Workout Wednesday: Kilometre repeats

Speed workouts aren’t always sexy. Sometimes they’re so simple and basic that it’s barely worth bragging about. But if you want to get fitter and faster and be ready come race day, putting in a hard effort during a weekly speed session is essential.

Today’s Wednesday workout is pretty standard. It’s a simple yet but important prep for any race or distance.

Kilometre repeats are as simple as they sound. Run a kilometre, rest, repeat.

How many repeats you do and how fast you run them will depend on what you’re training for.

If you’re training for a 5K, run 3-5 1K repeats at or as close to 5K race pace with 500m easy between.

If your goal is a 10K or 15K, attempt 6-10 repeats at 10K race pace and, again, take 500m rest between.

Training for a longer distance like the half- or full-marathon? Attempt 8-12 at goal race pace or just a bit faster and take a full 1K easy before starting the next one.

Don’t start too quickly or else you’ll tire and end up running slower than you should be. Also aim to run the last repeat as fast or faster than you ran the first one.

As always, be sure to warm up and cool down before running the hard repeats. Also try to mimic your race course as closely as possible, be it on a stretch of flat road or a hilly trail.

The great thing about 1K repeats is that they’re easy to measure, familiar to us all, short enough that you can do many, yet long enough to provide a good training stimulus of both speed and endurance.