Running advice

halfmill1

I would love advice on how to improve my 3 mile run time. Currently I run 3 miles once a week and I run 1.5-2 miles straight on the treadmill 2-4 times a week. The 3 miler is always done outside and takes me about 10.30 per mile. On the treadmill I can run solid with out stopping at a 6.8 pace which makes the two miles just under 18 minutes. I also walk on the treadmill at a 4.4 pace about five times a week for 1-3 miles. I know to increase my speed I should run farther not faster but is there any other advice. It really bugs me that my pace is so much better on the treadmill than outside. Even if I just run one mile or two miles outside it’s never as good as on the treadmill.

girlinahat

Run further.

Also, running on a treadmill is not quite the same as running outside - you are not having to propel yourself forwards so much as stopping yourself from being propelled backwards.

You could try adding fartlek sprints into one of your weekly runs - short random sprints followed by an easy pace, but really the best way to improve pace is to run further.

andysport1

When people say run further they should also give you some idea of what distance, I would suggest 5 miles once a week, everything else 3 miles or less, on one of your 3 milers try running slowly for 1.5 (warm up) then 200 metre sprints, 200 metre recovery jog and repeat + cool down & stretch

firef1y72

Firstly 10:30/mile would be a great time for me, I'm a plodder and prefer to run long distances. But there are several things I've done to increase my speed (finally broke the 10min mile down from a start of 15min).

1. A running streak, you run a minimum of a mile every day (you can still almost get a rest day in by running first thing one day and then last thing the next). This also helped with my endurance as I pushed through even on days when I was suffering from DOMS
2. Hill sprints. Choose a challenging hill, run up as fast as you can, gently jog back down, rinse and repeat. Not only does it make running up a hill at normal pace easier but make running faster on the flat possible. (Apparently my PT is going to take this up a level today and I'll be running up stairs, eeek)
3. Strength train. Make those leg muscles stronger by lifting heavy weights.

HTH

TavistockToad

I agree with run farther, and do all your running outside if it's your outside run that you want to improve.

MeanderingMammal

halfmill1 wrote: »

I know to increase my speed I should run farther not faster.

There you go. I'd also say that most of your training volume should be slower. And increase the amount of outside running.

Get yourself up to running 5K/ 3mi for times per week, then start increasing one of those runs beyond that up to 10K.

With respect to speedwork, I'd disagree with the points above. As your distances are barely warm ups at the moment adding sprints or hill sprints are an effective way to injure yourself. Personally I wouldn't be designing speed training for someone until they're able to run continuously for an hour.

DX2JX2

At your current distances, speed work will not help as much as will adding easy mileage to your routine. In fact, the biggest impact of speedwork at this point might be to increase the chances of injury.

Treadmill running is inherently easier/more consistent than running outside because of lower impact, no weather, lack of wind/road resistance, no slope variation, etc. It's just the way things are. Your treadmill times won't necessarily be comparable with your outdoor run times. One common piece of advice is to increase the incline by a percent or so in order to make it a little bit harder and closer to the effort of running outdoors but even with that it'll never be a perfect substitute.

A quick heads up - when runners refer to 'pace' they generally mean minutes per mile (for example, 9 minutes per mile). MPH is generally referred to as your speed (for example, 6.8 miles per hour). Runners generally prefer to talk in terms of minutes per mile rather than miles per hour because it's more relatable.