Intro to Speed Play

Workout - Intro to Speed Play

• 10min @ 6'30''/km
• 8 lots of:
  • 30s @ 5'00''/km
  • 1min 30s rest
• 10min @ 6'30''/km

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Intro: Matthew Choi’s Running Workouts for Beginners covers workouts worth trying right away. Here’s what you need to know. Watch the full video for the rest.

Key points:

• 80/20 rule: spend 80% of weekly mileage at easy pace (zone 2, ~130-145 BPM, conversational). The remaining 20% is for speed-specific work.
• Fartlek (speed play): drop brief hard pushes into your easy runs (e.g. 30 s at effort, 1 min easy). Landmarks work fine without a watch.
• Track repeats: 400 m, 800 m, 1 km, or mile intervals at 5K or marathon pace to build anaerobic fitness and race readiness.
• Tempo/threshold runs: sustain a hard effort (e.g. 5 miles at marathon pace) to push your lactate threshold higher.
• Recovery runs: short and slow after hard workouts. Boosts blood flow and reduces recovery time.
• Long runs: once a week, easy for distance, with marathon-pace blocks (e.g. 3 mi fast, 1 mi easy) to prep for race distances.

Workout example:

Monday: easy pace 5 mi (zone 2, talkable)
Tuesday: fartlek, 2 mi total, 30 s fast / 1 min easy, repeat 6-8 times
Wednesday: recovery run 3 mi very easy
Thursday: track repeats, 6 x 400 m at 5K race pace, 2 min jog recovery
Friday: rest or cross-train
Saturday: long run 12-15 mi easy, include 3 mi at marathon pace in the middle
Sunday: recovery run 4 mi very easy

Scale distances and paces in the Pacing app to your current fitness.

Closing note: try these this week. Adjust paces to your current shape and customize them in the Pacing app.

References

• Running Workouts for Beginners - YouTube (YouTube Video)