Track Workout for Speed and Endurance: Goal Race Pace Memorization

Do you want to improve your Speed and Endurance? This workout will help you do both! 

Here's the breakdown:

Warm-Up: 2.5 Miles at an Easy Pace

400 Meter Repeats (X2)
800 Meter Repeats (X4)

*All Repeats should be done at desired Race Pace.
*The first time trying this workout keep rest between each repeat equal to time running. As you progress you can shorten the time of rest to increase intensity. 

Cool-Down: 2.5 Miles at an Easy Pace

Total Miles: 7.5 
Miles at Race Pace: 2.5

If you are running at a standard sized track 1 Lap=400 Meters. 

The goal of this workout is to train your body to work at race pace. You want to memorize what that pace feels like while also building the endurance to handle your desired race distance. Try to complete this workout without music or distraction. Focus on the movements of your body, your breathing, and running form (I call this Flow State). Learn to lock into the pace that you are training to achieve at your next race. 

Learning how to pace yourself is one of the most important aspects of racing. This workout isn't about pushing as hard as you can for each repeat, it's about pushing yourself while maintaining a specific pace. 

I will be sharing some harder VO2 Max workouts soon to help improve speed and endurance.  

My breakdown for this workout is below: 
Remember to always adjust for your own pace/goals. 

Goal Pace: 7 Minute-Mile Average
400: 1:45 (minutes:seconds)
800: 3:30

Warm-up: 2.65 Miles (easy pace-road running)

1. 400: 1:37 (6:27 pace)
-equal rest (1:37)
2. 400: 1:36 (6:26 pace)
-equal rest
3. 800: 3:25 (6:43 pace)
-2:30 rest
4. 800: 3:26 (6:43 pace)
-2:30 rest
5. 800: 3:29 (7:00 pace)
-2:30 rest
6. 800: 3:29 (7:00 pace)

Cool-down: 2.48 Miles (easy pace-road running)
Total distance: 7.63 Miles

I was slightly ahead of my goal pace until the last two 800 repeats, which I was able to hit at goal. I am excited to repeat and progress this workout in the future. 

Have fun with this one, and pay attention to what your body is telling you! You can adjust your goals as your training progresses. 

Melissa and Jesse

How to Run a Ladder Workout

Hi Everyone,

A Ladder Workout is an interval workout that varies running at a hard pace, and an easy pace. There are many physical and psychological benefits to this type of workout. Your body learns how to maintain a hard pace for extended periods of time. This workout will also help increase your speed and agility. Plus, you are burn more fat in interval workouts. If you race, you want to do the hard sections of the workout at race pace. 

I did my ladder workout outside. I like the additional challenge of going up and down hills, and not having to worry about changing paces on the treadmill. However, you can easily do this on a treadmill as well. You will need a watch to keep track of the intervals. If you have a running watch that can record splits now is the time to use it. 

There are two ways to do this type of workout. You can perform timed intervals (this is what I did), or distance intervals. 

The basic idea is to work your way up the ladder, and then go back down. So if you are going to time you would start with 1 minute working hard, followed by 1 minute at an easy pace. Then you build up the ladder to 2 minutes hard, followed by 2 minutes easy. Your rest is always equal to your work. 

The same concept applies if you are going for distance. You can go hard for 100 meters, followed by 100 meters easy. Increase to 200 meters hard, followed by 200 meters easy. 

You start by going up the ladder, but don't forget to come back down! Half way through the workout you should start decreasing the length of each interval, until you are back to where you started. If you're not sure what I mean check out the chart below. 

Ladder Workout. You can Click on it to make it larger. 

Remember, you should build up to this type of workout. Your body should be used to running, and you should have a good cardiovascular base before trying this workout. To build up to it, you should do easy runs to increase your endurance, and blood volume. You can also adjust the length and time of the workout to suit your own level of fitness. My workout took 50 minutes total. 

Switching your workouts often is one of the most effective ways to keep getting results. Good luck!
Melissa