I’ve never been a super fast runner. My girlfriend does a marathon in 3:15, and I love her for it but I’ll see 3:15 in my dreams (only, most likely!) I’d like to go faster, though, so during this marathon training I started working on speed. I’m happy to say that it has paid off! I did my last 5K at an 8:20 pace and I was able to keep up a 9:15-9:20 pace for the start of the past marathon. Had my knee not given out I would have finished the race around 4:20, and that includes stopping for pictures and potty breaks, so I would have been completely happy with that.
I noticed notable improvement (thanks to my can’t-live-without Garmin!) during training and actually in the first part of the marathon as well, before the old knee decided to stop.
This morning I went on a four mile run, my first four miler since the marathon, and I’m happy to report the knee feels good! I came back and immediately rolled it, iced it and stretched it. I’m hoping to do three tomorrow and then at least 5, if not 7, on Saturday, so I can resume mileage on the weekend. I was able to do the four miles at a 9:20 pace.
So, what worked in terms of speed? This is the plan that I followed.
I do four runs each week. I do one back to back (my days are Wed and Thurs but I hope to make it Sat and Sun so I can do a short run after a really long run and get used to the miles, which might help marathon performance).
Monday is a 5 miler. I do this one at a comfortable pace, pushing myself at least 15 seconds faster than feels comfortable for at least three of the miles and then dropping back just a bit for the last two.
Wednesday is a 4-5 miler. I do this one a little slower at the start and then finish the last mile to two 15 to 30 seconds faster. I found this helped a lot during training because those last two miles I’m more tired and it trained my body to work through that fatigue and go faster than felt completely comfortable. I could talk if I wanted, so I was not full out these miles, but I wouldn’t carry on a long conversation at this pace.
Thursday I generally do a shorter sprint run followed by biking. I started this when I was training for a tri, and I think I will continue since I want to start tri training in the summer for the fall season. I would do a 2-3 mile run all out, as fast as I could go for as long as I could go. This was my plan: Run fast.
Saturday is my long run. I do anywhere from 10-20 miles and I do this at a slower pace, incorporating at least 15-30 seconds faster than normal/slower pace throughout the run.
Drills work well. I end my Wednesday run and spend at least half a mile to a mile doing all out drills, trying to get down into the 5 minute mile pace. A month or so before the marathon I stopped doing drills for fear of injury, but I will resume these again next week if the knee holds up.
If you have some tips for speed, please leave them!