Why "Speed Work" Is A Useless Term
Published November 16, 2025
Hello!
This is such an interesting time in our sport. While most states have wrapped up their championships, California coaches are heading into their final weeks, and others are deep into NXR preparation.
No matter where you are in your season right now, today’s newsletter is going to be valuable. Whether you’re planning those final championship races or already thinking about track season, understanding race pace work is crucial.
This is the last post I'm going to make this season that talks about cross-country, yet if you take the time to read this email you're going to understand a crucial principle that'll set you up to have your best track season yet.
This email is fairly long, so if you don't have time to read it today, you want to bookmark it.
Why "Speed Work" Is a Useless Term
I want to share some specific strategies about race pace work today - and trust me, this isn’t your typical “speed work” discussion.
In fact, we need to talk about why the term "speed work" needs to disappear from our coaching vocabulary.
"Speed work" is a misleading term that creates confusion. Here’s why.
Coaches use “speed work” to describe 400s at 5:20 1600m pace - 80s (80 sec) - for a runner who could actually run 2:20 (70s) for 800m. That's not real speed.
Real speed is sprinting across an intersection to save someone from traffic. That’s 20-40 meters at absolute maximum effort, not 400s at 1600m pace.
Race pace work is exactly what it sounds like - the specific pace your athlete needs to hit in their target race.
Race pace work right term for you to start using when you're thinking about workouts that get kids read to PR.
Let’s break it down:
- 18:45 5K runner = 6:00 per 1600m, so 90s per 400m
- 5:00 1600 runner = 75s per 400m
- 2:20 800 runner = 70s per 400m
Now, let’s apply this to an athlete preparing for NXR on a faster course, and then we'll talk about how you need to apply it in track for kids who want to PR in the 1600m.
Take a runner who’s been hitting 19:15-19:30 on hilly courses all season, but is capable of 18:45 on a faster course. They've got to run 6:00 pace to run 18:45, which is 12 seconds faster than their 19:15 pace.
The shift from 6:12 pace (93s per 400m) to 6:00 pace (90s per 400m) might seem subtle, but it’s significant. Between now and NXR, we need these athletes grooving those 90s.
“How is this going to help me write better workouts?”
You’re going to write better workouts using this information because now you know the kids need to be grooving 90-second 400m pace.
- It might be 800s in 3:00
- It might be 1000s in 3:45
- It could even be odd distances like 600s, which would be 90 seconds plus 45 seconds, so a total of 2:15 per 600m
You just need to use what you have in terms of grassy areas or possibly even going to the track to have them run faster.
One of the things I have in my book Consistency Is Key is from Coach Jerry Schumacher, the coach at Oregon. He talks about learning to be “comfortable being uncomfortable.” So the key to these workouts is just being comfortable at 18:45 pace where the athlete is accustomed to running something well over 19 minutes.
In terms of recovery, make sure to give them plenty. You might do the exact same workout you did this fall but just give them more recovery.
At this point in the season, they’re fit and they’ve got a big aerobic engine.
What we need to do is to get their legs ready to run this faster pace.
But also mentally, we want to give them the confidence that they can run this pace. You’re better off giving them more rest and having them finish the workout really fast.
I linked to this last week but it’s worth linking to again: here’s the chapter from Consistency Is Key where I talk about going Fast, Faster, Fastest. You definitely want to design the workout so they’re grooving 18:45 pace and then at some point in the workout they’re speeding up to replicate the kick that you’re hoping they’re going to have.
“But aren’t they running slower than 18:45 in the middle of the race?”
You’re absolutely right.
If an athlete’s going to finish the race at 18:45, and they’re going to go out hard in the first 100-200 or even 300m, and then have a nice finishing kick for 300m or so, that means the middle of the race is probably closer to 19:00 or 19:15.
This may get you thinking, “Well, maybe we should be grooving that pace.”
That’s not what we want to do.
We want to get them comfortable at 18:45 pace and have their legs groove that pace. This has worked for hundreds and hundreds of teams over the last few years in the XC Training System, and it will work for your athletes as well.
What we want to do is groove 18:45 pace and then hope that they also have a kick so they run even faster. This is even more important in track where we’re trying to run PRs week after week after week.
What I Remembered Yesterday As I Was Writing Training
Five years ago that I created the Track Training System (TTS). I’ve been so fortunate that so many coaches have invested in the program and have helped me adjust it with each year. I'm working on updating the system - which is a ton of fun.
