Track training for speed

I have procrastinated about proper track speed sessions for months...errr... years actually. Sure, I've been doing cadence sessions quite regularly and once a week or so I do intervals or speed pyramids on the treadmill. But I really haven't put in enough time for the sessions to make a big difference. On Tuesday evening at gym I bumped into a running friend who told me about a local spot for track training on Thursdays. I did my first session tonight... and I survived!

Track sessions are speed workouts geared to improve your running speed. You're required to put in hard, fast efforts over defined distances - anything from 200m to 1000m - with rest periods inbetween repeats. The length of the repeats or rest periods depends on the purpose of the session. And these repeats are run around, or slightly faster than your goal 5km race pace. The idea is that you want to become used to running at this pace so that you can duplicate it in a race. Yes, it takes a few weeks to start seeing improvements.

If you're keen to give the session we did tonight a try...

Warm up by running around the track two or three times at an easy pace. Then, do 4 x 100m strides to stretch out those legs. Now the fun starts... Run 300m, rest 1-min, run 200m, rest 1-min, run 300m, rest 1-min and run 200m. Then rest 2:30 before starting another set. Do 4 sets. You need to run at a pace you can maintain; it will be faster than your normal, comfortable pace that you'd run for 5km. You will be breathing heavily and you will feel those 300m intervals. Then run twice around the track at an easy pace to cool down. Total session takes about 45-minutes.

The good news is that I have some new running buddies; and, more importantly, a fixed weekly speed session at a local school field (it takes me 10-minutes to get there). I hope to see some [much needed] improvements in my running pace over the next few months.