Last year, AC Holly gave a great explanation of our speed training. Re-posting below. But also check out our Seminar Forum Speed Training post. It includes a link to our YouTube video of our speed training seminar.

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Here's a simple explanation for how to interpret speed work on the schedule:
8 X 1:00/2:00 = run a little faster than your normal pace for 1 minute; then run a little slower than your normal pace for 2 minutes. Repeat the fast/slow sequence 8 times.
4 X 4:00/3:00= run a little faster than your normal pace for 4 minutes; then run a little slower than your normal pace for 3:00. Repeat the fast/slow sequence 4 times.

The first number in the sequence refers to how many repetitions you'll be doing. The second number in the sequence refers to the # of minutes you run faster than normal. The third number in the sequence refers to the # of minutes you will run a little slower than your normal pace.

If you can't finish the number of repetitions, you went too fast. Slow down. If you can easily finish the number of repetitions, you can slightly pick up the pace at your next speed session.

Always warm up with at least 10 minutes of jogging before your speed work session. I personally find 15 minutes warm up works best for me. And remember to cool down after your speed work out with 10-15 minutes of jogging.

If you want to research more speed work posts, click on the "Search" link on the upper right hand side of the PDX Fit site and type in "speed training". You will find a variety of previous postings.

Make sense?

AC Holly

Speed training will take place on Wednesday nights at the Hudson's Bay High School track in Vancouver. Starting promptly at 6pm. A wristwatch of some sort (basic to Heart Rate monitor) is required. Come out, join the fun and increase your pace!

To go faster you must train faster. Try this training technique and lower race times. Enjoy the acceleration!

So what does 12-30x30 mean? It seems the explanation doesn't work for this.

CMS

Interpreting the Speed Training is all a matter of notation. Once you know the key, you'll see where the change in intensity takes place. I can see where the above explanation might have some folks wondering, because the notation used is actually for later into the speed training workouts.

Right now, we are in the "Build Phase" of speed training. The key notation is the hypen (-). If you're looking at the Week 9 schedule, it is actually correctly written for both locations as, 12 x 30-30. This means you will do 12 repeats (reps. or repetitions) of 30 seconds "ON" (fast) followed by 30 seconds "OFF" (slower, recovery pace). The hyphen means that you would be pushing harder than a comfortable Long Distance pace, but not going anaerobic or above your lactate threshold (LT). This is important, because we're trying to train the body to accept the increased intensity (Stress) we are putting on it, but also recovering to train it to become more efficient at flushing lactic acid. By going faster, we also start to see - or feel, really - where we can be more efficient with our movements, whether it's cadence, arm swing etc.

When we get further along, you will see he hyphen change to a forward slash (/). This indicates we are to work just above our LT for the "ON" part of the interval, and then slower/recover for our "OFF" portion.

I apologize if this was a lengthy explanation for something that you might have just misread, but it is written properly on the schedule. Just watch that hyphen or forward slash. it's your indicator as to intensity.

Doug