The Greater Lowell Road Runners:

An Introduction to Track Work -- John Barbour

            Time to take a few moments and provide some introductory background on the whys, hows, and whats of training on the track.  Even if you’re an old hand at it, a refresher can’t hurt.  And if you are new to this, it’s absolutely essential.

             Why.  You do track work to make you run faster.  In brief, it makes your body more oxygen-efficient, just as long runs make you more fuel-efficient.  Without getting biochemical about it, the principle is simple: If you want to run faster in races, you need to practice running as fast as, and often faster than, you want to race.

             How.  When you race, you aim to be at your very best.  Well-trained, well-rested, and mentally & physically fresh.  Obviously you can’t duplicate that in a workout, nor should you, so you don’t, for example, try to race 5K in a workout.  Instead, you break the effort up.  So each workout consists of a series of repeats (“reps”) separated by a slow jog in between each one.  Each repeat is an effort of its own, and should be much closer to race pace than your daily running pace.  Each one should tire you out enough that you need the easy jog.  (Why slow jog instead of walk or full rest?  It keeps the heart rate up throughout.)

             What.  Each lap is 400 meters, which is just barely short of ¼-mile.  The rule of thumb is that the recovery jog is half the distance of the preceding repeat, so “4 x 400m w/ 200m jog” means run one lap hard (400m), then slow jog half a lap (200m), then another 400m hard, until you’ve run 4 hard 400s.  (For shorthand, 400m=¼-mile, 800m=½-mile, 1600m=1 mile, etc.  They’re interchangeable.)

             The basic workout, Level 1, assumes that you are comfortable running 30 miles per week or more.  Other levels are for greater or lesser levels of fitness accordingly.  Warmup and cool-down runs are essential and factored into the workout in terms of both time and mileage.  Stretching is key, especially afterwards, and more so for runners over 30.  Finally, the light strides or sprints help you relax and regain good form.  If the grass is good, barefoot strides are excellent.

             Finally, if you’re new to track training: It is hard.  It should be.  Running is a difficult sport, and that’s what makes it special.  But take heart.  It does get easier, you will feel absolutely terrific, and you will race faster.