Speedwork

Our club is starting speedwork sessions for relative newbies.
I was wondering if anyone has trained beginners before in a speedwork session. Obviously not total beginners, but people new on the speedwork scene. Any sessions I should do with them? How much rest and how many reps should they do?
When should I step it up, or advise them to go on to the Intermediate sessions? Any advice/book reccomendations would be gratefully received, thanks!

Fartlek, is great as you run hard when you you want then recover & start again.

Hills, because if you find a grassy loop you can run up & down for say 5min before moving onto the next hill.
Then the faster runners might do 10 hills the slower 5 but everybody stays together & it more social.

Paired loops is also good. You divide the group into 2 halves, those who are confident and those who aren't, or fast and slow..........depends on your choice! You pair them up one from each group. You need a track or a short circular loop. The fast runner starts off running fast in clockwise round the loop, their partner the slow runner starts off in an anticlockwise direction at an easy jog. When they meet they swap speeds but turn round and run back the way they have come. So now the slow runner is running fast in a clockwise dierction and the fast runner is recovering at a jog in an anticlockwise dierction. Repeat 3-10 times.

This works well for a mixed ability group, and noone knows exactly how far or at what speed you're all runnning, so a good intro to faster running too.

Okay guys, thanks! These sessions will help us out.