Speed Training! By: Amy Van Horn
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I am thrilled to be writing an article on Speed Training for Teacher2Mother2Runner. Thanks for asking me to do so.
When you hear the words “speed training” or “speed work” what do you think? Do you groan inwardly? Do a little happy dance? Wonder, speed what? Giggle because you thought of Fartleks? (Yes, I have small children and that’s funny.) I used to have a mini panic attack every time I saw that speed work was on my training plan for the next day. (Let’s be honest here, I may still have a little anxiety when I see it.) I think it’s a good reaction to have because, the reality is speed work is meant to be challenging, otherwise it would just be another “easy” run.
Why should you consider adding speed training into your training plans?
How do you become a faster runner? You have to practice running faster. Easy peasy, right? Sort of.
We all have two types of fibers that make up our muscles, fast twitch (sprinting) and slow twitch (endurance) fibers. We all have different ratios of fast twitch to slow twitch muscles. Some of us are better at sprinting and some of us are better at the steady pace long distances. The beauty of speed training is that it strengthens all the muscle fibers and increased strength equals increased speed.
There are several different ways that you can work speed training into your week. Pick one or two of the following workouts and mix them in. Be careful though. Speed training breaks your muscles down so that they can build back up stronger, to do that they need a rest after a tough workout. Don’t schedule speed workouts on two consecutive days, separate them by at least one day. You can still workout on that day in the middle just make it an easy run, cross training day, or take a day off, rest days are important too.
Fartleks
Fartlek, if you didn’t know, is Swedish for “speed play.” Introducing fartleks into your run is not only fun to say, it’s relatively simple. Head out for your normal run, 10 to 15 minutes in start adding in bursts of speed. Sprint between two telephone poles or the length of one block and then jog for as long as it takes you to recover. Then sprint between the next two telephone poles or block. Add in 6 or 8 bursts into your run and viola! Speed work.
Intervals
Intervals are when you alternate running between a fast pace and a slower pace or walk. Most couch to 5k plans use interval training to get runners “up to speed.” (Sorry, the pun was intended) On your next run alternate between walking/jogging and short intervals of faster running. Each run increase the length of time you run faster and decrease the length of time you walk/jog.
Tempo Runs
Tempo runs teach your body what it feels like to run at or very near your goal pace. According to Hal Higdon, “A tempo run consists of a single, continuous surge in the midst of a medium distance run.”
Your tempo run could look something like this:
Warm up: 10-15 minutes
Tempo: pick up your pace to your “goal” pace and hold that pace for
anywhere from a ½ mile to 2 miles
Cool down: 5-10 minutes
Tempo runs can be intimidating and a challenge but they can also serve as a huge confidence boost when you see how fast you can really run for a long stretch.
Hill Repeats
When you run uphill you strengthen your glutes, quadriceps, hamstrings and calf muscles.
Stronger legs = faster runner.
Find a hill with a moderate grade. Sprint up the hill for 30 seconds to 2 minutes, or if you can make it to the top, go for it! Jog back down the hill to recover. When you reach the bottom turn around and head back up. Repeat the hill anywhere from four to ten times. As always, warm up for 10-15 minutes before you begin the hill repeats and end with a 5-10 minute cool down.
Where should you do speed work?
You can do speed work just about anywhere. Obviously for hill repeats you will need a hill or treadmill with an incline. The track works well for most speed work because it is a known distance and a smooth surface. I have used the treadmill for almost all of my speed work. I can set and keep a steady pace, have control over the hill incline and know the exact distance and pace of my workout. (Also, winters in Utah are fr.eez.ing! another treadmill bonus.) But you could also use a stretch of road that you know where the ¼, ½, and 1 miles markers are.
Everything you needed to know about speed training you learned in Kindergarten
Most importantly, make speed training fun! If it is something you enjoy then chances are you will keep at it.
A few cautions on speed training
I am thrilled to be writing an article on Speed Training for Teacher2Mother2Runner. Thanks for asking me to do so.
When you hear the words “speed training” or “speed work” what do you think? Do you groan inwardly? Do a little happy dance? Wonder, speed what? Giggle because you thought of Fartleks? (Yes, I have small children and that’s funny.) I used to have a mini panic attack every time I saw that speed work was on my training plan for the next day. (Let’s be honest here, I may still have a little anxiety when I see it.) I think it’s a good reaction to have because, the reality is speed work is meant to be challenging, otherwise it would just be another “easy” run.
