COACHING FOR SPEEDY RUNNING

Chaparral Racing Car Gallery at the Petroleum Museum, Midland TX. Taken by PKSenagore April 15, 2017

WANT TO RUN YOUR FASTEST 5K THIS SUMMER? Jason Fitzgerald asks, “Speed Development 101: Should Distance Runners Sprint?” in an article for Competitor.com. The answer depends on whether distance runners want to be faster. If you would answer “yes” to being speedier, then, YES, you should be doing speed workouts which include sprinting.
 
Fitzgerald starts by explaining that the different sessions you might be running part of a race training plan, like tempo runs, intervals on the track and on hills, long runs, etc., are NOT SPEED WORKOUTS.
 
Seriously. I thought they were. 
 
He goes on to define terms necessary to understanding speed. With that bit of knowledge passed along, he then discusses why distance runners should work on SPEED DEVELOPMENT, but not make it their main focus.
 
“The two most important things to remember about speed development for distance runners are that a small amount is all that’s necessary”, one workout a week he recommends, and that “you need to run as fast as possible”.  To avoid injury, Fitzgerald cautions against running a “high number of repetitions at maximum speed”. Rather, “when in doubt, run fewer repetitions with longer recoveries”.
 
A speed session, he says:

1. should start with dynamic exercises (links to the Mattock dynamic warmup),
2. then continue with easy running,
3. then strides,
4. a warm-up speed workout (several examples are given in the article)
5. and finally, the main speed work-out (links to another article with 4 different types)

 
As Earned Runs begins the discussion on SUMMER CHALLENGES during the month of May before the Memorial Day holiday, this article will be referenced later for those who wish to make running a FASTEST 5K EVER their goal.  Read the entire article now or file it for later.
 
Thanks, Jason for the coaching help!
 
RUN HAPPY!
 
http://running.competitor.com/2017/04/training/speed-development-101-should-distance-runners-sprint_164053
 
http://running.competitor.com/2015/06/training/the-mattock-dynamic-warm-up-for-runners_129674
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http://running.competitor.com/2016/05/training/speed-workouts-you-can-do-anywhere_150002