What is your favorite workout?

[Sarah Spiro]

I am a senior in high school running indoor track right now. I run the 3200 and 1600 primarily. However, my school doesn't actually have an indoor team, so I have to come up with my own workouts and run by myself every day. Over the past 2 months or so, I have pretty much exhausted every workout or variation of the workout that I know. I am getting very burnt out on my routine runs and track intervals. If anyone would like to mention some good workouts (preferably geared towards the 3200/1600, but anything is appreciated) that you like, I would love to get some new ideas! Thanks!

[Rob Murphy]

Hey Sarah, I'm surprised I haven't noticed your blog.Welcome!

Indoor track really isn't a big deal in the South. I ran in Florida in high school and I always thought of indoor track as this exotic thing they did in New York and New England. I also coached in South Carolina for six years before moving to Utah, where I've been a high school coach for the past 12 years.

I like my runners to have a lot of fun with their training during the winter months. I view it as a "mini summer" where the emphasis is on building a mileage base. So lots of long runs now! You can incorporate some fartlek in, where you include several 1-3 minute harder efforts. Speed maintenance is a good idea too. Do fast striders several days/week as well as some "flying 40s" to keep your body used to speed. Strength/core training is a good idea as well. A tempo run every week is good - maybe 3 to 4 miles at a pace a little slower than your 5k race pace.

Think of saving to intense track interval sessions for late February to early March. Racing on the weekends is a good idea if you keep it fun.

If you have a couple indoor track meets that are really important in the coming weeks, I might alter this advice some.

So, have fun, become an aerobic monster, and maintain your speed!

Hope this helped.