Why should you consider adding speed training into your training plans?
How do you become a faster runner? You have to practice running faster. Easy peasy, right? Sort of.
We all have two types of fibers that make up our muscles, fast twitch (sprinting) and slow twitch (endurance) fibers. We all have different ratios of fast twitch to slow twitch muscles. Some of us are better at sprinting and some of us are better at the steady pace long distances. The beauty of speed training is that it strengthens all the muscle fibers and increased strength equals increased speed.
There are several different ways that you can work speed training into your week. Pick one or two of the following workouts and mix them in. Be careful though. Speed training breaks your muscles down so that they can build back up stronger, to do that they need a rest after a tough workout. Don’t schedule speed workouts on two consecutive days, separate them by at least one day. You can still workout on that day in the middle just make it an easy run, cross training day, or take a day off, rest days are important too.
Fartleks
Fartlek, if you didn’t know, is Swedish for “speed play.” Introducing fartleks into your run is not only fun to say, it’s relatively simple. Head out for your normal run, 10 to 15 minutes in start adding in bursts of speed. Sprint between two telephone poles or the length of one block and then jog for as long as it takes you to recover. Then sprint between the next two telephone poles or block. Add in 6 or 8 bursts into your run and viola! Speed work.
Intervals
Intervals are when you alternate running between a fast pace and a slower pace or walk. Most couch to 5k plans use interval training to get runners “up to speed.” (Sorry, the pun was intended) On your next run alternate between walking/jogging and short intervals of faster running. Each run increase the length of time you run faster and decrease the length of time you walk/jog.
Tempo Runs
Tempo runs teach your body what it feels like to run at or very near your goal pace. According to Hal Higdon, “A tempo run consists of a single, continuous surge in the midst of a medium distance run.”
Your tempo run could look something like this:
Warm up: 10-15 minutes
Tempo: pick up your pace to your “goal” pace and hold that pace for
anywhere from a ½ mile to 2 miles
Cool down: 5-10 minutes
Tempo runs can be intimidating and a challenge but they can also serve as a huge confidence boost when you see how fast you can really run for a long stretch.
Hill Repeats
When you run uphill you strengthen your glutes, quadriceps, hamstrings and calf muscles.
Stronger legs = faster runner.
Find a hill with a moderate grade. Sprint up the hill for 30 seconds to 2 minutes, or if you can make it to the top, go for it! Jog back down the hill to recover. When you reach the bottom turn around and head back up. Repeat the hill anywhere from four to ten times. As always, warm up for 10-15 minutes before you begin the hill repeats and end with a 5-10 minute cool down.
Where should you do speed work?
You can do speed work just about anywhere. Obviously for hill repeats you will need a hill or treadmill with an incline. The track works well for most speed work because it is a known distance and a smooth surface. I have used the treadmill for almost all of my speed work. I can set and keep a steady pace, have control over the hill incline and know the exact distance and pace of my workout. (Also, winters in Utah are fr.eez.ing! another treadmill bonus.) But you could also use a stretch of road that you know where the ¼, ½, and 1 miles markers are.
Everything you needed to know about speed training you learned in Kindergarten
Most importantly, make speed training fun! If it is something you enjoy then chances are you will keep at it.
A few cautions on speed training
- At the end of your workout you should feel like you could do another interval. You should never do so many intervals or do them so hard that you couldn't jog back home or to your car. Going all out is for race day not for training. Always be able to say to yourself, “I could have done 1 or 2 more repeats.”
- Everything I have read cautions that you should add speed work carefully and slowly. Start by adding one speed workout a week and then allow up to 6 weeks (or more if needed) for your body to adapt to the new demands on it.
- If something doesn't feel “right,” trust your intuition and back off for that day. There will always be another speed work opportunity.
