While the temperature has been below normal for this time of year, it is still considered warm and humid enough to affect a runner’s workouts.

Usually during the summer, a runner has to shorten the distance that they run and even slow the pace down a little to run healthy and not get into any problems from running in the heat. It may sound like a contradiction of ideas when I say that a runner needs to slow down a bit and shorten the distance, and then mention that this is also a good time to work on speed training.

Summer in Central Texas is a hard time to train for a marathon and try to run farther every week in training. The speed workouts can be designed to fit the weather and still add some benefits to your training.

I often hear runners say that they “run for fun” and don’t really care if they run that fast or run to get an award at the end of the race. This is sort of saying that the fast runners don’t run for fun. Runners who run fast are also running for fun, and enjoy the fact that running fast really feels good and exhilarating.

Slow runners can still have fun and enjoy running the same as when their pace was slower, and can even feel good about finishing the race in a faster time. Whether a runner in a 5K distance finishes in 45 minutes, 40 minutes, or even a quicker 30 minutes doesn’t matter. These so-called slow runners still have the same good feeling as the runners who ran across the finish line in 25 minutes, 20 minutes or even close to 18 minutes. When we talk about running faster, we are simply talking about running faster than you are now.

In hot temperatures, the speed workouts are short and sweet and actually fun, once you get the hang of picking up the feet and laying them down a little faster. If you are averaging a 13-minute-per-mile pace in a 5K, a 12:30 pace is faster and you finish the race 1:30 faster than you have in the past.

A few examples of speed training for the “slow” runner are usually best done on a track. Some runners call these workouts “intervals” but not in the true sense of doing that. The interval is actually the time between fast runs and not the fast run portion itself. We will concentrate just on the fast portion of the run.

Two easy ways to add speed to a workout is, as you jog your laps, try running one side of the track at a pace five seconds faster than the other 3/4 of the lap. After the slightly faster pace, the key is to go back to the regular pace that you normally do. Do not sprint or try to run like a football player sprinting for a touchdown, but just five seconds faster for the 110-yard distance.

A second method on the track is, as you finish your miles on the track, try to think that you are approaching the finish line in a race and your arch nemesis is by your side to beat you to the finish. For one half of a lap, think that this is not the race that you are going to let that other runner beat you again, and pick up the pace. Remember this is at the end of a slow easy jog, and running fast is only for 200 yards or so. After the finish, you can walk if you want to.

Either way you were picking up the pace and it was easy and fun.

On long runs, a training technique called “fartlek” can be used. It sounds like a crazy name and it comes from Sweden, so don’t try to explain it to someone. What it means is for a runner to “run like you feel.”

During the run, think of the different types of running that you have seen. One is a sprinter in a short race, one is the middle-distance runner, another is the racer in a 5K or 10K and then you have the jogging-for-fun slow pace. As you run along the neighborhood pick out various landmarks such as the end of the block, a telephone pole up ahead, a tree in a neighbor’s yard, a parked car or driveway next to the sidewalk. For each landmark, just run at one of the four different speeds as you “feel like you can do.” The short fast sprints are just that - short. The recovery pace can be as long as you think you need it to be. There is no order to which type of pace comes in the run and there is no set number of times you have to run each of them. You may only do one sprint, a few 5K race paces, and a lot of jogging at a slow pace. The decision is up to you and how you feel.

Either way, you have introduced a faster running pace to your workout. This faster running workout does not have to be every workout and may be done only once or twice a week.

Even with this minimal amount of speed training, the carryover will be very evident the next time you enter a race and try some of the various speed workouts during the race. Even that kick fun run at the end of a workout that you have practiced will come in handy. Even fast runners can run for fun and enjoy the race.