Marc asks: I ran my first half marathon this spring, and I've registered for another one this fall. Now my goal is to improve my time. I'd like to start doing some speed workouts, maybe even hit the track. Any suggestions for workouts I can do to get faster at this distance?
With one half marathon under your belt, you have established a running base ready for speed training. But adding intensity can increase the risk of injury, making it important to increase run intensity gradually.
Try beginning your speedwork with one tempo run a week. This allows for some adaptation time to this increased intensity. Include a one- to two-mile warmup period before picking up the pace for the tempo or speed part of your workout. Keep the tempo portion of this run to four to six miles for the first few weeks. As you adjust to this new intensity, then you can increase the tempo distance of these runs to six to eight miles.
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Here are some suggestions for tempo runs to get you started:
Hard/Easy Run: After your warmup, drop the pace and run "hard" for one to three minutes. Adjust the duration of this hard effort time based on your current fitness level. You can begin with one minute and gradually increase it to three minutes as your fitness improves.
After the hard segment, run easy to recover from this effort for three minutes. As you gain fitness, reduce the recovery time from three minutes to two minutes to one minute. Your ultimate goal: Run hard for three minutes and easy for one minute for a tempo run of six to eight miles, plus warmup and cooldown.
Negative Split Run: Start with an easy pace and gradually drop your run pace by 10 to 15 seconds each mile. Your ultimate goal: Hit the last mile of the tempo portion of this run at your 10K race pace. Total distance of this tempo run is six to eight miles, plus warmup and cooldown.
Mile Repeats: Measure out one mile on a flat, lightly traveled road. Do a warmup first and then begin mile repeats. For pace, use a recent 10K time or about 30 seconds faster than your previous half marathon race pace. Try to keep all mile times within five seconds.
When you can hit all the miles at the same time, you can drop the goal time by 15 seconds. Your ultimate goal: Run four to six mile repeats 30 seconds faster than your goal half marathon race pace with two minutes for recovery between each mile.
After completing several weeks of tempo runs, you can hit the track for some sharpening workouts about 10 to 12 weeks out from your targeted race. The purpose of the track is to run faster in shorter, measured segments, but not to run all out. Remember, you are training for distance, not sprinting. Here are some track workouts to try:
Broken Mile Workout: Do three to four sets of 1200 + 400 runs. Run 1200 meters (or three laps of the track) at approximately your 10K pace. Jog 200 meters easy for recovery, then run 400 meters at approximately your 5K pace. Take four minutes between sets.
Yasso 800s: Do four to eight 800-meter runs (or two laps of a track) at 10K pace. Jog 200 meters easy for recovery. Begin doing this workout with four repeats and gradually increase that number as your fitness improves.
Susan Paul has coached more than 2,000 runners and is an exercise physiologist and program director for the Orlando Track Shack Foundation. For more information, visit www.trackshack.com.
![obstacle course races mud obstacle course tough mudder](https://hips.hearstapps.com/hmg-prod/images/august-2023-brandenburg-klaistow-several-participants-news-photo-1706292848.jpg?crop=0.668xw:1.00xh;0.167xw,0&resize=360:* "Mud obstacle course "Tough Mudder")
