Track Tuesday. It’s a thing. I mean, certainly you can run a track workout any day of the week, but #trackTuesday just has a special ring to it! So, I like to partake as much as possible.
But, then there are mom responsibilities and work and all the other things that try to push my workouts aside. Try as they might, I always remember what my grandma would say. “If there’s a will, there’s a way!”. So, I’m working on making these mornings (or evenings) happen.
Speed work is my absolute favorite of all running workouts! Short intervals, such as 200 or 400 meter repeats really help keep the leg turnover strong and boost our VO2 max. There are many ways to incorporate this into your running, and you don’t even have to use a track if you can program your watch for the distance or have a way to measure out those splits. For me, the track helps me focus, and I don’t have to worry about cars, curbs, or other people so much.
I’ve been building back the speed workouts lately after a hiatus of long (read: slow) distance triathlon training last year. I started with 4x 400, then 5x 400; today’s workout is listed below:
1 mile easy pace up w/ dynamic drills
6x 400m with 1’ jog in between sets
1 mile easy cool down
Speed, much like everything else, is a work in progress. My goal was to hit a 7:40 pace each interval, and I managed to go a little faster than planned at 7:33/:30/:21/:17/:26/:19. The most important part here is that I did not slow down on each interval – I actually picked up speed on all but #5. This tells me I was ok going faster than the my planned effort. If I had gotten progressively slower, or needed longer rest breaks in between, then the effort would’ve been too intense.
I’ve been working on a speed block for about the last 8 weeks. I really don’t want this to come to an end! I have some mid- and long-distance events planned later this year, but I plan to keep my track Tuesday workouts as long a I can. Consistency over time is the key to anything we do. My 5k times are gradually dropping, and while they are not quite back to where they were in years past, I am hopeful for the future!
Determined to Tri AND Run 