Running improvement questions

remmus102

Hi, so I’m a beginner runner who’s been running about 5 days per week, 15 miles a week, at a pace of 8:30 per mile. I want to improve my muscle endurance and speed but I don’t know how. Any suggestions?

jlklem

I can send you a like to an amazing hour plus lecture from the worlds leading exercise physiologist...it's an hour and you need to watch the whole thing to get the compete picture.

But here is the basics

Volume matters

Spread volume out over 4...then 5...then 6 days...build up to 6 days a week of running. Slowly. No more than 10% time increases per week.

Start with 3 days a week. After a few weeks add the fourth day and so on.

Running tired is ok, running in pain is not.

Do not focus on speed yet. Build to 20-30 miles per week.

Do not worry about long runs yet. Equal distance runs are fine. Then add a mile to one of the runs one time in a week. Then next week add a another mile.

Basically a slow steady progression. To be able to get within 95% of your potential it's 60 miles per week

John

spiriteagle99

As stated above, add volume - more miles - but slowly. Do most of your runs slow and easy, at a conversational pace. At most, 20% of your miles should be fast, 80% easy. It is counter-intuitive, but running more miles, slowly, will help you get faster. Once a week, add a little speed. As a new runner, I wouldn't do a lot of formal speedwork, but you can do fartlek runs, where you just run fast for a short distance (i.e. to the next mailbox, the next corner, etc.) then run easy until you recover, then pick up the pace again for a short distance. The idea is to play with your paces. Learn new gears. When you're running about 25 miles per week, one day a week you can start doing some structured speedwork, either 1/4 mile intervals at a hard pace, or 20-30 moderately paced tempo miles. Make sure to warm up well before doing any speedwork - I usually do 2 miles of warmup, at least and a mile or so of cool-down, which is why you don't want to be doing it when you are still only running 3 miles at a time. Not warming up will lead to muscle strains. One thing that helps to build both strength and speed is to run hills. "Speedwork in disguise."

jlklem

Seem like good info but speed is the number on way to get hurt. Just an FYI

dewd2

How long have you been running?

I'm guessing all your runs are short? 5 Days and only 15 miles is not the way to do it if you want to get faster. You should incorporate at least one long run in each week. Work the last run of the week up to 7+ miles (do this gradually to reduce injury risk). Also, running 5 days a week is not necessary. Running 5 days a week at top speed is counterproductive.

Perhaps the best idea I have offer is to get a 10k or half marathon training plan for beginners and follow it. Even if you don't run the race, your 3 mile pace will get faster.

Good luck.

TavistockToad

dewd2 wrote: »

How long have you been running?

I'm guessing all your runs are short? 5 Days and only 15 miles is not the way to do it if you want to get faster. You should incorporate at least one long run in each week. Work the last run of the week up to 7+ miles (do this gradually to reduce injury risk). Also, running 5 days a week is not necessary. Running 5 days a week at top speed is counterproductive.

Perhaps the best idea I have offer is to get a 10k or half marathon training plan for beginners and follow it. Even if you don't run the race, your 3 mile pace will get faster.

Good luck.

OP, listen to this fella

stanmann571

jlklem wrote: »

I can send you a like to an amazing hour plus lecture from the worlds leading exercise physiologist...it's an hour and you need to watch the whole thing to get the compete picture.

But here is the basics

Volume matters

Spread volume out over 4...then 5...then 6 days...build up to 6 days a week of running. Slowly. No more than 10% time increases per week.

Start with 3 days a week. After a few weeks add the fourth day and so on.

Running tired is ok, running in pain is not.

Do not focus on speed yet. Build to 20-30 miles per week.

Do not worry about long runs yet. Equal distance runs are fine. Then add a mile to one of the runs one time in a week. Then next week add a another mile.

Basically a slow steady progression. To be able to get within 95% of your potential it's 60 miles per week

John

Ignore 90% of this.

There's no reason to go over 20MPW unless you want to run a 10K or a marathon.

