If Your Goal Is To: Make the Most of 20 Minutes
Try This: Warm up at a slow to moderate pace for five minutes, then increase the speed to race pace and hold it for 10 minutes for a hard tempo. Cool down for five minutes.
If Your Goal Is To: Beat Boredom (and Get Wicked Fast)
Try This: Watch TV. During the show, run at an easy-moderate pace, then punch up the speed to run hard for the duration of the commercial breaks. Return to your moderate pace when the show resumes. If no TV is available, listen to music, varying your pace or effort by song.
If Your Goal Is To: Improve Speed at Any Distance
Try This: Set the treadmill to a two per cent incline. After warming up, match speedy segments with equal recovery (e.g., one minute hard, one minute recovery) for 1-2-3-2-1-2-3-2-1 minutes, then cool down. The idea is to run your 10K pace in a broken tempo format.
If Your Goal Is To: Return from Injury or Illness
Try This: Alternate jogging and walking – two minutes jogging, two minutes walking – for a total of 20 to 30 minutes. If your injury or illness doesn’t flare up, increase the run interval during subsequent workouts to three minutes, then four, then five (and so on), and bring the walking segment down to one minute in between.
If Your Goal Is To: Introduce Your Legs to the Treadmill
Try This: Start at an easy pace. After five minutes, crank up the speed by 1.0 kph for one minute, then back down to your easy pace for two minutes. Crank up the incline by .5 per cent for one minute, then back down for two minutes. Continue alternating, experimenting with pace and incline.
If Your Goal Is To: Finish Your Marathon Strong
Try This: Run six kilometres at 30 seconds slower than your marathon pace; then six kilometres at 15 seconds slower than race pace; then six kilometres at race pace; then six kilometres at 15 seconds faster than race pace. This trains your body to go fast when you’re tired, but is best done in the last phase of training.
If Your Goal Is To: Chew Up Hills and Spit ’Em Out
Try This: After warming up, increase the incline to four to five per cent and run at an effort between your marathon and half-marathon pace for 20 to 30 minutes. Cool down. This workout will get you really strong while increasing overall endurance.
