For 23 years, I have given my runners the 75/45 speed session, and it has become a firm favourite with my runners. But not many runners know where I got this great speed session from, perhaps the ultimate speed/speed endurance session.
The 75/45 session was a key speed session used by Peter Snell, the New Zealand runner in the 1960s. Snell set world records and won gold medals at the Olympics for 800m and 1500m. His New Zealand national 800m record (at the time a world record) was set on a grass track in 1962. His national 800m record stood until May this year, for 62 years, and was the longest standing athletic record in the book! His record time was lowered by James Preston
It is a great speed session, with a mix of speed and speed endurance, and although I classify it as a fartlek session, it is actually what I call “structured fartlek”. Fartlek is a Swedish word meaning “speed play”. Fartlek, and speed work such as the 75/45 session are great for road runners, ultra runners and trail runners.
With the 75/45 session, a runner does fast paced running for 75 seconds and then a slow jog recovery for 45 seconds. This means that it works on a 2-minute cycle, as every two minutes a runner starts the fast running. The session uses “perceived effort” and a runner learns to gauge the pace that she can maintain for this session.
These are not sprints, but at a fast controlled pace. For runners that are unsure of pace, a good idea is to start at your 5km race pace for the first session, and then you will soon get the feel of it and most runners will do it a bit faster than this.
Speed session works for all runners
The beauty of it, is that the session can be tailored for beginners, right through to elite runners. The session is also suitable for older runners. A beginner runner can walk the recovery 45 seconds, while stronger runners will jog the recoveries.
The volume of intervals can be any number, with runners new to speed work, doing 3-5 of them, and others doing 8-10 of them, and I have even had runners do 20 of them. All sessions are preceded by about 10 minutes of easy jogging to warm up, and easy jogging afterwards to warm down. A runner can also add on distance after the run to bump up the distance.
Another advantage is that it can be done on a variety of surfaces and terrain. A flat road or grass works well, but a runner can use an undulating route and that way get good leg strength on climbs and leg speed on downs. I even have trail runners doing this season on single track trails, provided it is fairly smooth.
Boost your VO2 max
The 75/45 session is great for VO2 max as the intervals are short enough to do fast running and push up the heart rate. Runners using their heart rate monitors will be in zones 4 and 5 during the 75 seconds. The recoveries are short enough so that the heart rate remains elevated for most of the recovery, making it a great speed endurance session as well (the ability to maintain a fast pace). In recovery the heart rate will normally drop to zones 2 and 3.
It is important to stick to the 45 second recoveries and not make it longer. If you find that you aren’t recovering enough, then it is a sign that you are either running the 75 seconds too hard, or the 45 seconds recoveries too fast, and then you know that you need to slow it down. It works as an automatic brake to prevent a runner from running too hard.
This 75/45 speed session is also great for lighter running early in the season, and for sharpening up in the peaking phase before a race.
If this session was good for 800m world record pace, then imagine what it can do for runners training for road distances!
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