I was a steeplechaser in college. If you are unaware of what the steeplechase track race is, I’ll happily paint a picture. Take a race that’s just shy of 2 miles (3,000 meters, or 7 ½ laps on a standard track), add five wooden, barely moveable wooden hurdles per lap that are 36 inches in height for men (30 inches for women), and throw a small duck pond on the far side of one of those hurdles so that you have to jump it seven times during the race (and 28 other dry hurdles). Yeah, I was one of ‘those’ runners.
Racing a steeplechase event (okay, ‘racing’ might be a stretch… let’s say ‘surviving’) takes a combination of endurance, strength, agility, humility and speed. I say humility because when you fall into the water, and you WILL fall into the water, you need to drop your ego, pick yourself up, and waddle onto the next barrier. It’s a race, after all.
But I wanted to talk about speed. In college, I was a strong runner with lots of endurance and a decent amount of agility. But I lacked speed. And my coach wanted me to develop a finishing drive that would take the sting out of other runners’ speedy kicks. It took a year of steady sessions but eventually I got ‘less flat-footed’ as he would say.
So what is speed? In essence, it’s the ability to run faster than your usual pace. That’s a simple answer, but speed is relative. My speed isn’t your speed. Just like my 70% effort isn’t your 70% effort. And developing speed isn’t really difficult. It’s a conscious effort to run faster than usual for periods of time.
Runners wonder what makes developing speed so difficult in the first place. I mean, doesn’t just sprinting from mailbox to mailbox constitute speed work? Well yes, at first it certainly does. But the law of diminishing returns means different types of speed play need to be employed, for different distances with different rest periods. This is where (and why) most runners go, “eh, never mind”.
Here's an example of one of my college steeplechase workouts – 10 x 400 meters at my goal race pace, with 60 seconds rest between each hard 400 meters. Sounds pretty standard, right? Except my masochistic coach added five hurdles to lane 3 for me to navigate at an average of 67-68 seconds per lap (I really didn’t like that man).
As a coach, I look for ways to introduce speed in a more simplistic setting. For example, twice per week, I have athletes run four to six 80-meter ‘striders’ after a 45 minute run. Once a week, we’ll add some variety to those easy runs, like mid-run pick-ups (also known as fartlek), or a track session of repeats to focus on a specific speed. Hill repeats and plyometric sessions are also good at developing the muscles and systems for faster running and racing.
The key to speed work is simply to keep it simple. We’re not training for the Olympic trials, and we certainly aren’t looking for a set of 10 lung searing 400’s with hurdles in the way in order to knock off 7 seconds from our 3,000 meter steeplechase time. But even if you aren’t training for a race, speed work (fartlek means ‘speed play’ in Swedish) can help us become more efficient runners and add an element to our regular runs to keep us healthy and running longer.
Add something easy, like picking up the pace until the next telephone pole, or the next corner. Or try the previously mentioned striders after an easy run. Speed work doesn’t need to be done every day, and nor should it be, but adding some gear changing twice a week is recommended.
If you’re really looking to spice it up, find a group that does speed regularly and tag along. “But I’m not fast enough” is a common refrain. Maybe you aren’t… yet… but your inner need for speed will help move you in that direction.
I hope to see you on the roads, tracks and trails.
