Assessing your ability to pace correctly

At the end of the session ask yourself these questions:

1. Were each of your intervals consistent i.e. within a couple of seconds of each other?
2. If when you had crossed the finish line you were told to carry straight on for the next interval, without any rest, would you have been able to complete this at the pace you were running?

If the answer to the first question is yes, well done! If it is no then you need to ensure for the next session you adjust your pacing accordingly – the most common problem is starting off too fast and then getting progressively slower. Also don't get drawn along by what pace other people are running. In a race you have no idea how fast other competitors can run so you have to concentrate on what you can do and run at your pace – the same goes for these training sessions.

In these sessions we are not trying to work on increasing your top end speed but to develop your current speed endurance and your ability to correctly pace a 5k race. Therefore if your answer to question 2 is no then you were going too fast.

Pacing is training your body to know what it feels like running at a certain speed, it is about managing your energy efficiently so you optimise your performance in your race. As the weeks progress running at your target pace is going to get progressively harder as the overall distance in the sessions increases and the rest varies. The aim is not to complete these shorter distance sets as fast as you can but maintain your pace and technique throughout the session and then carry this forward into the next session.

Every runner has different needs, and you should tailor your efforts to both your ability and your training goals.

As a general rule, be conservative. While speedwork is the best and fastest way to improve, it is also the best and fastest way to injure yourself. We have designed these sessions so that we increase the intensity and duration of your workouts gradually. Push yourself, but as always, don't overtrain. Listen to your body and don't be afraid to quit a session if you feel you've reached your limit.

How Much Rest?
The amount you rest during the intervals between repeats is just as important as the amount you run. You need more rest when you run longer distances, faster paces or more repeats. Beginners will need more rest than more experienced runners.

The idea here is to give yourself an opportunity to recover, but not completely -- just enough so that you can complete the next interval at the same pace. Depending on the speed and distance of your intervals, rest time will last between 30 seconds and three minutes. If you find that you can't recover in this amount of time, you are running the distance too fast -- slow down. Likewise, if you don't need so much recovery time, you're probably running too slow (or not running enough intervals).

Please remember this is a group session catering for mixed abilities so initially some of you will find the early sessions easy it is not that you are running too slow or having too much rest it is just the session overall is not fully stretching you. Use these sessions to focus on getting your pacing right and maintaining a good running form – this will benefit you in the weeks to come.

How Fast?
Your speed workouts will come in two flavours: on-pace and fast. Your on-pace workouts will be run at race pace to get you comfortable with the pace at which you'll run your race. Every interval in an on-pace workout is run at the same pace, preferably within just a few seconds of each other. This helps you sharpen your sense of pace and teaches you to hold back at first to save energy for the end of your workout -- just like in a race.

The "race pace" you are running is not your target pace for your next race; it should be the pace you think reflects your current level of fitness and your present ability to run the race distance. Over time, this pace should gradually become faster as your workouts improve.

In contrast, fast workouts are run faster than your race pace. Brace yourself, these are meant to be a little uncomfortable. The payoff is that they make you tougher, better able to keep up your target pace on race day.

Your pace will vary depending on the distance of the intervals you run and the amount of rest you get between them. Depending on your goals (improving race speed, adjusting to your race pace, improving strength, developing stamina, etc), you will run your intervals anywhere between a near-sprint and your 10K race pace. For this series of 8 weeks we are focussing on fast and on-pace intervals.

Here are some quick-and-dirty guidelines for figuring out your pace:

Near-sprint
Running at this blistering pace will make for an anaerobic workout that can do wonders to sharpen your speed. This is completed at about 10 seconds per kilometre faster than 5k pace. Quick conversion: a pace equivalent to 60 seconds quicker than you 5k target time. For quite a few of you the last session was at this pace or quicker!

Fast intervals
This is the pace you should run for most of your fast workouts (as opposed to your on-pace workouts). It's about 5 secs / km faster than 5K pace. This pace will help you increase your race speed and improve your aerobic capacity. Quick conversion: a pace equivalent to 30 seconds quicker than you 5k target time.

5K on-pace intervals
Run your intervals at your 5K pace. If you're training for a 5K race, this will help you get acquainted with your pace and condition you to run it comfortably. If you're a 10K runner, this pace will sharpen your speed and help you get used to toughing out a fast pace.

10K on-pace intervals
This pace is good for those training for 10K and higher races, making you familiar with your pace and helping you to get comfortable with it. This is also a good pace for those new to speedwork.< /br>