Use Short Intervals To Train For Short Distances

If you aren’t running a marathon anytime soon and your current goal is to run a great 10K in two months, try some speed work. If you don’t have access to a track, or if you do but you prefer not to run around in circles, try this workout once a week: Start with your favorite 8-10 mile run. Use your watch and run at a normal pace for 8-10 minutes, then pick up the pace to about 80 percent of your maximum effort (not a full-out sprint, but too fast to talk) for 2 minutes, then drop back to an easy, relaxed pace for 2 minutes. Then pick up the pace for 4 minutes, run easy for 2 minutes, pick up the pace for 6 minutes, run easy for 2 minutes, pick up the pace for 8 minutes, run easy for 2 minutes, then reverse the process and pick up the pace for 6 minutes, then run easy for 2 minutes, pick up the pace for 4 minutes run easy for 2 minutes, pick up the pace for 2 minutes, then run easy for 2 minutes. Give yourself at least 5 minutes of easy running at the end of the workout, and you may run for an easy 15-20 minutes at the end of the workout if you are on a 10-mile route. You can both stop and start your watch for each pickup time or let it go continuously; these times don’t have to be exact to the second.