Interval Training! Speed work! The mere utterance of these words can (and has) struck fear into the minds of runners, swimmers, and bikers for as far back as anyone can remember. In fact I was so "scared" of speed work that I completely skipped all of it while training for my first marathon in May of 2009. Why? It hurts and for most people that I know, it is not fun! So why then should we all be doing it? Because it works!
After I ran my first marathon in May of 2009 (my goal was to just finish by the way) I spent a couple of weeks reflecting on the fact that I just ran 26.2 miles. Wow, what an amazing feeling knowing I could run that far. There was however another thought that kept creeping into my head. I spent over four and a half hours running that 26.2 miles! Not cool! So I decided to add speed work or interval training to my training and wouldn't you know it, in a little less than a year I went from running a four and half hour marathon to running a three and a half hour marathon.
I have since adopted interval training into my weekly training and have in some cases substituted my long run for intervals. That is how much I enjoy it now. Those short bursts of speed followed by a nice recovery can do more for your body than almost anything else.
I came across an article in the NY Times Health section that I wanted to share with everyone this morning. If you are struggling to get faster or feel like you just don't have as much time as you would like to train, this article is for you. To read the article click HERE.
Happy Running
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