Run FAST to Work

If you haven’t read our guide on how to run to work, start there. Once you’ve mastered the logistics in that guide and started using running as a means of commuting, the workouts and tricks in this post can help you add some speed to bring variety to your weekly routine and build fitness or get you ready for a race. Over the past 8 years, I’ve adapted my basic run commute schedule to train for nine marathons and many shorter races, and I’ve put together this guide for people interested in doing the same thing.

Philosophy

In the previous post, we talked about the 80/20 principle: how elite athletes usually run 80% of the time at low intensity and only 20% at higher intensity. This post is right for you if you’re thinking about that 20% part, the higher intensity workouts, and specifically if you’re wondering whether you can adapt your weekly run commuting schedule to add some quality.

Over the years, I’ve incorporated everything from sprint workouts to 20 mile long runs into my daily commutes. Not everything fits. For example, I have found that it works much better for me to do a quality run on the way to work as opposed to coming home from work. In the mornings, it’s cooler out and your body battery should be pretty recharged from sleep. After work, it’s typically hotter and my energy has been sapped from 10 hours at the office.

Another example: I will usually prefer to do long runs on the weekends instead of extending my commute runs to 16-20 miles. The worst long run of my life (not counting every marathon I’ve ever raced) was an 18 miler after work. Working a long, relatively stressful day and then heading out at 6pm for 150 minutes of brisk running was just brutal. I was totally cooked after 12 miles.

Similarly, if I know that my club is running track at 6:30pm near my house, I’d rather just take the subway home and then go meet them on the track. I try to tap into the social aspect of running whenever I can because it always boosts my spirits and makes the harder workouts fly by.

What Works Best For Me

What does fit really well into my commuting routine are the tempo runs. I love doing tempo runs before work, with anything from 3-10 miles of steady pushing, depending on what my plan calls for. Tempo runs used to be elusive for me: the workouts I knew were important but often had trouble squeezing into my schedule. Then I figured out how to fit them into my morning commute on Thursday mornings, and it’s been great ever since.

There are also some track workouts that are perfect for the run commute format; they are just as good on a bike path as on a real track. My running club runs track workouts Tuesday evenings, and as I said before I love the social aspect of those workouts. But in the summer the heat can be brutal after work, so I often prefer to get the workout out of the way on Tuesday morning instead, depending on the workout.

Below, I’ll cover interval (track) workouts and tempo runs separately. But first, some disclaimers and prerequisities.

this is not a training guide

This post is not designed to teach you about interval training or tempo runs: how to stretch and warm up properly, what to eat before a workout, how to choose your pace, etc. There are lots of books and resources to walk you through this stuff. I’ll provide some examples of how I do this stuff just to serve as a guidepost, I’m not recommending you do the same.

the prerequisites

Before adding high-intensity workouts to your routine, you should always stop and do some self-assessment.

You should have a good base before starting any interval training — I’d suggest a month of at least 20 miles / week of easy running (or the equivalent if you cross-train).
Understand the purpose of the high-intensity training. It’s okay to toss in some random intervals for fun and to help build general fitness, but before this becomes a regular thing you should think about what you’re trying to accomplish. The best case is that you have a goal in mind, and a training plan that includes some track workouts or tempo runs. Then it’s just a matter of adapting those so that they combine with your run commute. As I said before, this post is about adapting your existing training plan, it isn’t a training plan by itself.
If you don’t have a good handle on how to properly eat, hydrate, stretch, warm up, and cool down for the workout, take some time to do your research.

interval workouts

Interval workouts (often called track workouts since they’re usually done on a track) are a staple of many training plans. They improve your running mechanics, boost your anaerobic threshold, and catalyze many physiological adaptations that I have will sound like a poser if I pretend I understand. Bottom line: they can make you a better, faster runner. Even marathon training plans will include time on the track doing short intervals.

In this section, we’ll cover how to incorporate a weekly interval workout into your run commuting routine. If you can figure out the logistics, it’s a really great way to combine a tough workout with your regular commute, and also add some variety to your weekly routine.

