This article is about seven key speed workouts to help you get race-fit for your next marathon but is only efficient when combined with proper rest and recovery, strength exercises, and proper nutrition. When you combine all these elements you will find the key to becoming a faster, stronger, and more efficient runner.
When you prepare for a marathon race you want to finish the marathon in a fast time, which means you should include a weekly workout for both speed (VO2 max) and stamina (lactate threshold) for an optimal result. In this article we discuss seven of thirty-five workouts from SilvaRunningSchool:
#1 FARTLEK RUN
10 TO 20 X 1-MIN WITH A 1-MIN RECOVERY JOG
Workout number one improves your VO2 max and your running technique. It is a great way to get a hard and beneficial workout without the mental stress of interval sessions where everything is measured precisely. Best to run at off-road courses, this variation with 1 min faster and 1 min slower teaches your body to recover whilst running at a fast pace. You increase lactate levels during the fast segments, then your body must clear the lactate during the recovery segments to be ready to go hard again for the next fast effort. You should run to how you feel on the training day. Don´t focus on the speed or split time. It’s just you in control of your body, tough in the mind, and running strong, as Fartlek means in Swedish: “Speed play”.
It is the perfect workout in the ‘off season’, when you are building your background fitness for the first phase of marathon training.
#2 QUARTERS
10 TO 20 X 400m WITH 400m RECOVERY JOG
Another key to fast marathoning is running economy – the amount of oxygen required to run at a given pace. Improve your economy, and as a result your carbohydrate stores are used less quickly, giving your energy to the end of the race. This speed workout not only helps improve running economy and build your VO2 max and it makes the marathon pace feel easier. Run each 400m at a 10K pace or slightly faster and take a full lap jog between. Each lap shouldn’t feel super hard, but the accumulation of doing 10 to 20 repetitions will build your fatigue resistance and helps you to increase weekly mileage and length of your training at the second phase of marathon preparation, Phase 2 – Speed Development.
#3 YASSO 800s
10 X 800m WITH EQUAL RECOVERY JOG
There is no scientific data that showed why the Yasso 800 would be a predictor of your marathon time and is not a marathon specific workout, because it does not test your ability to store and conserve carbohydrates when running. However it is a good VO2 max workout that helps you increase your overall running fitness and improve the speed at which you can run, which would in turn make running at a marathon pace feel easier. If you’re wondering how to do Yasso 800s, follow this formula: run 10 times 800-meter intervals in your goal time, with a recovery jog between each interval that is the same amount of time as your interval. For instance, if you run your 800-meter intervals at 3:30 minutes, then you do a recovery run for 3:30 minutes between each interval.
Repeat this workout in the different phases of the marathon preparation to measure your overall running fitness.
#4 1K Repeats
10 to 15 X 1,000m fast WITH 1,000m moderate pace
This is a marathon specific workout and will help your body to run for a long time at your goal pace when you are very tired and have very little glycogen left in your system, so improving your aerobic threshold. Start with seven to eight 1,000m repeats during the speed development phase and extend to 10 (or 15 for elite runners) repeats in the third phase of marathon training. The workout simulates the fatigue and the demands on your aerobic endurance and specific ability to run fast for a long period. Also, it improves your ability to store and conserve carbohydrates when running.
#5 TEMPO INTERVALS
4 to 5 x 4,000m WITH 500m RECOVERY JOG
Workout number five is a marathon-specific workout. The pace might be slightly slower, but not by much (approx.. your half marathon race pace). You run long at a strong steady pace and focus on the volume of running, not speed and you recover with a 500m jog. This workout introduces new training stimuli, manages fatigue, and targets specific energy systems. As mentioned earlier, the main benefit to tempo intervals is the opportunity to run either longer at a threshold pace or to run faster than the threshold pace while still maintaining a high overall volume.
#6 TEMPO RUN
10 TO 28 KM WITH PROGRESSIVE PACING
Workout number six is a true tempo run for competitive marathoners. They can be continuous (20-45 minutes) or broken into longer intervals (5-20 minutes) with short rest. If done around the lactate threshold, tempo runs are paced roughly at your hour-race effort. My advice is to start the tempo run slightly slower than half marathon pace and progress to somewhat faster than half marathon pace by the end of the workout. This workout connects the tempo intervals to your goal pace for the marathon.
#7 GOAL PACE RUN
10 TO 30 KM AT MARATHON PACE
This workout is introduced in the third, and last phase, of marathon preparation. At this moment, you already have built your base mileage, and improved your racing speed and running economy. Now is the phase to combine all this in one training session. Training at marathon pace will help you with your race-day pacing become more economical and will also give you a good idea of how realistic that pace is. During this workout, you should practice and test the marathon diet, hydration, equipment, etc. Practice every detail to simulate the marathon race day.
WHAT’S THE NEXT STEP?
If you are interested to incorporate these training sessions into your marathon preparation, we are ready to help you adjust your training schedule.