One of the things that's unique to the TTS is that we have 48-hour workouts and 72-hour workouts. These are the workouts that you do 48 hours out from a race or sometimes 72 hours out from a race.
To be clear, you would never do these workouts back-to-back. You’re not doing a 72-hour workout one day, a 48-hour workout the next day, then pre-race and race. You do either one or the other.
Most weeks would be working out on Tuesday, doing a 48-hour workout on Thursday, racing on Saturday. But there are times in the season where if you ran Saturday and then come back and have a meet on Thursday or Friday, a 72-hour workout earlier in the week might make sense.
The point I want to make that relates to this is simply this: in both those workouts, I have an 800m workout, a 1600m workout, and a 3200m workout.
While I don’t have the scientific studies that give you the why of why this works, just trust me on the fact that if kids (a) run race pace 48 hours before the race and then (b) run fast-faster-fastest, the chance of them being able to do that in the race 48 hours later is much higher.
And the same holds true for the 72-hour workout.
Think about it: the girl who can run 5:20 (80s) for 1600m, but can also run 2:20 (70s) for 800m, needs to be doing completely different workouts for the 48-hour workout and the 72-hour workout.
This makes sense, doesn't it? We want them grooving the pace 48 hours out from the race so they can - as we said above - be comfortable being uncomfortable.
And that’s one of the strengths of the TTS - there’s essentially six different workouts for these times where you’re doing a 48-hour workout or a 72-hour workout. Even within the 72-hour workout, I have a couple options where you can choose a little higher volume or a little lower volume. You might do a little higher volume earlier in the year, then do the other workout in the championship season.
Live Class December 7th
I love doing live classes with coaches where we focus on training for either cross-country or track, and then I take questions at the end.
Here are two previous recordings:
​Cross Country: In this one we went back and reviewed what we could have done better in cross country.
​Track: In this one we discussed what to do in track to ensure kids PR throughout the season.
On December 7th, at 8:00 PM Eastern I'll be hosting a live class to talk about the training you need to do to help kids PR all season long in track. It's going to be a great event. I'll have details in next week's newsletter.
And I should note that I love speed development days, and for many of your kids, having a speed development day or doing speed development as part of the warm-up makes a lot of sense. So I'm not against kids doing "true speed work." But that’s a different newsletter and one that we can talk about this winter.
Boulder Running Clinics
Here's what Coach Tom Vernot had to say about the clinic...
"This was my first Boulder Running Clinic and will definitely not be my last.
I have attended many other clinics, but this was amazing.
Sometimes other clinic speakers are collegiate or professional coaches that do not have the same difficulties we experience in high school. Coaching high school is a different set of challenges and I feel the Boulder Running Clinic is geared specifically for us.
Each speaker brought a different set of experiences to share, making each presentation thought provoking and full of ideas to consider. I feel I improved as a coach just being there.
I also feel the whole clinic was geared toward collaboration and interaction with other coaches from all over the U.S. I made so many contacts, and friends over a 3 day period. It was a great experience!
The clinic was well worth my time and money to attend. I think the value supersedes similar costs incurred at other clinics. I traveled from Ohio and felt it was worth the flight cost to experience this caliber of speakers and collaboration.
I feel the videos are very helpful to review at a later time. Attending the clinic can feel overwhelming, but the reassurance that the content can be reviewed later is a big benefit."
Obviously I'm biased, but it really is the best clinic in America because of the caliber of coaches in the room. You'll learn just as much from the people you chat with at the coaches socials as you will during the presentations.
Check out the line-up here - Boulder Running Clinics - and...
Let's go...to the Boulder Running Clinics!
Jay
PS - Every year I update the Track Training System. The 2026 changes will be significant and I'm fired up to share them with the coaches in the system in the coming weeks.
We're doing different workouts at certain times of the year, and I've added more meets to the calendar than I originally had. Why?
In Colorado a couple of years ago, with five weeks to go in the season, we had two weekends where both Friday and Saturday meets had to be canceled because of snow. I think every state is dealing with this - whether it's rain, wind, or snow. Meets are getting canceled at the time of year where kids are fit and ready to PR.
So we're front-loading the season with time trials, indoor meets, or some early season meets where we might be a little more focused. The flip side is there's still the same emphasis on not doubling kids, because that seems to be one of the biggest problems coaches have.
This is a long way to say that people who invest in the Track Training System get lifetime updates, and going into 2025, there's going to be at least a dozen new training plans for coaches who've already had success in the system.
Jay Johnson
