I’ve noticed that recently my times have gotten slower. It used to be that when I’d go for a casual run, my pace would be about 7:50 per mile. Now, it is about 8:10 per mile. I don’t know why as I haven’t changed anything but perhaps I’m just getting older. 
So, I’m searching for ways to change that. Speed work is probably the answer but the notion of getting out to a track and doing 400′s and 800′s is just so deflating. Running hurts…sprinting really hurts! Guess that’s why I haven’t been doing it.
But I saw this scientific research which suggests that you can get some good speed benefits simply by sprinting for 30 seconds at a time. While sprinting a 400 seems too daunting, sprinting for 30 seconds is certainly doable.
That’s what I’ll do today. And start adding it to my normal runs for the next couple of months. We’ll see whether it affects my joggling speed. I don’t want to believe that my fastest days are behind me.
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That’s interesting Perry. To deal with shin splints I’ve actually reduced my joggling sessions to 1.0-1.25 miles 3X a week for the past month (I was doing 3 miles 3x a week). However during this time I’ve started focusing more on my time and have gone from about 8:00 to 7:04 (PR) per mile. Granted it’s only a mile and I can’t keep that pace for longer distances, but it’ll be a good base when I start ramping up my mileage again.
BTW – I’m doing a 5K in Edinburg IL on Sept 2nd. Hopefully I’ll beat my 25:50 I ran in NY in May.
Interesting information. Going from 8 to 7 is a pretty good speed increase!
Good luck in the next 5K. Let me know how it goes.
I’ve been intrigued by high-intensity interval training for some time, and plan to add them to my regimen this year.
I’ve been intrigued by McMmillan’s running calculator. I run a 6:59 mile last Friday, so according to that I can run a 5k in 24:21. Looking at other’s times on athlinks.com it appears to be fairly accurate in predicting race times.
http://www.mcmillanrunning.com/calculator
Based on that I have to run a mile in 5:44 to break 20 minutes in a 5k. Or a 5:26 mile to qualify for Boston. (With the appropriate training)