Selecting a Route

The goal is to find a route that allows you to safely run a track workout AND eventually gets you where you need to go (usually this means a longer route than your most direct path to/from work). If there is a track between home and office, then you may be able to run to the track as your warmup, run your workout, and then continue on to work as your cooldown (ideally not more than 3 more miles).

If not, you’ll need to find a route where you can leave your home (or office), warm up for 2-3 miles, then utilize a 3-5 mile stretch of roads, trails, or bike paths where you can safely run fast, finishing 1-3 miles from your office (or home). Typically, interval workouts consist of a 2-3 mile warmup, 3-4 miles of fast running with 0-2 miles of recovery intervals, and then 1-3 miles of cooldown. The total distance is typically 8-11 miles, but you could conceivably squeeze it into 6-7.

Ideally you find a route mostly free of crowded sidewalks, uneven footing, street crossings, cobblestones, or wafting clouds of pot. A bike path or rails-to-trails path is ideal. The fewer the hills and street crossings the better. Water fountains are a big plus; if not, decide whether you want to carry some water to drink during the workout.

My Route

For my track workouts on my commute into Boston, I have two choices:

Bike to Harvard Stadium (2.5 miles), run my warmup + workout + cooldown on the Harvard outdoor track, and then bike into work (5 miles). Not ideal from an efficiency perspective, but if I’m doing 200s or 400s then a real track is helpful.
Run 3 miles to a point on Charles River as my warmup, and then I have 3.5 miles of continuous bike path with no street crossings to use for my workout, followed by 1.5 miles cooldown through Boston streets to my office. I will sometimes double back during my workout if 3.5 miles is not enough. This extends the length of my commute run from my usual 5 miles up to 7.5 miles minimum (more if I’m doubling back during the track workout).

You’ll Need a Watch, Preferably with GPS

In order to pull this off, it’s very helpful to have a GPS watch, like a Garmin 10, 55, 255, or 955. Make sure that you have distance prominently displayed on the watch, because this will be crucial. I also like to have a screen with running lap time — I use this when my workout prescribes a recovery time in between intervals. I flip to this screen while I wait, and then flip back to the main screen when it’s time to go.

Example: for 800m repeats, I set my Garmin watch’s autolap at 1/2 mile (or you could do 800m if you’re in metric). For each interval, I go hard until the autolap triggers. Then if the recovery between intervals is 400m (1/4 mile) of easy running, I just keep an eye on the distance until 0.25 miles has elapsed on the display, then manually hit the lap button and take off on the next interval. Or, if the recovery is 2 minutes, I just sit tight and watch the elapsed lap timer; when it reaches 2:00, I hit the manual lap button and start the next interval.

If you don’t have a GPS watch, and if there are no course markings on your path, just do everything based on time and feel. For example, let’s say you are running 800m intervals and you expect to do each interval in about 3:10; then you can just use your stopwatch and run each one until the 3:10 mark. Do your best to keep yourself honest.

Sample Workouts

Here are some sample workouts I’ve done on that 3.5 mile bike path route:

“Deek Workout”: 3 miles warmup + stretch + 3 mile consecutive block consisting of 8-10 x { 1/4 mile @ 5K pace + 1/8 mile @ 2:00 / mile slower } + 1.5 miles cool-down. Note that most watches only have 2 decimal places of precision and 1/8 mile is 0.125. Solution is to start every odd interval (3,5,7) at exactly 0.75, 1.5, and 2.25 respectively. That way if you give yourself a bit too much recovery after one interval, you make it up on the next one.
800m Repeats: 3 miles warmup + stretch + 6 x { 1/2 mile at a bit slower than 5K pace + 1/4 mile @ easy pace (or 2 min rest) } + 1.5 miles cool-down. If I do the 1/4 recovery option, I need to reverse direction and backtrack for a couple of the recoveries or else I’ll reach the end of my 3.5 miles too early.
Mile Repeats: 3 miles warmup + stretch + 3-6 x { 1 mile at 20-30 seconds slower than 5K pace + 1 min rest or easy running } + 1.5 miles cool-down.

