SPEED TRAINING Do's and Dont's

Running races have only one purpose. Break your Personal Record (PR). After the first few weeks of running we improve our time by 5-10 minutes but after 6 months it reaches a plateau. We run harder, train longer and buy expensive gear just to shave a few seconds to your best time. 

A lot of factors are considered before concluding that your PR has not improved. The route is key to every PR. My PR for the QCIM was 4h:55m and is the same as my MILO PR but the QCIM route was very demanding and with less water. I was better prepared for the QCIM with more mileage and better strength but factors other than my body have intervened. The environment will also affect your PR. Cooler weather and slight rainfall is always best compared to a hot and humid race day. Hydration and nutrition is another factor. Maintaining a well hydrated state before and during the race is very important.

When trying to improve your PR, condition the body to run the distance. Here are a few things to remember when doing speed training.

1. Do not run intervals too fast. Interval training has only one goal, Improve VO2 Max. This is the maximum aerobic threshold your body can maintain when doing endurance exercises. Running too fast will shift your body to an anaerobic state and will not improve your running time. 

2. Do run longer intervals. When trying to increase difficulty of interval training, do not start by increasing your pace. When running 6 x 400m repeats no longer strain you, run 6 x 600m to increase difficulty. Run intervals at 300 meters to 2 kilometers distance.

3. Do run more volume. Run. Run. Run. When trying to vary interval training runs, try increasing the distance, increasing the pace or decreasing rest intervals. Rest should be between half the duration up to the same duration as the run interval. Example: Running 800m in 4 minutes then rest for 2 - 4 minutes then run again. Rest intervals may be walking or jogging.

4. Do not run intervals year round. When not training for an event, build endurance by increasing mileage per week instead of doing interval training. This will increase your endurance capacity. Interval training improves speed while long slow (LSD) runs improve endurance.  

5. Do not run tempos too fast. Tempo runs, compared to intervals, are run at your lactate threshold. It is a state in which your body is producing lactate (by-product of energy consumption) more than it can eliminate. Lactate accumulation in the muscles cause post-workout muscle soreness and cramps. An easy guide for tempo speed is to run at comfortably hard pace.

6. Do be creative and enjoy speedwork. Running intervals for months can be boring especially if done inside a closed track. Enjoy speedwork by incorporating hill intervals or running in areas with a better view. Run inside subdivisions, villages or in nature parks.

7. Do train specifically for a race and understand the physiological demands of a race. This follows the SPECIFICITY RULE. When planning to improve your 10K race pace, train at race pace for the same distance and rest or recover at slower than race pace.

8. Do not sacrifice FORM for SPEED. Always train in proper form. Fast runners prefer to use the mid-foot or fore-foot strike rather than the heel strike. Body slightly leaning forward. Head facing forward. Lift your foot and land lightly. Shorter stride at faster pace.