The 3 R's of Running by: Jennifer
Anyone who has ever been a teacher or connected to education in any way knows that there is usually a new catch-phrase, quick-fix, silver-bullet plan for improving student achievement, increasing motivation, and raising test scores introduced at the beginning of almost every single school year. And, anyone who has ever been a teacher or connected to education in any way has probably sat in meetings talking about those “new ideas” with a fake smile plastered on your face, nodding your head in perfect agreement with people who haven’t been in a classroom in twenty years (if ever), and wishing that you were back in your classroom doing something far more productive than philosophizing about the problems with education.
Goodness knows, I have sat in more of those meetings than I can remember over the course of my teaching career...and watched more of those perfect plans come and go like runners through a water stop.
However, one of those educational philosophies has really stuck with me – ironically, not so much in terms of how it defines my teaching (although it does), but because I think it really sums up what running means and how it affects my life. School calls the approach the “3 R’s of Education,” but I like to think of it as the “3 R’s of Running” – Rigor, Relevance, and Relationships.
Rigor
I think most people would agree that running is probably one of the most rigorous activities out there. Whether you are someone who runs one mile a day or twenty, the physical and psychological demands that running places on you are pretty much beyond comparison.
If I’m being totally honest, running is often one of the most challenging parts of my life. “Back in the day,” it was easy…I was younger, in shape, had time to run, and felt good doing it. Now, as a full-time wife, mom, and teacher, running is much more challenging. When my body is aching and sore, I am mentally and emotionally exhausted, and there just seem to be more things to do in a day than one person could ever accomplish, running is often more of a chore than a release.
When those tough times hit, though, I am often reminded of something Penn State’s cross country coach said at a camp I attended in high school – “When the going gets tough, the tough get running.” Yes, running is tough…sometimes it hurts, sometimes it is frustrating, sometimes it brings out the worst demons and doubts I hide away on the inside. Yet, at the same time, running teaches me confidence, helps me to believe in myself and to be proud of my accomplishments, and gives me the courage to overcome any challenge. I’ve never been one to give up when challenged and when running (or life!) places obstacles in my path, be they injury, illness, or just not enough time in the day, running also teaches me that I have the strength to overcome them if I just dig a little deeper, push a little harder, and hang in there a little longer.
Relevance
At that same Penn State cross country camp, a different coach compared running to driving a 5-speed car – she said the secret to success in running is all about “finding the right gear.” Sometimes, you are feeling great, your legs feel strong, your head is in the game, and your feet feel like they have wings. You are cruising in 5th gear, windows rolled down, hair blowing in the wind. Other times, you’ve got blisters on your toes, your side is cramping up, and your sports bra just isn’t fitting quite right anymore and things are getting jiggly in all the wrong places. Downshift to 1st and hope the cop in the rearview mirror doesn’t pull the car over.
For me, “finding the right gear” in running is really all about figuring out how it is relevant to me and to my life. For a large chunk of time, running really was my life. In high school, any time I didn’t spend in class or doing schoolwork was spent with my team, at practice, prepping for races, running, running, running. One of my teammates had a t-shirt that said “Running is life. The rest is just details.” That pretty much summed it up for me. I was all about the team, all about the sport, all about winning that next championship and earning that next PR. I went on to college, kept competing, and was on my way to being a top runner in our conference and maybe, just maybe, winning that championship race myself. In other words, I was cruising along in 5th gear.
Then, life intervened. I started passing out in the middle of races and no one could really figure out why. After I face-planted about five feet before the finish line of the indoor mile at the MAAC Championships, I was told that it would probably be wise to never run again, just to be on the safe side. That news didn’t even cause me to downshift…it through my whole life into reverse.
For a few years, I listened to the docs and gave up running. It was really frustrating because I knew that I was just starting to reach my potential when I had to stop competing. Then, a few years ago, I decided to give it another shot, laced up the old trainers again, and put the car back into drive.
It was tough starting back in 1st gear and not always thinking about “what might have been.” But, over the past few years, I have learned to see the relevance running has for my life now. While I will probably never run a 5:10 mile or an 18:20 5k ever again, that doesn’t mean that I can’t set new goals and challenge myself in different ways. For example, in high school and college, I never, ever would have thought that I would run a half marathon – and now I have run two. I never would have contemplated running a full marathon – and now I find myself “just looking” at different training plans that I “just maybe” could fit in to my schedule to get that 26.2 sticker on the bumper of my car. I never thought that I could be a mom of two amazing little boys and still find time to do something which has been a part of me for as long as I can remember - maybe not quite at the same speed as in the old days, but certainly in a way that makes me a stronger, better wife, mom, and person.
