The Running Thread --2025

[Naomeri]

ATTQOTD: I don’t know whether speed work helps on race day, but it certainly helps break up the monotony of training. If you’re doing all your training runs at the same pace, it gets boring.

 

[pluto377]

ATTQOTD: Absolutely I think speed work is necessary, as long as you have already done a base building phase to your training. I'm slower than a sloth and do run/walk, but I still do a day of formal speed work. It feels good to go a bit fast and as Naomeri said, it breaks up the training. Personally, I like to alternate weeks between intervals and longer tempo runs.

 

[Stitch&Co.]

ATTQOTD: If nothing else, some speed work does give you the knowledge and experience that you CAN go faster. If you only train at easy pace, then when you're in a race and actually need to go faster how will you know if you can? Speed work gives you experience going faster and lets you know how your body reacts to the faster paces. It's no good to try going faster in a race if I have to slow down more to recover from it.

 

[WillRunForPizza]

ATTQOTD: I probably wouldn't recommend someone start speedwork in their first few months of running. You're less likely to get injured if you give your body a chance to adapt to running slowly before you start running fast. Plus, when you start out, you're probably running too fast in general, so you're sort of doing speedwork all the time. If you add actual speedwork on top of that, that's more injury/overtraining risk.

But after you've been running consistently for a while and you're comfortable with it? Sure. Speedwork is great. It will help you get faster - and you're allowed to want to get faster regardless of whether you're at the front or back of the pack.

 

[Herding_Cats]

ATTQOTD: I probably wouldn't recommend someone start speedwork in their first few months of running. You're less likely to get injured if you give your body a chance to adapt to running slowly before you start running fast. Plus, when you start out, you're probably running too fast in general, so you're sort of doing speedwork all the time. If you add actual speedwork on top of that, that's more injury/overtraining risk.

But after you've been running consistently for a while and you're comfortable with it? Sure. Speedwork is great. It will help you get faster - and you're allowed to want to get faster regardless of whether you're at the front or back of the pack.

These are my thoughts as well.

 

[PrincessV]

ATTQOTD: is speed work necessary to complete a half? No. Can it increase fitness, improve one’s race time, and promote better cardiovascular health? Probably. Is it a fun way to shake up your routine? For some of us, yes. I think there are lots of good reasons to do speed work - but would never dictate it as a “must” in a training plan.

 

[mmm_texas]

ATTQOTD: I think having some designated speed work makes it easier to rationalize taking the easy days easy. And I subscribe to the theory that taking easy days easy is a good thing (it trains the body to burn fat more efficiently, etc.).

 

[jpholic]

ATTQOTD: I think having some designated speed work makes it easier to rationalize taking the easy days easy. And I subscribe to the theory that taking easy days easy is a good thing (it trains the body to burn fat more efficiently, etc.).

Agree. Speed runs have helped me with increasing my VO2 and faster pacing. I pack the beginning of the week with zoomies and go easy as the miles get longer.

Tuesday - track day w/ speed intervals
Thursday - treadmill day (threshold)
Saturday - outdoor run (if on the training schedule)
Sunday - outdoor easy long run

Also agree with others that mentioning easing into speed runs. Definitely would not incorporate a defined track workout or speed training until I had a base that I could maintain for 20-30 mins.

 

[GuinnessRunner]

ATTQOTD: I probably wouldn't recommend someone start speedwork in their first few months of running. You're less likely to get injured if you give your body a chance to adapt to running slowly before you start running fast. Plus, when you start out, you're probably running too fast in general, so you're sort of doing speedwork all the time. If you add actual speedwork on top of that, that's more injury/overtraining risk.

But after you've been running consistently for a while and you're comfortable with it? Sure. Speedwork is great. It will help you get faster - and you're allowed to want to get faster regardless of whether you're at the front or back of the pack.

ATTQOTD: is speed work necessary to complete a half? No. Can it increase fitness, improve one’s race time, and promote better cardiovascular health? Probably. Is it a fun way to shake up your routine? For some of us, yes. I think there are lots of good reasons to do speed work - but would never dictate it as a “must” in a training plan.

x2. With the right base, it's not needed (see Higdon's begginer plans) but is mostly helpful if done right. There is a balance as I think it does increase your injury chance so that increased injury risk has to be weighed against the benefit you get from it. A personal decision based on each runner's current circumstance.

 

[avondale]

ATTQOTD: As other have said, you need some base running under your belt before speedwork is really helpful. After all, if you haven't done any base building running, then you won't know which paces are "easy" and which are not. You can't do speedwork until you have some idea of what your paces might be in that speedwork.

After base building, I definitely think speedwork is useful for any kind of race training. You might decide what type of speedwork depending on your goal race and your past experience, but getting some in can be helpful.

 

[Professor_Cookie]

Attqotd: lots of great advice already, so from my personal experience as someone who has no hope of being good in my age group, I love speed work. I think it helps round me out as a better runner vs what I used to be. I don’t know that it’s necessary for someone like me who dreams of a sub 2 hour half as supremely fast, but it feels like it helps.