Speed can come from many sources. There is track speed; there's downhill turnover speed; there's hill strength speed; there are people who are “altitude fast;” there is trail speed. I can go on and on.

I struggled with speed for the two months since the Brighton Marathon. I got so sick afterward that I was put on an antibiotic, which wasn't strong enough. I spent another 2 weeks sick AFTER the medicine. All the while, I was trying to get my foot speed back. It didn't go well!

The first 3 weeks after Brighton were the toughest. I was already working out and doing short, intense intervals. It wasn't much, but 200-400m intervals at what amounted to “all out.” The problem was that all out was 35 second 200s. Yeah, you read that right. I was red-lined at what I had been doing 3-mile intervals at a month earlier and there was nothing I was holding back.

Couple my speed problem with an inability to recover and poor sleep (not by choice) and I concluded that it was likely a hormone level issue. I had blood work done that confirmed that, yes, my testosterone level had plummeted to the normal level of a 65 year old man! I'm not a doctor, but that isn't good at all.

I talked with my coach and we decided I must have overworked when my body was still fighting infection and more down time was in order. This wasn't an issue of not working hard enough, but working too hard for my body to adjust.

For a week, I slept in and did very short, easy runs. As I felt better, I added a longer run here and there. Once my runs were about regular volume, I added difficulty of loops. The mountains were calling me. I was running up canyons every day. These were hard runs only in the inclines and durations I was running. There's nothing like a 15 mile run where my average was over 7:30 pace and my heart rate would read “explosion” if I were wearing a monitor. I made it a point of covering 1,000 vertical feet on my morning runs.

I spent 3 weeks running ridiculous terrains on my “easy” days. I got strong! This was the extent of my “speed” work I ran before Peachtree Road Race last week. Since intensity of speed kept sputtering out, I applied my college coach's view that hills are speedwork in disguise. Somehow, it worked!

I wound up running Peachtree only 9 seconds slower than last year. That sounds like backward progress but I digress. Last year, I was solidly running speed intervals going into Peachtree. I was geared up and ready to roll. This year, I am on a strength foundation with anaerobic but no turnover. I'm pretty happy to be starting out some speed now with THIS as my mark of where base alone can bring me. It's been since college last time I entered a training block feeling this aerobically and anaerobically strong. I'm looking forward to seeing how that progresses now going into Bix 7 at the end of the month, and beyond that into fall marathon season.

Like the saying goes, “all roads lead to Rome.” With turnover, speed intervals being a weakness for me to get faster, I've chosen the hill strength as speed approach to take me through 2014. This sport is one grand experiment for everybody and I'm just out to find my best journey.

Run on, dear friends. For any specific questions, follow me and comment on my twitter account @runPRizzo. I hope this is a good start to a great racing season for everyone.