need a run work out or two

Sarah,
I am using Edmund Burke's book "Precision Heartrate Training" and just started one of his interval workouts. Use you local track- warm up w/ one mile then stretch. Then 3 X 1 mile at 10 seconds faster than race pace ( hr of 85-95%) then recover w/ 880 yds at 65%. Another workout is the same war up then 6 X 880 at 85-95% maxhr with 440 recovery at 65%. both have a cool down of one mile. It says to do 45-60 minutes of 65-75% maxhr the next day as an active recovery.
I did this with a partner to help with the motivation and keep me honest. This is one of several books out there that is pretty good. Another I have seen is "The "Interval Training Workout" by Joseph and Kimberlie Nitti. Good luck and let me know how it goes. If you find some other good workouts pass them on.

Scott

Be careful with the speed work,
too much can injure you
Some is good, but more's not necessarily better

That said, I like intervals in the form of minutes rather than distance
and I do a lot of my speed work on a treadmill because it
keeps me honest.
I like 5-6 x 3 min @ 10 sec. per mile faster than race pace
1 min recovery
once a week
If you're near a track though, you can adapt this to 800's
or whatever distance you can cover in the time

Hills = strength
Find one that you can only just run up
run up it
jog easy down it
repeat until spanked

I'll echo Dave's comment on being careful when you first start doing speedwork. The key is not overdoing it or you'll end up limping home.
That said, I like doing a 1 mile SLOW warm up, stretch, then do 400 meter repeats. I do 400m at 5K race pace, then do a recovery lap twice as slow as the fast one, then repeat. I try to work up to 8-10 of the fast laps by the end of middle of race season. Finish with a slow 1/2-1 mile warm down. Good luck with your training.

I have a few questions. What distance is your long runs? What sort of pace? What length of race are you training for?

Some of my favorites:
1. tempo 1000's, (5 X 1000m at slightly faster than 5k pace with 30-40 second recovery og in between)
2. turbo 800's (5 X 800m all out with 1 min recovery jog in btween, work up to 10 reps.)
3. long distance negative split. (on your long run, run the second half faster than the first. Trains your body to finish strong)

These work for me.
Have fun.
Gus

Good point in the negative splits Gus. I try to do every single workout I do at negative splits. Doesn't have to be a lot but at least somewhat negative. It really helps at the end of a race to have trained like that...gives you a little bit extra push.