The Need for Speed!!!

I woke up this morning with very sore quads!! My little 8 minute one mile run must have made an impact on my legs. As a matter of fact, I typically do not feel this sore after my long runs.

I am actually encouraged by this because I did not feel like it was to hard to run that pace (although there was no way I was going to keep it up) but, I was really working my body hard. All I need now is to be able to keep it up for 25 more miles (I can't imagine how sore I would be then).

I need some help. Some people just start running and they are, "speedy". I am not one of those people. I started at a 12 minute pace 4 years ago and I have had to work for every second I take off my pace. I am looking for some advice on how to work on my speed. I figure that if I am going to qualify for Boston this year, I have to get busy.

I have done some research, and am disappointed with what I have found. Most of the time I do not time my miles, never my quarter and half mile marks!!! I have to chuckle when I see, " run at your marathon pace less 20 seconds"! How am I going to be able to make that happen, I can barely make sure that I set my watch at each approximate mile and not get hit by a car. I do not think my marathon time less 20 is going to happen for me.

What I need is some real advice from real people who are not elite runners with a coach in their pocket. I really do not want to talk about fartlek's and tempo runs (lingo that I am not sure an average runner would have or understand). I want to know what is a simple, realistic way for the average marathon mom to work on getting her pace faster.

I am thinking of something like, "Speed Workout for the Marathon Mom". Any advice would be appreciated.

Marathon Mama