BACK ON TRACK

If you are a beginning runner, you are happy to get out there and put in your daily mileage. It's good for the body, great for the mind, and terrific for the soul.

Then you begin to race. You finish. You have something left. You go home and find your next race, knowing that you can run faster.

Faithful to your workouts, your stamina increases, but how do you GET faster?

Simple.

To get faster, you have to run faster.

The best way to do so is to try to run a weekly speed workout. Now, I'm gonna tell you something. Speed workouts are NEVER easy. Take it from someone who has been running them for 36 years. Painful as they are, however, they DO pay dividends. Talk about physical and mental. Nailing a speed workout prepares the legs for the speed of a race, and makes you mentally tough.

For shorter races, repeat 400-meter or 800-meter intervals is a great workout. If your race pace is an 8-minute mile, for example, do a set of 4 to 8 400-meter repeats at FASTER than race pace. Shoot for a set under 2:00 each. If you choose 800 repeats, do 4 of them under 4 minutes each.

For half marathons and marathons, nothing beats mile repeats. Today, I got back on the track, 3 1/2 weeks after the Philadelphia Marathon. I did only 2x1 mile, but my times were 6:18 and 6:08. That's another thing about speed work. Try to run each interval a little faster. Don't start out too fast. Be sure to pace yourself. If you hate the track, pick out a flat road and conduct your intervals there.

Here's what's going to happen. In your next race, you will still hurt, but when the finish clock appears, yout time is going to be faster.

Interval days are in the middle of the week. If you're racing on Sunday, do speed work no later than Wednesday.

So, get your running back on track and watch your race times improve.

OK, now for the commercial. It is less than two weeks until Christmas, and I can personally guarantee you that if you go to my website: www.runningshortsbook.com, and buy my book, not only will you receive a women's T-shirt absolutely free, along with free shipping, but you'll be buying the perfect Christmas gift for the runner on your Christmas list. The stories will make you laugh and cry. The advice will make you a better runner. I'll sign it for you, and, remember, I'll give you a service guarantee. I'm here to offer advice. It's what I love to do. It is the sport I love. And the people...you, the runners, are the finest folks around.

Joe