Great Speedwork Article from Slowtwitch.com

I found a great article about how to run faster on the tri site, Slowtwitch.com. It is from 2004 and written by Dan Empfield. Empfield is an editor and writer for Slowtwich.com, but he is better known as an innovator in the trialthlon world, designing the first "speed wetsuit" in 1987 and the first triathlon bike in 1989, both for the company he founded, Quintana Roo. While the article is VERY intense, Empfield makes some good take home points for all of us. Take a look for yourself.

Basically it says if you want to be a much faster runner, you need to run, a lot. Seems like common sense right? Although be warned, the levels at which Empfield is talking about would certainly risk injury for most of us weekend warriors. Despite that, there are good lessons to be learned from this piece.

Here are some good take homes from the story:

• "Get into a daily running habit." Good for lots of reasons.


• "Run more than once a day." This can add to you mileage while providing some rest. You can't have two hard workouts in one day, but you can do this.


• "Run with others." Yeah, as I can attest from last weekend's CARA run, that works well. Most of us runners/triathletes tend to want to stay up with the runner next to you.


• "Lose weight." The truth is, if you lose 5 pounds, your minutes per mile will drop. This is what causes a lot of eat disorders in college cross country, but with those of us with pounds to lose it is probably an ok reminder.


• "Learn to exert." Here is where Empfield reminds us the body gets used to challenging situations if you keep putting yourself through difficult workouts. It's the whole, "it isn't as bad as it used to be" way of thinking.


• "Run fast." He talks a lot about different types of speed work routines, primarily either doing interval days, or tacking it on at the end of a workout, but the point is that you need to practice fast to perform fast.
  

Here is one plan Empfield designed to be incorporated into your running over two to two and a half weeks (designed for 10k training, for a 37 min 10k goal, yeah I know that is fast, you will have to just do the math):

• 6 mile run, the middle three miles tempo, at 6:00-6:15 pace [At or just slower than your race pace for a 37 minute 10k -- thus substitute your goal 10k pace here.]
• 4X800m in 2:45, with a slow, 5-minute 800m jog in between. This is 5:30 pace, and should be a bit uncomfortable to run. You’ll find it difficult to hold form. Your legs will be a bit sore the next day. [For the human runners here, run yours at least a minute faster than your 10k pace. You can do this on the treadmill, but the track is better]
• 8X400m in 80sec, with a 400m jog in 2:30 in between. This is 5:20 pace, and will be a painful workout. It’ll be hard to hold form. [Again, change the math so the pace is a little faster than the 800 pace above.]
• 4X800m in 2:40, with a slow, 5-minute 800m jog in between. This is again 5:20 pace, but you’ll find it easier to hold form this time around, as these quicker-paced runs yield surprisingly fast results, at least in the area of motor learning. [Same as 400 pace above]
• 6 mile run, the middle three miles tempo, at 5:50-6:00 pace. This will be a faster run, with better form, and more even splits, than your first effort at this. [Again just change to your goal 10k pace.]

Overall, it is a great article. There are many more like it at http://www.slowtwitch.com/. Check it out.

Lastly, for those of you who have the fear of falling off the treadmill, here is a few good spills brought to my attention by Daily Triathlon. Watch ridiculous people falling off treadmills.

Here was my quick Tuesday night workout:

Running
On the treadmill, 3.5 miles, 28:06