Getting faster with high milage

Joey is this you?

10*100m all out. 2-3 times a week. 1 min in between reps

When you are trying to build speed you need to be very specific. In this case that means hitting top speed for a short amount of time but doing it several times in a workout. This usually involves what we call “alactic” sprints; sprints that don’t produce lactic acid. Keep these under 80m in distance to stay in that zone.

0-40m: we would consider this acceleration. It is still alactic but is too short to build up top speed since we never really hit top speed except possibly once we hit the 40m mark.

40-80m: Here you will hit top speed but not go so long that you begin to slow down again. As you get close to the 80m mark you will probably be slowing down a small amount unless you are a very elite athlete.

It’s amazing how much coordination is needed to properly run at top speed for anything more than 3 seconds, in fact you will nearly always be slowing down by then.

This high coordinative demand coupled with the depletion of the P-Cr system (creatine phosphate) we want to make the recoveries fairly long (at least 2 minutes but I lean toward 3 or more). Keep in mind the only goal here is to run fast, the recoveries will feel long but cutting them short doesn’t make a better workout, it just makes it less efficient at building top speed.

Since none of this involves the production of lactic acid (and by extension won’t lower your blood pH) it is a fairly easy workout to add to a program. You will likely be sore the first few times doing these but you can nearly always add these the day before a workout without any problems.

For a distance runner I would keep the volume between 400-600m, going over can overload your nervous system which takes a while to recover from if you do it too often. I’ll include some examples/progressions below that work from acceleration toward top speed (my suggested way to move through a season):

2 sets 5x40m with 2:30 recovery, 5 minutes between sets

2 sets 6x40m with 2:30 recovery, 5 minutes between sets

2 sets 5x50m with 3:00 recovery, 5 minutes between sets

4x60m with 3:00 recovery + 4x50m with 3:00 recovery, 5 minutes between sets

2 sets 4x60m with 3:00 recovery, 5 minutes between sets

3x80m with 3:00 recovery + 4x60m with 3:00 recovery, 5 minutes between sets

6x80m with 4:00 recovery

Short hill sprints can also help build acceleration. Downhill sprints work what we call over-speed training. I like using short hill sprints following similar layouts but with lower rep volume (40-60m). The hill forces you into acceleration mechanics but provides extra resistance. So while they say hills are, “speedwork in disguise,” I mostly agree, but I’d call it acceleration.

After you have established your speed (absolute speed) you can start working into anaerobic capacity. These usually fall between 80-150m. This work is intense for sprinters but distance runners tend to handle it without much trouble. I would keep the total volume here around 1200m for most situations but +/-200m is probably fair. Again keep the recoveries long to keep the quality of work high. You will have plenty of workouts down the line that test your lactate tolerance, these are just to convert your absolute speed into something more functional.

I know Run with the Best (Irv Ray and Tony Benson) call it anaerobic power and like using 10x100m with 300m jog recovery. They aim for the 100’s to be at the same pace as your fastest 100m segment in a goal 400m pace. So for a guy trying to run 50.0 his second 100m segment is likely to be around 12.1-12.2 so you’d want to hit those hundreds around that ballpark. Personally I always just tried to hit them as fast as possible without slowing down on any of the later reps.

Anaerobic Capacity/Power workouts, at least where you are with training, should probably be followed by an easier day in most cases. Things like 8x150m do get pretty intense so give yourself the time to recover.

I hope that helps out. Best of luck on the season

I got my mile way faster by simply bumping up my mileage, lifting a little, and doing 5k work. Strength can go a long way. I remember when Ciaran O'Lionard had one of his best years, he was doing 10k/5k all year and jumped in a 1500m off of no speed and ran really well.