I have been thinking about speed work recently and trying to figure out when the best time is to incorporate it into your training cycle.  When I say speed work, I am referring to intervals that are at most 800 meters. Is it better to do it early in the cycle, towards the end to fine tune or sprinkled throughout?

The first thing to realize is the distance you are training for has a big impact on speed work and the quantity that you should be doing.  It goes without saying that someone that is training for a 5k will be doing more speed work than someone who is training for the marathon. The 5k runner will be doing speed work throughout their training cycle and will really try and sharpen in the weeks leading up to their goal race.

The less clear cut answer is for the marathon runner.  My thoughts, and what has worked for me, is that speed needs to be done early in the process, perhaps even before you begin your formal training cycle.  This speed work will be more relaxed with a goal of teaching your body to a) run fast and b) run more efficiently.   

A workout would not entail running 12 x 400 all out, but instead might be 16 x 200 with 200 easy at half mile or even mile pace.  I run fast, but not so fast that my body needs extra time to recover or where I increase my risk of injury. I will build up the distance, but make sure I am maintaining proper form.  The furthest an interval might be is 800 meters but more likely 600 meters as I find the 800 a bit too long from a time perspective. Another thing I will do is make sure my recovery time is pretty minimal.  This will keep me from going too fast on the intervals but still allow me to get speed in and work my aerobic system.

Once I have completed a block of speed work early on in the training cycle I may sprinkle more in here and there to keep myself honest.  I also feel that this keeps me from getting complacent as I do a lot of half marathon and marathon pace work in my training cycle. The workouts look similar as described above, relatively short intervals with a small amount of rest at mile pace.

As marathoners it is important not to forget that speed work is an important part of our training cycle.  Should it be the focus, definitely not, but there is a time and place for it. It will help us become more efficient and faster runners which should help us set PRs.

Do you do speed work?  What do your workouts look like?  When in your training cycle do you do speed work?