November 17th, 2010
Something I’ve been thinking about for the past couple weeks and what fellow blogger Ewen touched on in a recent post, is top end speed, or my current lack of any. It came to light a couple weeks ago when I was doing strides.
It was a few days before the 10K and I was doing my usual race-week strides when it hit me that my stride pace is never that much faster than 5K pace, only rarely does it get into the 5s. What’s silly about this is, as usual, the mental fodder that underlies this ignored area, because I know in the back of my head, I’m all, “what do I need with 5s?” Um, well lots! Running economy, turnover, just getting used to going faster which makes 5K pace seem easier… Duh.
Sure, I’m mainly focusing on Halfs, which don’t especially cry out for extra fast leg work, but just because I don’t need it in an obvious way, doesn’t mean it wouldn’t be hugely useful. Besides, I want to run some kick-ass 5Ks this next year and the way to get moving is to run faster than race pace from time to time.
So back to the strides that day… I decide to go for it and really try to go fast. It was interesting in that it required a true form change and getting those arms moving to bring down the pace. And that only hit 5:45, when there’s a whole other part of the spectrum with 800m race pace and faster. I swear, sprinting to me is a foreign activity.
Now, since it was a couple days before a race, I only did the one fast attempt with a promise to return since I didn’t want to chance injury. And the Half is this week, so again, I’m just keeping normal with the strides I have on tap. But after this race, when I’ve had a week of calm running, my plan is to incorporate some faster efforts of short sprints and/or strides as a weekly thing, or at the very least, on a 10-day cycle.
I mean honestly, I’ve only ever bothered with strides on race week, race day and sometimes a couple before a fast workout. All this time, I could have been adding them to the end of any old regular aerobic run. But the way I am, I need to plan it out and purposefully incorporate it into the schedule. So that’s what I’m thinking about for the next couple months when I begin a new 8-week “cyclette” for Carlsbad in January. Top Speed, baby!
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of course sprinting is a foreign activity! It’s like another sport all together.
Agreed!
How do you time strides?
A key component of my training is the repeat. Pretty fast (way faster than 5K pace) 200s or 400s, full recovery. You get to run fast and get full recovery. What could be better? They concentrate the mind on form, which I don’t think should vary from what one does on a daily run. So you don’t change your form. You simply use it to go fast. When I tire in a run, that form-work helps me hold it together since I’m used to holding my form even if I’m straining (as I am during the repeats on the track). Plus it helps with leg-speed.
Timing: press lap at the first lightpole, press lap at the last lightpole. I don’t always do it but sometimes I bother. Your repeats are exactly what I’ve been thinking about, 200s in particular with full recovery.
i could go for some extra speedy speedwork. in high school i was a sprinter and whenever i go to the track to do speed work i’m always reminded of it. not sure if that’s entirely good or not hahah.
i think incorporating strides into the ends of runs would be really beneficial.
Didn’t know you were a sprinter (or even a runner in high school). Cool!
this post is yet another reminder for me that I need to get back in a gym this winter! that seems to be the speed trick for me more than any running workout.
have you ever read Daniels’ Running Formula?
Yep, one of my favorite running books! Cool that you found your speed key, like I mention to Matt in a comment below, there are many ways to skin a cat and it’s lovely to be able to test a few things to see what works.
I was just about to make a self-disparaging comment about how I never do this type of speedwork and am probably the worse for it, but I realized that I do in fact do hill repeat sprints of 8-12 x 20-40 seconds on a fairly regularish basis. Hopefully these count as some kind of “speedy speed” and strength training at the same time. I will keep telling myself that. :-(
And you are right — it is interesting to notice how much my form changes when I’m GOing for it instead of just languishing at my usual dillydallying complacency pace.
They’re a tad different since you’re not getting the same leg turnover, it’s more strength than speed, also very good for your ligaments, tendons, etc. Definitely a great thing to do.
While I understand the logic of 200s/400s I really don’t like them to develop speed for what I am doing. Outside of when I was middle distance runner in hs/college, I never found they helped all that much. Granted they could have been helping me but It never felt like it.
My favorite speedwork is mile repeats at 20-30 faster than 5k pace with equal rest.
Oy, those are way long! That would be a drudge-fest to me.
When I was doing those Billat 30/30s, they seemed really helpful, so I seem to benefit from the short stuff. Just goes to show there are different ways to skin a cat.
So awesome to see you! Haha I was seriously thinking as I was walking on the path about how I havent seen you and then you run by…crazy
Wonderful running into you! And I love your haircut btw, mucho curls, super cute.
Thanks
I’ve just started working out with a group of people who are a) middle distance runners and b) much faster than me, anyway. The transition to truly fast 400s (mile pace) is unreal. I swear that I can’t physically run that fast, but then I find myself gasping along. I’m very curious to see the payoff in 5Ks.
Very cool to hear, you just got me even more excited to get started! Bet your 5Ks are going to surprise the crap out of you.
Btw, I just went to your blog and read your race report. Between the “visual representation” and the editorial on your photo, I laughed out loud. Glad to have another entertaining blog to check out.
Everybody’s different. I could do 200s and 400s all day and likely stay healthy but I dread those 16-20 mile runs and simply don’t enjoy running at 8+ pace. I’m not suggesting that you should train like I do but injecting some speed seems to be a good thing for you esp. if you’re racing at 13.1 or under.
Thanks for the thumbs-up, Justin. Hope you’re feeling good these days. I’m not into the real long Long Runs, either.
I appreciate the support. Unfortunately, I had another thyroid setback and my doc has a new plan to balance it. It likely contributed to a knee injury and I lost 3 weeks of training but am building back slowly. I’m still running my goal marathon but have pretty much conceded a good time.
Note: not posting much on RWOL because of limited access to internet.
Sorry to hear. Hope you get pleasantly surprised at your race. Good luck with it.
I like this post! Flo, after the half, I think it’d be interesting to record what your “top speed” is, by noting how many seconds it takes to run between those lightpoles… then (however many weeks later), see if there’s a measurable improvement (I’d be surprised if there wasn’t). I’m also keen (of course) to see if this flows over into easier-feeling regular speedwork.
I think there are distance runners out there who’ve never tried running at top speed (sprinting), or if they have, have given it up as a bad joke. It needs persistence to improve this type of running, just as it needs persistence to improve aerobic endurance.
I don’t usually hit lap for strides, but I do look at the speed graph later to see what the max was. Couple of things that have worked for me: See how fast you can go before you start increasing cadence, and try to get your knees really high.
[...] hit me that one thing I’ve never done and that would fit beautifully with my recent post on Top End Speed, is to spend a full cycle working on even shorter races than [...]