Hi Everyone!
Today I am sharing a running workout. This workout was designed by Coach Shep, to improve speed, while building endurance.
One of the goals I am currently focusing on, is to improve my race pace for the 5K. It’s been a long time since I trained for anything speedy, and as a result I have slowed down. I have two 5K races planned over the next month and a half.
My first race is on Thanksgiving morning. I want to improve my 5K pace between now and then. My running consistency has been fair lately. I know I can be getting in better and more consistent runs. Part of the reason I decided to re-focus on the 5K is because I can get in shorter, but higher quality runs while still having time for my full time job, blogging and teaching Boot Camp/Yoga.
I enjoy the Half Marathon much more than 5Ks, but they also take a larger time commitment for running. I want to get back to filming more new workouts & lately it has seemed like I am aiming for to many things and I needed to narrow my focus a bit.
Yesterday’s workout was 5.5 miles total, but you can decrease the distance to 3 miles to save time. It was a nice building workout, that let me work on some speed, without wearing me out. It also helped that I did this run with friends. My favorite running Guru, Shep, started us out with this workout & ran it with us.
The breakdown for this run is very simple:
Warm-up
200 Meter Repeats X8 (Half a lap on a standard track) at goal race pace or slightly faster.
Cool-Down
The length of the workout can be adjusted to suit your goals/needs. This is a good building workout. It focuses on building your speed & endurance. As my training progresses over the next few weeks, the fast repeats will increase in length/distance.
Our workout breakdown:
2-Mile Warm up at an Easy/Conversational Running Pace
Eight 200-Meter Repeats at Goal Race Pace: Walk an equal distance for rest between reps.
2.5 Mile Cool Down: Easy/Conversation Pace
*Pacing: adjust pacing to meet your goal race time, or run at a pace that feels challenging, but isn’t a full out sprint.
We did our 200 Meter Repeats between 48-51 seconds per repeat. For the final repeat I picked up the pace & completed it in 43 seconds. The goal is not to go at a burn-out pace, but to find a maintainable, but challenging pace.
I hope you all enjoy this workout! Do you have any races coming up? Let me know here, or on Facebook.
Melissa