The most frequently asked question that I get from women is "how can I run faster?" Well, there are lots of books on this question, and every month Runner's World seems to have a new workout that is being touted as the secret to success. You can even find lots of recommendations on the Internet.

A few years ago I attended a pre-race seminar in Florida with Frank Shorter where he observed: "I haven't written a book on how to train because my book would be less than one page long. It would say alternate hard and easy days, have one long run a week, and do at least one session of speedwork a week."

These are good guidelines. My recommendation is that most women should concentrate on the last point: to get faster you have to run faster. I know that this is an old adage, and a little trite, but it is true, and it can be easy. Women runners with full lives don't have to be on a track with a stopwatch. They can simply do brief periods in a run where you run faster, or use local weekly 5K races as "the speedworkout," or just run faster down a hill, or run faster to the next tree, but if you want to run faster there is no substitute for "speedwork" in some form.

The most fun option is to use local weekly 5K races as your speedwork. Do this every week or at least twice a month. Pick out specific competitors to chase who are just a little faster than you are so that you will get continual feedback on your progress. Enjoy the pre-race and post-race activities as a social event. Several years ago I recommended this approach to a new woman runner in Binghamton, NY. Six months later her times had improved so much that she wrestled the Triple Cities Runner of the Year honors away from me. Her only "speedwork" was weekend races.

Can't go to a race every week? OK, how about incorporating a little speedwork into your workouts. No, not at a track, that's too boring for most of us and frankly if you're not used to the track it can also be an easy way to get injured. In addition, lots of us don't happen to live right next to a nice Olympic-sized track. Once a week, just go out for your normal run and then after you are good and warmed up, pickup your pace. Run harder for a minute, or to the next block, or from one telephone pole to the next. Pick whatever scenario fits the area where you are running. Repeat this at least four to six times with a slow jog to rest between hard short runs. Do not run so hard that you are out of breath but do run harder than your normal pace. Regardless of your normal pace, just doing this once a week will assist in lowering your race times.

One workout that I do is "45/15": 45 seconds of running fast followed by 15 seconds of slow jogging. When I am training for a marathon I start early in the process doing this "a few" times and then I increase the number of "repeats" as the weeks go by. I find that the number of minutes that I can continue this workout is an excellent measurement of how fit I am becoming, and hence how well I will be able to run the marathon. If your goal is to run faster in longer races you may want to try this approach.

Warning: a little speed work goes a long way. Do not get caught up in the idea that if a little speedwork helps, then a lot of speedwork will help a lot. It doesn't work this way. A lot of speedwork leads to being injured and not being able to run at all! At the very most, keep you speedwork to one session a week in training and one race.

Realize that what you are doing with speedwork is to teach your legs to "turnover" faster, and your body to be comfortable when this happens. Another good approach to accomplishing this is to use a hill. Pick out a 100 to 200 meter hill that is not too steep; just enough slope to have gravity give you a little help. Jog up the hill and then go quickly down the hill concentrating on increasing your leg turnover. Don't overstride. Just relax and let gravity do the work. Then repeat the process: jog up then run down four to six times.

If you normally run in a "rolling" area you can do the same thing by using the hills in the middle of your normal route. After you are well warmed up, run down the next 100-200 meter hill and then jog up the following rise. I'm lucky that I have a loop near my home where there is an area where I can get in several "repeats" just by taking advantage of the terrain.

Another warning: If you are prone to knee trouble using the hills for speedwork may not be a good idea because hills tend to put more pressure on your knees. Also never forget that moderation is the key: a maximum of one speedwork session and one race a week.

The great thing about these approaches to speedwork for women is that they are so easy to incorporate into your busy schedules. There truly is no magic involved in getting faster. Commitment to a day of slightly faster running will definitely reap rewards. Remember your only competition is the clock and yourself.

As a final note I highly recommend keeping a running log. It only takes a couple of minutes to record how long you ran, how you felt, weather conditions, and the type of course. During my first few years I never kept a log and I truly wish I had so that I could go back and see what type of training I did before certain races. Believe me I often refer to my library of logs from the last 10 years. Logs are definitely of value in seeing what works for you over the years and comparing times of specific races from one year to the next.

The speedwork will help lower your times, and right now we are lucky to be coming into the fall of the year when the cooler weather will also help. See, you will be getting FASTER.

Carolyn Mather, R.N., Ph.D., is the Coordinator/Coach of the Atlanta Renegades, a Women's Racing Team. She lives and runs in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Georgia. She can be contacted via e- mail at Carolyn Mather

Our thanks to Mary Lou Day of the Running Journal for providing this wonderful women's running column. Every issue the Running Journal has a column devoted to women's running.