or get run over. It was a revelation. There's certainly a large element of pleasure/pain in these sessions but I really enjoyed it. Just need to do a bit of research now about what type of speed work I should be doing. Any advice greatly received.

8 comments:

Red Bike said...

You already seem VERY quick to me. I'm already very envious of how quickly you can run.

Good luck with the job hunt!

jumbly said...

http://www.brianmac.co.uk/

This site has a section on speed work, I've never followed it, but have found the site generally useful in the past for nutrition info. Might be worth a look.

Anthony said...

Oh the infamous speed session. My advice, avoid at all costs coz they hurt!

If not then look at pyramid sessions. 400m reps and mile reps (different sessions) as they seem to be the ones that I have got most benefit out of. All on grass/trail as better resistance. I hate track! The different distance is good for fell running as the races are always different lengths, unlike the 10k specialists who bang out 400m time and time again.

Runners world US has loads of info on it.

p.s got permission to buy a new bike! Will post my options shortly!

Sarah Ridgway said...

Hi Kate

track work is good - it hurts and it helps you understand what hurt is!!! You can keep that feeling in the bank at the end of that 10km race to remind you that you can keep it up! We do track (pyramids, 400m reps ect) but have found that 6min fast pace intervals (on road or trail - uphill if possible) produce good results - do at least 4 with maybe a min rest/easy jog inbetween - so you aim for a min of 24min of effort with a warm up and cool down of 10min or so each.

cheers, Sarah

Julbags said...

I will get an idea after my half at the end of Feb which sessions are really working but I think the longer intervals are going to help a lot. The 1K ones really hurt, as did the mile ones but its a good exercise in making yourself keep digging.

The tempo runs are also useful for me at the moment but not sure how good they would be for fell as you don't tend to get long periods of steady running.

Anonymous said...

4 week cycle - (1st) 3 x 10minute reps, (2nd) Track session meet at Carnegie 7:10pm (3rd) 5 x 6minute reps, (4th) 6 x 600m hills.

ultra collie said...

hi kate. i love track sessions..the sheer breathlessness of them then the rapid recovery. it all depends on what youre training for as to how specific you become. for long distance then 800's and 1m intervals are more suited but frankly i enjoy a wide mix of shorter and longer intervals. anything is good because if you want to run faster you have to run faster.

kate said...

thanks a lot for that. we were doing 400m repeats, so from what you guys have said i should try and do longer ones...mmm...this is going to hurt even more! cheers ;)