Any runners out there have suggestions for a good track workout? How about your personal favorite to help develop speed and better running form?

wow... where to start?
First of all, you don't need to do track workouts to improve your speed and form. I like to end most of my runs by doing a few simple drills and a few barefoot striders. It's pretty hard to explain drills, so go watch this video instead, she knows what she's talking about.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcH97Dx8VCk
Striders are very simple, and (in my opinion) one of the best ways to develop speed. I do them barefooot in the grass along the length of the football field. Start with a light bouncy jog and every few strides turn it up a notch, gradually accelerating until you're at about 90% effort when you're halfway across the field. Maintain that speed the rest of the way focusing on keeping your stride light, quick, and relaxed. Jog around for maybe 30 seconds, turn around and do another back across the field. I generally do at least 4 of these and, if I'm feeling really good, will push the envelope on the last couple getting up to an all out sprint. Light, quick, relaxed... use it like a mantra.

Hill repeats are possibly the best thing that you can do to improve your form. Find a good hill that's maybe 400m long with a consistent grade (but not too steep.) Do a 15-20min jog for your warm-up, then start attacking the hill... run the intervals at about your goal 5k pace, and don't lollygag on the way down. Try to keep your time for the way down in the same ballpark as your times for the way up. Running uphill encourages some good running habits like driving your knees and staying on the balls of your feet while punishing bad habits like overstriding.

OK... so playing on the track may not be entirely necessary, but it is fun :)
* One of my favorite workouts from my college days was what we called 35-30s. Which meant running 200m repeats in 35sec with 30sec recovery. The 35sec will, of course, vary with your level of fitness... good rule of thumb here is to be just a touch faster than your goal 5k pace. This workout will typically feel a bit clunky in the beginning, but as you warm up you'll hit a rhythm and flow through them, as you start to feel fatigued and maybe are thinking about stopping let yourself blow out a couple at full speed and then call it a day. This isn't meant to be a ball-buster of a workout and you should be able to cruise through at least 12 of these without too much effort.
* 400 repeats until failure are always "fun" too. Run a lap a bit faster than your goal 5k pace, then jog a lap... repeat until you can no longer complete a lap at pace. This one hurts, and while the merits of running until failure are questionable, I think that it's good to know where your limits are.
* Ladders are a good way to play around and find different gears...
100,200,400,600,400,200,100 or...
1600,1200,800,400,200,200 or...
make up your own!

Anyway, I could talk about running forever... I hope this isn't overwhleming for you and has given you some good ideas.
Happy Trails,
~Adam

I'm tired and sore from reading.

-- Ken
 
"If you brake, you don't win." Racer Mario Cipollini

Great stuff Streak. It's funny you mentioned hill repeats, because I've been been doing some reading on old school training methods (Lydiard) and noticed hill repeats are prescribed more than track sessions for building speed, leg strength, and an awesome bounding stride. But when I read Daniel's, he hardly mentions hill repeats and instead suggests repetitions for developing quick leg turnover.
I personally do the occasional interval sessions (1000 or 1200m), but find that when I'm on the track I gravitate towards mile repeats at threshold pace (10K~1/2M pace). I was thinking of trying more shorter repeats in the 200~800m range at like 3~5K pace and like the idea of 35-30s.
I should definitely be doing more striders after easy runs and possibly add a hill repeat, but how often? I'm thinking maybe once a week?

Best,
Joel

Hi Joel, not knowing what sort of training volume or intensity you've been doing, I hesitate to give recommendations on how often to be doing workouts. For the most part you can get along just fine with one workout and one long run each week (and simply logging miles on the other days.) Alternate weeks between "strength" workouts and "speed" workouts (e.g. hills one week, track the next). If you have a big event that you're training for, as it approaches you'll want to drop the strength workouts and focus mainly on speed.
Do drills and strides after EVERY run (with the exception of workout days) it should become part of your post run routine... drills, strides, stretch.

Disclaimer: It should be noted that I've never read up on training technique... everything that I'm spouting off are my own personal thoughts.

Typically, I do one or two workouts per week (i.e. Tuesday 6~8 miles on the road at 1/2m pace, Thursday 5~8 miles at track with 3xmile at 10k to 1/2m pace or some variation of longer running). Then we have the staple Sunday long run, and I fill in the rest with easy runs in the 3~5 mile range. That is why I was wondering about adding a hills or replacing a workout day with a hill session. I guess it makes sense to alter weeks of hills and speed.

Either way, I think what I've realized is that almost all my quality running is done between 10k and 1/2 marathon pace, which is O.K., but not great. To be honest, I even like to make some of my long runs progressive so that I start out easy and finish the last 3 miles faster until I'm running at Threshold pace. It seems to help with endurance and I kind of enjoy the sensation of running hard on tired legs. But again it doesn't do a lot for developing speed.

I have seen Streak do some of these drills on snowshoes over the Pinnacle. It's a mistake to try and follow him.

On snowshoes you just look for the thickest bushes and trees you can find, then head off trail and see who can keep up. Same drill applies to deep snow and steep slopes. Lots of fun!

It doesn't build speed but it's fun to see the expression on the faces of your compadres.

Ryan

Unfortunately you only get to see it once. They tend to not come back.

-- Ken
 
"If you brake, you don't win." Racer Mario Cipollini