Run This Fun Speed Session to Get Faster and Learn Pacing

Begin with a dynamic warm up that includes fun balancing exercises that also work to get our glutei muscles online and ready to fire. Then, we’ll do a 20- to 30-min-plus FUN mixed pace workout.

This is another excellent workout for the quarantined runner because since we’re changing paces so much, you’re forced to engage your mind throughout the whole workout. Ready? Let’s go!

Dynamic Warm Up (about 10 on each side):

• Round the Leg Toe Touches
• Squats to Fire Hydrant Leg Lift
• Walking Lunges with a Torso Twist
• A Skips
• Leg Swings
• Single-leg Jacks

Run warm up:

Five to 10 minutes (or up to two miles)

If you’re just getting started with running, stick to five minutes. If you’re a seasoned runner, warm up anywhere from 10 minutes to two miles.

Workout:

12 minutes total of alternating paces (eight times through the following sequence).

• 30 seconds at threshold pace. This is a hard effort that you can sustain for a while. It’s “comfortably hard.”
• 30 seconds HARD. This should be a pace you really can’t sustain for much more than a few minutes.
• 30 seconds EASY PEASY. This can be a slow shuffle, your warm up run pace or even a walk.

*** Alternate version: If you have easy access to a hill, this is the perfect workout to get some vert. Alter the workout like this (it adds an extra 30 seconds to your mixed media rotation):

• Run the first 30 seconds of threshold on flat terrain (toward the hill)
• Run HARD uphill for 30 seconds
• Run EASY PEASY downhill for 30 seconds
• Run MODERATE for 30 seconds back out to where you started your first 30 seconds—slightly faster than your easy pace. When you get there, turn around and start again toward the hill.

Cool down:

Five to 10 minutes (or up to two miles)

If you’re just getting started with running, stick to five minutes. If you’re a seasoned runner, warm up anywhere from 10 minutes to two miles.