Relationships
I guess you could probably say that the most important relationship in my life – the relationship I have with my husband – exists because of running. We met for the first time at the track and have been running together ever since. Through all the years and during all those miles of running, we have learned a lot about each other and about ourselves. We’ve supported each other over many of life’s hurdles – family illness and death, broken relationships, job changes – while putting in mile after mile, taking step after step. I think we probably figured out that our relationship had evolved from friendship into something more on a run, and I am pretty sure that Sean worked up the courage to propose somewhere between miles 5 and 6 of a long run one day (although it took him a lot longer than that to tell me about it!).
Despite our hectic schedules, Sean and I have made a concerted effort to find time to run together as often as possible. Right now, that usually means running endless laps around a half-mile path at the gym so that our boys can hang out in the Child Watch room while we work out. As horribly BORING as that can be, it does give us guaranteed one-on-one time together almost every day when we can talk about our day, figure out what to have for dinner that night, plan our dream vacations…it’s even a great way to fight – rather than yelling at each other, we just push the pace faster and farther until we’re both too tired to be angry anymore! I always laugh that as a “running couple,” we have probably solved more of life’s problems and challenges on runs than most people do in marriage counseling!
The most exciting part of running for me recently has been that my kids are finally getting old enough to want to run with us too. Many days at the gym, Conor and Brendan will ask if they can run a lap or two with us, and they have really started to get into all the kids’ fun runs that are held in the community and before races Sean and I are running. I think it’s pretty awesome to be able to share running with my kids and to build my relationship with them through a sport that I love – to see their sense of excitement and accomplishment and their pure joy at being able to “run the whole time” in a mile race is one of my greatest sources of motivation!
So, Rigor, Relevance, Relationships – they define my running story, past and present. It’s a long and rambling story, with lots of twists and turns and ups and downs, and I haven’t always known where I was headed or what was around the next corner…but, then again, I guess that’s what keeps me putting one foot in front of the other every day – the challenge of the run, the way running has changed me into the person I am today, and the relationships I have built along the way.
Get your kids moving... By: Jill
I'm so glad to be here today. What a special honor to be asked to join the conversation about health and movement. My name is Jill. I am the mom behind amomwithalessonplan.com. I have two little ones (who aren't quite as little as they used to be).
Big M who just turned 6 and started Kindergarten is my mover. He's also the reason you'll be finding more and more school age activities on my site.
Big M who just turned 6 and started Kindergarten is my mover. He's also the reason you'll be finding more and more school age activities on my site.
Little M is 4 and in preschool. She is full of energy as well, but her's comes out in spins and song. Little M is the main focus of amomwithalessonplan... which is kind of funny because she rarely follows my plan!
We have just started working on Letter of the Week Activities and I thought a little Balloon Bounce would be just the type of activity you moving mommies would love!
what you need: balloons (preferably blue... but use what you have) ~ sharpie
I wrote Bs on all of the balloons with a sharpie. On some I wrote uppercase Bs and on some I wrote lowercase bs. Then we took the party out front.
what you need: balloons (preferably blue... but use what you have) ~ sharpie
I wrote Bs on all of the balloons with a sharpie. On some I wrote uppercase Bs and on some I wrote lowercase bs. Then we took the party out front.
I gave the kids only two instructions.
1. Bounce the blue balloons.
2. Say as many B words as you can while you bounce.
The balloons went all over the yard, and the kids had a blast chasing them down.
1. Bounce the blue balloons.
2. Say as many B words as you can while you bounce.
The balloons went all over the yard, and the kids had a blast chasing them down.
I thought the best part was the B sound face. There was a lot of Buh...Buh...Buh... going on.
Tips (to maximize learning): 1. I blew up a bunch of balloons before we started, that way when one popped I had a quick replacement. 2. When the b words started to slow down I would suggest a category. "What foods start with a b?" "Can you think of any animals that start with a buh buh B?" 3. If your little one is just learning their letters, you say the words while they bounce.
Click here for the Letter B Bubble Art Activity to go with it!
Click here for the Letter B Bubble Art Activity to go with it!