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Speed work for beginners Question
I completed a HM three weeks ago and a ten mile race last weekend. We're taking a break from long races b/c it's already too hot here. I'll run another HM in October. I run three days during the week, 4.6 miles each, and one long run on the weekend. We'd like to add some speed work to one of the weekdays.
We run .8 mile to a loop, then run a 1 mile loop in the neighborhood three times, then the .8 miles home. I was thinking .8 warm up, then do 400s with a recovery in between for the 3 loops, then .8 cool down/recovery home. I know what my 400 pace should be. My question is- is 400s the right thing to do? When do we add in others (like 800 or 1 mile). How can I make a "plan" out of this?
I'm a beginner runner. Been running around 2ish years sporadically, buckled down and trained for a HM this year. Completed a very hilly course in 2:19, and did my ten mile race in 1:40. So I'm not breaking any world records here, and never will, but would like to get a little faster! Also- I really need a "goal" for training, and right now, distance isn't the goal.
Any suggestions?
Re: Speed work for beginners Question
look up any of the plans on Runner's World and grab some speed work ideas from there. You could do 400s one week, 800s the next, mile repeats the third and then a ladder for the fourth week. There are so many different kinds of workouts use this time to play around with them and find out what you like (or don't like!)
And the McMillan Pace Calculator is a great tool for figuring out training speeds
j+k+m+e | running with needles
I would just start doing 400s. A lot of the half marathon training plans have a day of speed work and I would probably just modify one of those.
http://www.halhigdon.com/training/51132/Half-Marathon-Intermediate-Training-Program
I'm not sure I follow exactly what your plan is, are you planning to do 9 400s to start? 4 with 4 recovery?
The neat thing about speed work is you can do whatever you want and each week it can be different. (400s, 800s, 1600s, ladders, etc)
Here are a few different 5K workouts geared toward 5Ks:
http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-238-244--14270-0,00.html