Running Track And The Benefits Of Speed Training Workouts

After 10 months of running I finally discovered the beauty of the running track after doing my 1^st speed training workout which I absolutely loved.

Running Track but not what I ran on, mine was very grey but still awesome.

I have read so much on the benefits of a running track but never actually got round to running on one because I didn’t have access to one that was free to run on but I now have the pleasure of a running track thanks to my partner who works at a school and there track is available in the evenings.

The benefits of running track is that it helps develop speed by offering different running drills such as; 400, 800, 1200 1600 meter fast runs with recoveries in between, the track work makes it easy due to being able to keep track of how many times you go round. You can also do fartleks, intervals and tempo runs or just generally run as fast or as slow as you like.

Since running my first 6×800 meter fast runs 2 days ago I felt very strong and produced some good half mile splits of around 3 mins which in a mile would have me running between 6:00 – 6:10 which is very quick for me. I just need to keep working on the running track so that I can build my endurance with the fast running speed.

How to run faster – I always want to run as fast as possible but I need to get my speed up and keep it for longer distances, so I will now be incorporating speed workouts at the track at least once per week as doing fast intervals, tempo runs will help to really condition the body for the fast paces.

Running track isn’t the only way to get faster as you can do the fast runs on the road, trail or other terrain but track workout was a great experience and I really enjoyed it. I found it tough in the end trying to keep the speed around 3:00 per half mile but looking at my running splits I was happy that the first and last speed sessions were only different by a few seconds;

1^st Speed Training Workout – Running Track Results;

My workout for today was 2 mile warm up; 7.45.68 & 7.40.29 followed by 6×800 meters fast with 400 meter recoveries.

2.57.67            0.50 mile
3.00.23            0.50 mile
3.04.45            0.50 mile
3.03.12            0.50 mile
3.04.53            0.50 mile
3.05.15            0.50 mile

I then finished with a 1 mile cool down 7.45.11

Another benefit to track workouts is that because you’re working on speed and you have to keep running round the same loop it builds confidence knowing that if you’re running in a race and you have to run round the same loop twice, running track makes it easier as you have conditioned your body to do so many times. I really seem to struggle in races when doing the same part of the race again so the track workout should help me with this.

Overall I really enjoyed the track, however when I first got to the track it didn’t look like it was well maintained and a proper running track surface. But as soon as I started running round I really got the feel for it and found it much easier than running on pavements.

Image: koratmember / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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