There's no reason to run more than 4 days per week... ^^^^



Once you get to 20-25 MPW, start incorporating a longer day and a faster day. The fast day can be strict intervals, or fartleks, or just a shorter quicker run, the long day should be slower than your usual pace.


As above, you need 4-5 miles per session in order to incorporate pace work.

Oh, and at 15 MPW and 830 pace, you're far from a beginner.

jjpptt2

dewd2 wrote: »

How long have you been running?

I'm guessing all your runs are short? 5 Days and only 15 miles is not the way to do it if you want to get faster. You should incorporate at least one long run in each week. Work the last run of the week up to 7+ miles (do this gradually to reduce injury risk). Also, running 5 days a week is not necessary. Running 5 days a week at top speed is counterproductive.

Perhaps the best idea I have offer is to get a 10k or half marathon training plan for beginners and follow it. Even if you don't run the race, your 3 mile pace will get faster.

Good luck.

Agreed.

KarenSmith2018

Do you have a watch or some way of tracking your pace through your runs? This has helped me massively as I am a competative person. So at first I wanted to target a sub 8 min mile pace for most of my miles, then for all miles including the hilly section etc. This pushed me harder on my run. In addition to this Park Run really helped increase my speed as each week I wanted to try and beat my previous. It's the same course so you learn where you can push harder etc. Lastly a running club would probably help. It can be hard to push yourself by yourself. Running clubs generally have coaches and will have people at a range of speeds so you can push yourself to keep up with that person etc.

BrianSharpe

dewd2 wrote: »

How long have you been running?

I'm guessing all your runs are short? 5 Days and only 15 miles is not the way to do it if you want to get faster. You should incorporate at least one long run in each week. Work the last run of the week up to 7+ miles (do this gradually to reduce injury risk). Also, running 5 days a week is not necessary. Running 5 days a week at top speed is counterproductive.

Perhaps the best idea I have offer is to get a 10k or half marathon training plan for beginners and follow it. Even if you don't run the race, your 3 mile pace will get faster.

Good luck.

Yep (I can't believe that some people thought this was woo......FYI, woo isn't short for woohoo, it's short for bad advice / nonsense, you know like the garbage Gwyneth Paltrow & Dr Oz spew)

mengqiz86

- 3 key workouts every week: 1. tempo run at threshold pace, 2. speed work at 5k pace, 3. long run. Each of these workout improves a specific physiological aspect of your body. Use McMillan calculator to set the right pace for each workout.
- In between these 3 workouts.. do easy runs, weight train, or cross train.
- Sign up for a race

DX2JX2

mengqiz86 wrote: »

- 3 key workouts every week: 1. tempo run at threshold pace, 2. speed work at 5k pace, 3. long run. Each of these workout improves a specific physiological aspect of your body. Use McMillan calculator to set the right pace for each workout.
- In between these 3 workouts.. do easy runs, weight train, or cross train.
- Sign up for a race

I would think this is way too much for a runner only handling 15 miles a week at current. Tempo and long run would absolutely be fine. Speed work would be too much IMO. OP will benefit more from easy volume than from speed work at this point.

TavistockToad

BrianSharpe wrote: »

dewd2 wrote: »

How long have you been running?

I'm guessing all your runs are short? 5 Days and only 15 miles is not the way to do it if you want to get faster. You should incorporate at least one long run in each week. Work the last run of the week up to 7+ miles (do this gradually to reduce injury risk). Also, running 5 days a week is not necessary. Running 5 days a week at top speed is counterproductive.

Perhaps the best idea I have offer is to get a 10k or half marathon training plan for beginners and follow it. Even if you don't run the race, your 3 mile pace will get faster.

Good luck.

Yep (I can't believe that some people thought this was woo......FYI, woo isn't short for woohoo, it's short for bad advice / nonsense, you know like the garbage Gwyneth Paltrow & Dr Oz spew)

actually woo is for both of those things...