Speed Boost Block
Finding My Speed
Friendssss! What is up!
Been a while since I’ve shared one of these stories but this one’s worth it.
Dropping in with a little story about a brutal run, a great run, and how those combined to point me towards my next mission.
A few weeks ago we had a challenge inside Tribal Training to run 5 miles under 40 minutes (8min/mile) or less and maintain a steady pace throughout
The First Brutal Run
TLDR: It wrecked me.
I ran it on a Sunday afternoon after flying home from the east coast from a long weekend eating lobster rolls, clam chowder, and enjoying a couple of miller lites.
That afternoon was one of the last hot days of the year, an early October 80F day, with the leaves just beginning to fade into shades of light green and yellow.
Going into this run, I was nervous, underfueled, and dehydrated. But I also knew I had to do it.
It was the last day to get the challenge done on time, and I’d mentally been holding myself accountable to get the challenge done that week despite the travel.
I pushed through all that and got myself to the trail. I parked my car and took a breath. “Let’s get this over with” it said without saying anything, just before turning my car off and hopping out.
My warmup was short and low effort if I’m being honest, and a few minutes later I hit “Start” on my watch.
Beep. No time to think anymore. Go time.
Mile 1: Whoa… okay! 7:41.
My heart rate climbed quickly in the heat. I felt strong but feared I had come out too hot which I would totally never do.
Mile 2: Alright… 7:40.
Consistent, but getting pretty stinkin’ hard… “Can I keep this up?” My breathing was heavy but not fully labored.
Mile 3: Holy shit. 7:46.
“What have I done???” It got hard before I turned around at 2.5, and I’m only 60% through this thing. But now I’m committed to this pace. Time to grind it out.
Mile 4: Pain. 7:43.
Right foot went numb, heart rate was at the tippy top. “I’m gunna die. No, I can do this. No, I’m gunna die.” was looping through my head.
It’s at this point I knew I’m gunna be wrecked afterwards.
“Come on, finish it out, you can do this,” I try to convince myself.
My mind was at war with my body.
Legs screaming, foot numb, lungs straining, fighting with all I’ve got against the voice in my head telling me to pull up.
Mile 5: I actually did it. 7:43.
Holy shit… again. “Did I actually just do that? Yes, I actually did and I maintained my pace throughout” LFG & WHEW!!!
But it also sunk in that it came at a cost, no doubt.
One of those runs where I just sat down on the trail after coming to a stop. You ever have those? No? That’s probably healthy.
Turns out this was not supposed to be the all-out effort that I just laid down (I realized a few days later), but that’s okay. I think I needed this effort to knock me down so I could get back up with a new focus.
In all seriousness, I came in unprepared and was humbled physically and emotionally. Miles 4 and 5 were a real test of grit and stamina.
It was one of those humbling moments that leaves a mark. Sitting on the side of the trail feeling broken, but also… in the back of my head, a little bit stronger.
I will say, even then, it felt like a breakthrough was coming from this. I didn’t exactly know why… I just knew I would look back on overcoming this 5 mile battle.
Chasing that Feeling
Something about going fast during that 5 mile challenge felt really, really good even though it also really, really, sucked.
I’ve felt this from a heavy, hard lift before but it’s different than a typical run or bike ride with aerobic goals. Using up all my energy and feeling totally spent is something I find a weird sense of peace in. Maybe it’s the emotional release associated with hard efforts.
In any case, I was seeking that feeling again.
So when I heard that the Tribal team was doing another 5 mile challenge the following week, I was intrigued. Amnesia immediately hit about how hard the first challenge was.
This time the challenge was different but similar. The workout was simple: 5 miles, each mile getting 30s/mile faster but averaging the same pace from the previous, steady 5 mile challenge.
The targets for each mile were 8:43 for mile 1, 8:13 for mile 2, 7:43, 7:13, and 6:43 on mile 5.
Thinking about the mile 4 and 5 paces definitely gave me pause, but I tried not to think on it too much.
This time, though, I set myself up way better.
Even though I was turning in my homework late (I completed this several days after the challenge deadline due to more personal travel), I wanted to turn in my best work.
I looked ahead a few days out and picked when and where I would run.
Same trail, different spot, Wednesday after work.
I made sure to take in lots of water, salts, and fuel beforehand so I could come into this fresh.
Straight to the trail from work, I changed my clothes and shoes in the driver seat, as I’ve done dozens of times before.
I hit some trailside warmups before taking a deep, calming breath, with a completely different sentiment from the one I took before the last challenge.
The Second 5-Mile Challenge
Beep. Go time.
Mile 1: Smooth. 8:39.
Pace felt easy and controlled. Just a bit faster than my target but I was okay with that. I felt good transitioning into the next pace.
Mile 2: Heck yeah. 8:09.
