Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Wind Sprints

I've been doing some research as to how to increase my speed. I ran for 30 minutes last night and the last 10 minutes I was running at a 3.9 but I was running so that's something.

After discussing with a running guru (Xanthe) she suggested wind sprints. You are all more wise then me. The premise of wind sprints is that you run flat out as hard as you can for 1 minute then walk to recover. You continue to do this for the length of your training session. It should be done as one of your running training days so you would do it however long you would normally run that day. This helps you to eventually build up speed. I plan to start incorporating this for next week.

If I'm really going to do this I need to be running at least a 10-12 minute mile which at this stage is not happening.

Overall I can really feel my wind developing and also my leg strength. I'm pleased to say I might actually become a runner after all.

2 comments:

lacy lee said...

Dave gave me the same advice. So on Sat I sprinted for about a minute every time I felt up to it. It increased my time from a 13 min mile to a 12 min mile...so that's hope!

Dana said...

I've been researching speed options too (of course I had no Xanthe and so had to rely solely upon the internet) and have been tailoring my workouts accordingly.

Monday's I alternate between a hill work out (I know there aren't hills on our course, but it's suppose to build leg strength which should increase running power/speed)and a tempo run, which just means I try and run the whole time at my marathon goal pace, which is currently a 12-11 minute mile. This Monday I was able to run the whole time at 5.0 and 5.1 mph which is 12 minutes and 11:45 minute mile respectively so I'm getting there.

Wednesdays I'm doing intervals which sound similar to the wind sprints but not as intense. I run 1/2 mile at 90-95% of my Maximum Heart Rate which for me last week was a 9:30 mile pace and then you do a recovery run until your heart rate is down to 65-70% of your Max. The half mile took about 4 minutes and 15 seconds or so and the recovery about the same and then you repeat as well for the length of your workout also.

Friday's I just do an easy run and keep my pace slow enough so my heart rate stays between 60-75% of my max.

And then of course Saturday is outdoor long run day which hopefully is enough to build my endurance so I can really complete all 26.2 glorious miles.

So that's what I'm doing for training, hopefully it will get me up to speed by May.