Beat the cold and work on your speed with this ladder workout

If you can’t get to an indoor track this winter to work on your speed, interval training can be a great tool when training outdoors in cool conditions. Interval training can be tailored to any individual and their goals and needs, plus it’s easy to track. Research has shown that it’s the most effective way to run and will help get you to your goals faster.

As good as it is for us, interval sessions like 10-12 x 400m, or five reps of five minutes, can get pretty monotonous, and it’s beneficial to mix it up and try workouts like ‘ladders,’ to keep things fun.

Related: 7 Keys to effective run training for masters triathletes

The concept of a ladder workout is that the intervals get longer or shorter, as if you’re climbing up or down a ladder (or pyramid). It is a workout that can be done on the track or the road, and can be done at one pace, or getting gradually faster or slower.

Workout

1 min, 2 min, 3 min, 4 min, 4mins, 3 min, 2 min, 1 min (90 seconds jog rest between)

This workout is a great option for triathletes training for virtually any distance. The first four reps of the workout should be done at your race pace for a sprint or Olympic-distance race, and the last four reps should be done about five seconds per kilometre faster.

Allow yourself to ease into the workout by staying relaxed and sticking to paces during the first three reps. The first couple of reps should feel easy, but you don’t want to go out too fast and not be able to finish the workout.

If you want to make the workout more difficult, add a five-minute rep between the two four-minute reps. If you’re training for a full-distance race, you can also add more time to the warm up and warm down, too.

This story originally appeared on runningmagazine.ca