One of the hardest things to do is negative split a race. It seems like we inevitably go out to hard and slow down, with barely a kick to get us across the finish line. Teaching your body to run faster as it fatigues is an important part of learning how to close a race faster than your starting pace. This ladder speed workout helps you do just that. As you progress through the second half of the workout the distances “drop” and your pace should increase for each interval.
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The Workout:
Start your workout with a ten minute warm up. I find it’s best to do my warm up off the track, that way I know that when I’m on the track it’s time to get down to business. The same is true of your cool down, take it off the track to relax your mind and body after the work is done. You’ll be running a 200m (half a lap) recovery jog between each interval. And if your not sure the distances on the track here’s a little guide for you:
400m=1 lap
200m=1/2 lap
300m=3/4 of lap
600m=1 and 1/2 laps
Here’s a helpful graphic:
Do this workout a few weeks before a 5K to help tune-up your pacing skills.
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Want to keep building your speed? Here are six more great workouts that will get your legs moving. Click the photo to find out more about each workout:
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Wendy says
The timing of this post could not be any better! Thank you for sharing your knowledge and tips with all of us!!
Awesome! I need to get back into speed workouts but never know what to do!
I love ladder workouts like yours! They keep speed work interesting rather than just repeating the same interval over and over again - and I’m less likely to lose count of intervals.
So glad to see you back up and running here! Pun intended…:-)
I love incorporating fast finishes into my workouts - I am definitely going to give this ladder workout a try next speed session. 🙂