Run Faster

Spring is here…probably my favorite time to run. Not only is the weather great - except for the occasional spring downpour - but this is the time of year when the local running club I belong to, Rocky Mountain Road Runners, starts doing weekly track workouts.

The group that shows up for track is generally pretty diverse. There’s a pretty broad age range - last week there were high school age kids there, and we’ve also had 60+ year olds show up for workouts. The pace ranges are pretty broad too, from the folks that often place in the top few in their age groups, to the upper-midpackers like me, and sometimes even a few folks that are slower than me. Usually there are at least a couple of people that are about my pace.

The format is pretty similar every week - we start with a few laps of warming up on our own, and then get together for a few drills. Then, the intervals start - this workout varies every week, depending upon what the group leaders have planned. Last week it was 4 x 1000 meters with 200 meters walk/jog recovery after each 400 - this week it’s 1 set of 4 x 800 meters, followed by 1 set of 2 x 400 meters. The total mileage of the intervals varies from about 2.5 miles to 3.25 miles, depending on the week. Finally, we do a couple of slow laps to cool down and stretch a bit.

Although it’s definitely possible to do interval workouts on your own, it isn’t nearly as much fun - the shared suffering makes for good camaraderie. Also, I find that I tend to run a better workout if I have others around that are close to my own pace so we can challenge each other. And, within a few weeks of starting running intervals with the group again, I always feel like my speed and fitness has improved.

How about you - do you do scheduled workouts with a group? What’s your favorite group workout?

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Last Sunday, I did my first progression run of the year - it was a wonderful change from the long base pace runs I’ve been doing most Sundays. What is a progression run? Well, according to The Final Sprint:

The concept is quite simple: You start out at a slow pace to give your body the sensation of embarking on a relaxing run. Complete relaxation and diaphragmatic breathing is the only focus. This allows the runner to unleash their inner speed. Progression runs can vary in duration, frequency and intensity - but all of them stick to the theme of a progressively, faster pace. - via TheFinalSprint.com.

According to Greg McMillan, a renowned exercise scientist and coach, progression runs are effective because:

1. Warming up the muscles by starting out slowly decreases the risk of injury and “primes” the physiological pathways that are used in faster running. In contrast, if you start out too fast, you will stress your anaerobic system which can inhibit the development of your aerobic system.
2. Progression runs allow you to increase the volume of faster, stamina-type training while also enabling you to recovery quickly, which results in great gains in fitness.

Not being an exercise scientist myself, I can’t speak to the accuracy of all of these claims, but I did find that I really enjoyed the challenge of my Sunday run and I did seem to recovery quickly.

I also think that progression runs have a couple of additional benefits:

1. They help your mind and body figure out what a particular pace feels like.

   This is something that I definitely have not mastered. My Sunday run was supposed to be an 11-mile run that started out at recovery pace with pace increases every other mile, ending at half-marathon pace. I found this to be pretty tough - although I started out at about the right pace and ended up at about the right pace, I went back and forth a bit during the middle miles instead of doing a true progression.

2. They are a lot of fun and can add some additional challenge and variety to your training.

If you’d like to shake up your training a bit and try a progression run, I’ve got a couple of resources for you to check out for some specific workout ideas:

• The High School Runner has a post where he discusses three different types of progression runs you can try.
• On the McMillan Running site, this article gives tips for three more types of progression runs, the “Thirds”, the “DUSA” (named after a Discovery USA workout) and the “Super Fast Finish”.

Do you incorporate progression runs into your training? Or are you going to try them out? Let me know what you think!

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