If you can’t find a suitable course

If there’s just no way to safely and enjoyable run track workouts on your way to/from work, fear not! Here are three other suggestions:

Pickups: Anywhere from 6-12 times during your commute, pick up the pace for 20 seconds (count in your head) and then return to your regular pace, giving yourself at least a minute before the next rep. The timing isn’t too important, so you can fit them into the safest places in your route. The pickups can be anything from tempo pace to 5K race pace to flat-out sprints (but please don’t hurt yourself!). They are an easy way to add some light quality to your regular runs. The faster your pickups, the more important it is to avoid any faster work the following day. I like to use these when I’m late leaving the office and want to knock a couple of minutes off my ETA.
Fartlek: Warm up for 2 miles or so, then run 3 miles alternating between fast-slow-medium effort, using any available landmark to signal your pace changes. “Run hard to that lamppost, then easy to the mailbox, then go medium-fast to Chipotle, then super-hard to the stop sign, ….” You can just make it up organically as you go. Just make sure to build in recovery segments after each fast segment, and then don’t do anything high-intensity the next day. Google “fartlek” for more resources and ideas. Here’s a good guide.
Tempo Runs: Tempo runs are less fussy about the route choice since you’re not going all-out. Some hills, street-crossings, and sidewalks are okay. And speaking of tempo runs…

TEMPO RUNS

Tempo runs are 3-10 mile runs where you’re pushing hard but are nowhere near the paces you’d race these distances at. I like 3-mile tempos to get ready for 5K or 10K races, and use the 6-10 mile tempo runs to prep for half marathons or full marathons.

Choosing a Course

The course matters a bit less for tempo runs compared to interval workouts, but it’s still great if you can find a bike path with a nice, long stretch where you don’t need to worry as much about cars and crowded sidewalks. Some street crossings are okay, as it’s not terrible to stop once or twice during the tempo. Hills are fine (arguably even a plus), within reason.

For my tempo runs, I use essentially the same course along Charles River that I use for interval workouts. But for anything longer than 4 miles I will start the tempo heading upriver away from the office, and then choose the appropriate bridge to turn around at based on the distance I need to run. I plan the course in advance, focusing on always ending at the same place and then working backward to choose the right place to start the tempo (approximately) based on how far I want to run. Map My Run (owned by Under Armour) is a great tool for planning this out.

Sample Tempo Workouts

Three examples of tempo runs at different paces:

3 miles warmup + stretch + 3 continuous miles at threshold pace (25-30 seconds slower than your 5K race pace) + 1.5 miles cool-down
2 miles warmup + stretch + 4-5 continuous miles at half-marathon pace (30-35 seconds slower than your 5K race pace) + 1.5 miles cool-down
2 miles warmup + stretch + 6-10 continuous miles at marathon pace (40-60 seconds slower than 5K race pace) + 1.5 miles cool-down

These are continuous blocks of medium-high intensity running, but it’s fine if you need to stop for water or a street crossing.

As I said before, I usually do tempo runs on Thursday mornings on my commute into work. After work is possible but expect your body battery to be somewhat depleted by then. The wildcard is the effect that workplace stress plays on your physical readiness to run a tough workout. It can be very real.

Nutrition and stretching

Even though I take a “keep it simple” approach to my easy runs, whenever I do one of these harder workouts, I always take a Gu (100 cal) before I leave the house, and I always warm up properly: 2-3 miles warm-up run + stretching + light drills. Stretching and warmup drills are a matter of personal preference, but I recently have been following the warmup plan in the Hansons Marathon Method book.

If weather is even somewhat hot (70+ for me), access to water is important for all of these workouts; if there isn’t ample water available along your route, then you may need to bring a light water bottle. In the winter, I can often run these workouts without additional water as long as I am properly hydrated at the start.

In terms of nutrition, I generally don’t need to take any calories on the course; I’m generally fine with just the one packet of Gu (100 cal) before leaving home. For 10-mile tempos, I might take a Gu during the tempo at mile 6 or so (always at a water fountain).

Okay, that’s a wrap. I hope this gives you some ideas for how to incorporate higher-intensity elements of your training plan into a weekly run commute routine. I hope you found this helpful, and I’d love to hear any feedback. Don’t forget to read our original post on how to run to work for a full complement of tips and ideas for combining running with your daily commute. Happy trails, and be careful our there!

Title image by Maciej Cieslak from Pixabay