The following article was written by a Run For Kids friend and veteran marathoner, Don Leeman.
Speedwork: a Marathon essential
Many first-time marathoners wonder what they can do to hit whatever "time goal" they may have in their first-time run. Excellent question, even though your main objective should be simply to make it to the finish line. This is where "speedwork" will come into play. SPEEDWORK? What's so fast about the pace at which you will run a marathon? Simply put, if you don't care what your finishing time is, then don't do speedwork! You may slog along through your miles, and just work on building endurance. It works!
But, if you have goals such as breaking 4 hours, or 3 hours, or 5 hours, you will have to learn to run at a pace that will bring you to your goal, successfully. Speedwork will help you reach that goal. Obviously, you cannot run at the same pace for 26.2 miles as you can for a 100 meter dash. That is elementary!
One way to build up your speed will be through doing "repeats" or "reps". Here's a good example of a "speed" workout, done on a 1/4 mile track. After a good warmup run of perhaps 2 miles, run 1/4 mile at your own 5K race pace. Then, slow down to a jog for perhaps 200 meters, allowing yourself a chance to "recover" from the effort. Then, another 1/4 mile, again at 5K race pace. Each "repeat quarter" will have you running at a much faster pace than you will run during the marathon. This is where you will start to build up your speed.
Your first Speed workout should have 4 "repeat quarters". The following week, you should jump to 6, and the following week, jump to 8. Remember, when adding up your weekly mileage, include the 200 meter "rest intervals" in your total. Four of them will equal 800 meters or approximately 1/2 mile. It's not a huge addition, but it will allow you to accurately log your mileage every week.
After
the "repeat quarters" are finished, do an easy cool down of 1-2
miles. For those runners who have more experience, you might try going for 800
meter repeats, again at your 5K race pace. There is a theory (unproven, though)
that you can equate your 800 meter repeats into your finishing time. For
example, if you are able to do 800 meter repeats at
One thing to understand: Keep building up the "repeats" by adding 2 more each week. This will get help you to develop the "feel" for running at a faster pace, and you will need that by the time you get to the MCM. You should "top off" at 16 repeat quarters. At that point, your workout will consist of 4 miles of running at 5K race pace, plus all of the 200 meter "rests" along the way, plus your 2 mile warmups and cool downs. That's a great speed workout regimen, and will result in taking many minutes off of what would have been your finishing time without the speedwork. Later, we will cover "repeat miles", which will be an adjunct to your weekly long runs.
For now, remember to keep doing those hill workouts. This will give you the leg strength that is necessary for speedwork. Maintain your diet, sticking to at least 60% of your calories coming from Complex Carbohydrates. One other thing to remember: do not have hard workouts on consecutive days. After a hard run, your body needs to recover from the work before doing another hard run. A speed workout is a hard run, so it should be reserved for Tuesdays or Thursdays, with Wednesdays and Fridays being "easy" days. Stick to either Saturdays or Sundays for your long run of the week, and the other weekend day as a “short” or “rest” day. (Note” the topic of my next article is "The Long Run.")
As usual, please feel free to send any personal training questions that you may have to Don's Mail Bag. I will reply as promptly as possible.
For now, good running to all of you!