Track Tuesday 8

I'm pairing up with Denise at Run DMT to bring you a weekly thread where you can brag, show off, cry or celebrate your weekly  (or whenever it is) speed workout. Whether it's Monday, Tuesday, or never, you can link up (at the bottom) and tell us all about your session!

My Track Tuesday actually became Track Wednesday this week, and even then wasn't much of a track sesh. I was in no mental capacity to get in a 45 minute tempo run on Tuesday night after 10 hours at work and with lots to do around the house (namely unpacking from this weekend) and sucked it up and went home. At least I did get done what I had missed the gym for - unpacked, made my lunch, and was in bed at a decent hour. 

So today's post is more like Track Tuesday Lessons. Things I have picked up on over the last 18+ weeks since I've begun seriously committing participating in Track Tuesdays. I'm officially into my taper mode so I'm out of Track Tuesday opportunities for now. Don't you worry, I'll be back at it! But for now, I bring you these lessons.

• Speedwork works. Even if just helps shave some minutes here and there off your race time, you'll see the difference. I certainly have, given that I PRed my half at three of the four half marathons I ran October-December this past fall. 
• You need to commit. Sure, it works. You just need to make sure you're committing to doing it, in some form. My plans have alternated weeks - one week would be a tempo, the next week a speedwork session, then back to tempo. 
• Push yourself. Much like my first lesson from 2012, you're often more capable than you think. And track workouts are a great way to see just how much you can push!
• Emotionally-charged runs work well. Maybe that's just me. But that day that I was super aggravated with all things life and went and killed a 9x400 session? Awesome. Maybe it does really work... 
• Track (pun not intended) your progress. Keep track of your splits, your warm ups, your pace and total mileage. It makes it so much easier to see that progress -- and then you know your effort is worth the work.

Do you do regular speedwork as part of a training plan? Did you this week? Link it up! If you post on Twitter, don't forget to use #TrackTuesday too! Do you have any additional lessons or things to consider with speed work?


And feel free to add the button to your site and entry, too!