Transformation Tuesday- Transform Your Speed

Good Evening, friends! Apparently posting for a Tuesday morning post wasn’t in my favor, so you’re stuck with me tonight

It’s time for another installment of #TransformationTuesday. As I have discussed before, not all posts will feature people and their amazing transformations.

So for tonight, you are stuck with me talking about SPEED WORK. Or as I like to call it “Fun Work”.

By golly, I did wear those on my head for FUN work day!

Speed work is the necessary FUN that needs to be done in order to get faster. Hmmm. Imagine that. I never really embraced speed work with open arms. I did it, but didn’t really push myself to what I could. Until NOW.

I have started pushing myself with tempo intervals and repeats, plus with a healthy dose of cross training for a Triathlon, I have noticed that my pace is getting significantly faster. So now I challenge you to incorporate speed work if you don’t already…

Speed Work Ideas for Beginners

1.Fartleks- No, you don’t need to say “excuse me” except when you are running so fast past everyone! While running, mix a few speed bursts from telephone pole to telephone pole or find a starting tree and finish tree. Run hard to that point, then run easy for the same amount of distance.

2. For Time! Kick it up a notch for 2 minutes then ease into a recovery jog for 2 minutes, or start at 1 min on/2 off. Speed work is not sprinting, so you are not going all out, but kickin’ it up a notch or two (holding sub 5k pace would be great too!).

3. Track Time- Just like in High School! Progressively get faster on each 400m repeat. This is my hardest task… I start out too fast. Recover for 2 minutes in between each. With CREW, we warm up a mile, do 4×400′s then cool-down a mile.

Speed work is not sprinting. It’s not “OMG, I am going to make my heart explode all over the track” type running. To help make sure I keep my heart intact, I like to go by my Perceived Exertion scale.

0-just woke up and barely rolling over to turn off my alarm at 4:30am

4/5- Long runs

6- Tempo Runs

8- Speed Work

That being said, I try not to be so Garmin dependent (which obviously didn’t work for my Tri!) and focus more on how I feel then I look at my splits later. I have found that really putting quality miles in for speed and tempo work has helped increase my speed and helped me to hone in on my ‘run mind’, ie zone into my running and not let my mind wander.

Cheers to some FUN work and getting faster!

Do you do speed work? How do you rate your runs?