Workout Wednesdays #4

Welcome to the fourth of (hopefully) many Workout Wednesdays. The goal of this column is to create a set of shorter blogs targeted specifically towards providing newer runners with a tangible place to start running beyond just going out to jog a few miles. I do my speed workouts on Wednesday, which is why it made perfect sense to post these workouts in the middle of the week. I find it to be an ideal time a few days after my Monday tempo run and before my Saturday long run, but you can incorporate this into your plan wherever it makes sense. I recommend consuming some sort of nutrition before your workouts – my default is a cold glass of Chia Fresca. If you have a go-to workout that you run regularly and want to share with other readers, please reach out through our contact page to be featured in a future Workout Wednesday.

Today’s workout is all about building speed and improving your ability to ascend. Ideally, you want to warm up by jogging to a decently sized hill nearby, but you can always drive to the location and warm up when you get there. Don’t go out too fast on these sprints or you will definitely have trouble at the end. Hills can be deceiving, but integrating an incline-specific workout throughout your training will help you be prepared to tackle them in a race as well as improve your endurance on the flats.

The Workout:

2-3 mile warmup

8×100-200m hill sprints (easy jog back down)

1-2 mile recovery

Now that you’re finished, go down a delicious recovery drink and definitely do not forget to stretch!

Let us know how the workout went and how we can improve in the comments below. Was anything about the workout unclear? If you have a workout you want to share reach out via our contact page and don’t forget to follow the blog to get these delivered straight to your inbox.