Run Faster

Wednesday night was my track workout night - we ran 3 x (400, 300, 200, 100) with about 1 1/2 minutes of rest between each interval. Those types of short interval workouts are the toughest for me, probably because I wasn’t blessed with a good supply of fast-twitch muscles or natural speed. Still, I enjoy - in a sick, twisted sort of way - doing short intervals like this, especially when I’m preparing for a shorter race.

However, when I’m preparing for a longer race, like a marathon or half marathon, I prefer doing either longer intervals of at least 1000 meters or longer each, or tempo runs. Both have their advantages.

In my way of thinking, longer intervals help you build speed for the times you need to be able to surge, like at the end of a race or when there’s someone just a little bit ahead of you that you want to get past. Tempo runs, on the other hand, seem to contribute to better endurance and an overall faster pace.

What is your favorite type of speedwork and why?

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Just in case you haven’t heard about this yet, Nike is sponsoring a 10K race they are calling the ‘Nike Human Race’. The race is scheduled for August 31, 2008.

What’s a bit unusual about this race is that it will be held in 25 cities around the globe - or you can choose to participate by running with the Nike+ system and uploading your ‘race’ results after you run on race day. If you run your race virtually with the Nike+ system there is no fee, except of course for the cost of a Nike+ system if you don’t already have one. There is a $35 fee for participating by entering the event in one of the race cities, which seems like a pretty good deal to me considering some of the race fees I’ve been seeing lately.

And it gets even better - race proceeds, and any pledges or donations earned by the runners, will benefit three different charities:

• The Lance Armstrong Foundation
• The UN Refugee Agency
• The World Wildlife Fund

Nike has also pledged to give $1 million to these charities.

Want more information? Click here, but be warned: music will play automatically when the page opens, so you may not want to do this if you’re surfing at work, at least without muting first.

You can buy a Nike+ Sportband for $59. The Nike+ iPod Sport Kit is less expensive at $29, but it requires an iPod Nano, which brings up the total cost of the system quite a bit. With either system, you’ll need either Nike+ shoes or you’ll have to attach the sensor to another shoe, either by some do-it-yourself hackery or by buying one of several commercial products.

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