This mile also felt really good. I felt much better at this point than I did during the previous challenge even though my pace up til this point was slower, I knew I had some gas in the tank to rip off these next three miles.
Mile 3: Even smoother. 7:41.
This was an important mile for me because it was the target for the average pace of the entire workout. I wasn’t feeling completely toasted and was even starting to consider the possibility of improving my average vs the target.
Mile 4: LFG. 7:08.
Let’s GO. I felt fast. I passed by other runners and walkers feeling like an athlete! It felt good to get my legs moving quickly, my stride powering me along the tree-lined trail in now October-esque conditions.
Mile 5: Fast finish. 6:34.
YES!! I felt so proud finishing this mile. I was working HARD to get this. Huffing and puffing but knowing the finish line was close.
The feeling after this run was night and day different from the one 10 days earlier. Almost as different as the weather conditions between them, 82F vs 64F.
Instead of feeling completely wiped out and needing days to recover, this time I felt accomplished, not annihilated.
There were a variety of factors that made this run feel so much better and why I had so much fun with this workout.
Outside of my control, the weather was objectively much better running weather, which does help reduce fatigue throughout the workout.
But inside my control, my preparedness was vastly improved. Coming in hydrated, fueled, and mentally ready to throw down was a major win. Another reminder of how much hydration, nutrition, and sleep going into a workout can influence the results.
Overcoming the difficulty of the first 5-mile challenge and executing the second 5 piece to a T had sparked something in me that had been dim for a long time. SPEED.
Rediscovering Speed
I used to be the fastest kid on the playground in grade school, the kid who took every punt return at recess to the house. I lost that feeling in high school when I dropped all of the sports I loved to play growing up, including football, basketball, and baseball, and picked up wrestling.
At 5’4” and 90lbs as a freshman, being a tackling dummy on the football team didn’t sound too fun, even though football was truly my favorite.
Don’t get me wrong I loved wrestling and am super happy that I jumped on that opportunity because I learned a lot from that sport. But it didn’t showcase my speed. And since I didn’t use it, I lost it.
My Need for Speed (throwback to an OG video game) has been absolutely REVIVED.
I felt so alive. Like a blur flying alongside the Little Miami River at speeds that had been dormant for over a decade.
I wanted to chase that feeling again the next day. It was exhilarating.
It also gave me a new perspective on my fitness.
Over the past 2 years of endurance training, I hadn’t spent much time focusing on my higher zones, especially recently. I was busy building my foundation of aerobic health.
Truthfully this summer and fall I’d neglected my tempo and threshold paces because I wasn’t intentional about improving them.
I had my run streak but with how busy my summer was, traveling over 50% of the weekends between May and mid-October, I hadn’t been intentional about getting better throughout my training zones.
So here I was... fresh off these two emotional and physical rollercoaster 5-mile runs and I was looking for more.
Enter the Speed Block.
What’s that, you ask?
It’s a training period I’m dedicating to getting faster at my top-end speed and improving my threshold pace for the 5km distance.
What are my goals?
First, have fun!!! Enjoy training FAST and FREE. That’s what it’s all about, isn’t it?
Second, improve my running mechanics and shave time off my pace for shorter distances like the mile and 5km
How will I know if it worked?
Well, this past week I built a training framework and established my baselines.
This consisted of time trials of 100m, 400m, 1mile, and 5km distances.
Mondays will be for lower-body and top-end speed work with strides or hill sprints. This week Tuesday was for my 100m and 400m baselines. 15.4s and 1:13.6. Short bursts, and fun to push at the local track in the dark of morning.
Thursdays will be for threshold work to extend my ability to hold faster paces. This past week I used Thursday for a 1 mile time trial. 6:00 flat!! It felt so good to see and feel the progress from the work I’ve been putting in.
Saturdays are for long runs with some pace changes to further build the adaptations that’ll directly benefit my race-specific training.
This week on Sunday I did a 5km time trial to set a true before-and-after for this speed block. I ran 20:08 at a 6:28pace. It was a grind but I’m excited to see where I can get to in just a few short weeks.
To recap, here’s the framework to enable me to keep up my run streak and hit at least 2 lifts per week:
Looking Ahead
The grand finale will be the local 5k turkey trot in my hometown on Thanksgiving.
From another angle, this race feels special because for years after college I looked forward to going out to the bars on Thanksgiving Eve with my hometown friends more than actual Thanksgiving day with my family.
Now I’m inviting my family to join the race or spectate or spectate and cheer to get them involved with my fitness journey.
So here’s to an identity shift and a killer speed block!
Thanks for reading! Have you ever done a speed block before? What did you learn?
Let’s go.
-Z
This is awesome! Thanks for sharing!
My natural transition now is into speed work, as well. However, unlike you, I have never been fast lol