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This sprint workout will help you get faster in your 800m to 10k race

With spring weather on the horizon, outdoor tracks are beginning to open up for runners wanting to do interval training. If you are looking to test your speed coming off winter training, we have the ideal workout for you. This short sprint workout will build your anaerobic capacity, increasing the size of the fast-twitch muscle fibres to prevent your muscles from getting lactic when running at faster paces. 5K runners: this workout will be your bread and butter for making sure your fast-twitch muscles are ready for a sprint finish during that final kilometer.

The workout:

Two sets of (six reps of 200 meters) with one-minute standing rest between reps and four minutes rest between sets.

The idea here is to do these reps at 15 to 20 seconds faster than your current 5K time. For example, if your current 5K time is around 25 minutes (5:00/km), try to do each 200m rep in 55 seconds. The pace of this workout can seem rather daunting at first, but the intention is to help you work outside of your comfort zone, building your anaerobic threshold as the workout evolves. If you choose to jog the rest, the workout will turn into a hard fartlek (which will make it harder than it already is).

Take the one-minute rest between reps and relax before starting the next rep. To get a feel of the pace look at your watch at the 100m mark on the first three reps, so you can get an idea of the pace you should be hitting instead of going out too fast.

During the four minutes rest between the sets, keep your heart rate up by walking a 400m lap and then proceed into the second set. As the workout progresses the rest will feel shorter and your ability to hold the pace will only become harder. An important thing to remember when doing any type of speed training, but especially during this workout, is to keep your upper body relaxed. This tip can be detrimental in conserving energy for later in the workout.

This high-intensity workout is great for all runners from 800m to 10K, who want to build sprint speed on top of their endurance base. Doing one of these workouts will help a little, but if you can implement a short-hard speed session like this into your training plan once a week over a month, you’ll begin to see benefits.