Run Less, Run Faster
 

I'm reading this book right now, and it's interesting. It's a training program developed by a couple of guys at Furman University. This gist of it is that your run three key workouts a week, a track workout for speed, a tempo run at race pace, and a long run at slower than race page, and allow at least a day between workouts. The other days of the week you cross train or complete easy runs. The friend of mine who ran a BQ recently trained using this method and improved his PR by about 15 minutes.

There have been some pretty significant improvements for runners all along the spectrum with this program, even sub-3:00 runners have improved by using it. But I did read somewhere that the creators acknowledge if you have more time to devote to running or you are not injury prone, you could most likely do better by running more miles than they prescribe.

Anyway, I'm thinking of training for another marathon with this. It's perfect for people who don't have a ton of time to train, but want to improve. I've never really done speedwork, so it would be a change for me in that regard.

http://www.furman.edu/first/index.htm

My wife keeps telling me that if you want to get faster you have to run intervals and do speed work. I then tell her that I must not want to get faster because riunning intervals hurts too much.

I just don't enjoy running pain and that is all intervals are. Having said that, I did run some on Monday, but only 4 400s. What a wimp.

In the past when I have done even the slightest amount of speed work, the next workout I always seem to go out and run faster. Your legs just seem to turn over faster than before.

The closest thing I've really done to speed training is running Fartleks, where you run fast for a block or so and then slow down for a block or so and then repeat.

I also do a whole nother kind of fartleking when I run after eating Mexican food.

Of course in cycling, it is old hat to do intervals to get faster. Maybe you are pushing your oxygen carrying capacity.

it's also common sense to let your muscles recover. that's why you don't do bench presses everyday.