One-Hour Workout: Two-Minute Run Speed Intervals

Becoming a faster runner doesn’t happen overnight, and it doesn’t happen by making every run a tempo run. Instead, short and sharp injections of speed now will help lay the foundation for longer, harder efforts later this season, when it really counts. This run workout incorporates just enough short speed intervals to get your body out of slow and steady mode and primed for something faster.

Begin with an easy 20-minute warm-up, with the first five minutes at nothing more than 5/10 RPE (rate of perceived exertion) and gradually increasing that to ~7/10 by the end of the warm-up. Feel free to include a few build accelerations (no more than 20-30 seconds) throughout the last five minutes of the warm-up if you desire.

You’ll then start the main set, which is seven rounds of two minutes on, followed by two minutes off. The beauty here is that, based on how your body and mind are feeling, you can adjust how hard and fast you make the on intervals, but you certainly shouldn’t be forcing the intensity or pushing it: think controlled speed and effort at 8-9/10 RPE. It’s then important to follow up with a very easy two-minute off interval – by no means a walk, but an easy jog that is distinctly different (think RPE 5/10) and polarized to the on interval that preceded it. Read more about polarized training.

Roll through these seven rounds, making sure to keep pace and effort as consistent as possible as you progress. Wrap up the workout with a cruisey 10-minute cool-down where you bring your heart rate and breathing rate down.

RELATED: Break Through Your Plateau with Polarized Training

One-Hour Workout: Two-minute run speed intervals

Warm-up

20 min easy running, 5/10 RPE to begin with, building to 7/10 RPE. Include a few 20-30 sec accelerations toward the end if you wish.

Main set

7 x (2 min on @ 8-9/10 RPE followed by 2 min off @ 5/10 RPE) – ensure there is a real difference between your on and off paces

Cool-down

10 min easy jog