Speed Workouts -- The Ladder

After tweeting this morning about crushing my early morning speed session (oh, I'm so modest) @katienycgrl replied saying she could use a new workout, could I share mine?

With the permission of my bad ass coach (did I mention he ran a 1:23 HALF MARATHON in Dubai last week? Because he did. In the middle of a sand storm. And that's mind blowing) I am sharing the glory of today's speed workout with you.

The Ladder. Sounds scary, right? Well, it's not. It's actually one of my favorite speed workouts to do, because it focuses on time, not distance. So the workouts go by very quickly, actually. You're done before you know it! (But trust me, you'll be glad it's over)

The idea is simple 1 minute speed, 1 minute recovery. 2 minutes speed, 2 minutes recovery. 3 minutes speed, 3 minutes recovery. 

A normal ladder workout will go something like this 1,2,3,2,1,2,3,2,1. Looks confusing, but just think of it as running up and down a ladder. When you get to your 3 minute interval, you go back down to 1, and then you go back up the ladder to 3. (Though I actually did write it down along with my goal paces this morning, because I wasn't positive that at 6:30 am I'd actually remember it) This workout adds up to about 35 minutes, including your rest time. 

There is a little trick to this workout, though. Each interval has a different pace, 1 being the fastest, and 3 being the "slowest." For me, my 1 minute interval was around my 5k pace. Add 15 seconds for my 2 minute interval (9:15), and another 15 seconds for my 3 minute interval (9:30)

So there you have it! A quick a painful workout, perfect for a Tuesday morning.

More about my coach, Speedy (aka Josh Maio):
According to the histories, he has nearly 20-years coaching experience, beginning as a youth basketball and soccer coach. As he lost his taste for sports with extraneous pieces of apparatus, he returned to a sport of true athletic prowess where, in high school and college, Speedy earned his moniker racing the 400m, 4 x 400m and 800m distances. In 2005, after a brief hiatus, Speedy found himself stealthily running amongst the galloping hoards of New York City culminating in his first marathon in 2006. Two years later, in addition to training for a 3:00 Boston marathon, he successfully coached the 35 member Race With Purpose team to triumphant finishes for the Chicago, Marine Corps, New York, and/or Philadelphia marathons, including numerous of Boston qualifiers.  In December 2011, he finished 28th overall in the Las Vegas Marathon finishing in 2:50:29.
You can hunt him down by visiting www.teamsasquatch.com