Running - how fast did your speed improve?

luckycleo777

So I have been running about 2-3 months on the treadmill, and now the weather outside is super nice so I can do ‘real’ running I use my watch to track my pace and HR, and I can run outside at the same pace as I’d been training on the treadmill. Yay.

So anyway, I’m curious as to how quickly different people improved their ‘starting’ running pace. I’m currently running around a 13’45” per mile average for 3 miles and I refuse to be ashamed!!! But I would like to improve over the summer and was wondering how long it took different people to improve. Did you easily shave off 30 seconds in one month? Did it take you 6 months? I do long runs, intervals, etc, so I know the ‘how’.... just want to avoid getting discouraged!

Thanks in advance for sharing!!

pierinifitness

To run faster you have to train running faster. Try intervals. Run faster for, say, 2-3 minutes then jog or walk recover for, say. 1-2 minutes. Repeat taking into account your allotted running time and abilities.

As you improve,increase faster running time, decrease recovery time and/or workout duration according to your goals.

Do a search for strucured program for better details. The experts here will chime in with their stellar advice.

autumnblade75

I ran my first 5k in November of 2011 with a time of 40:43.6 and kept improving until June of 2017 when I ran a PR of 27:12.1. I've had a rough couple of years with various injuries that kept my training mileage lower than I'd like, and I'm currently averaging about a 10 minute mile. I am hoping to shave that down enough to run a sub-30 5k in about 3 weeks, but I'm not counting on it. It took 5 years to get down to a 10 minute mile - and then it seemed easy enough to get a single 8 minute mile... but I never really got to a point where I could run more than one of those in a row... yet.

I looked at the Qualifying Times for Boston recently. I'll need to keep improving for the next 15 years if I expect to qualify at 60. If they don't keep raising the bar. I don't even know why that's a goal for me. It's still something to shoot for, anyway.

emmamcgarity

I started c25k in February and finished the 9 week program on pace. I have continued running and am following the advice of not adding more than 10% mileage to each week. Everything I’ve read indicates that I shouldn’t worry about speed until I have an injury free 6-9 months running base. I run at a conversational pace. I have noticed that as my endurance is building I can hold a conversation at slightly faster paces. My current average pace is 12:22. Those are mostly 2 mile runs. I am just over 50 years old.

luckycleo777

pierinifitness wrote: »

To run faster you have to train running faster. Try intervals. Run faster for, say, 2-3 minutes then jog or walk recover for, say. 1-2 minutes. Repeat taking into account your allotted running time and abilities.

As you improve,increase faster running time, decrease recovery time and/or workout duration according to your goals.

Do a search for strucured program for better details. The experts here will chime in with their stellar advice.

If you'd read my whole post instead of just skimming it you'd see that I'm already doing intervals - the post was purely to see how long it took different people to improve.

lorrpb

Do a bridge to 10k program. As you increase distance, your 5k time will improve. That’s the tried and true advice.

luckycleo777

autumnblade75 wrote: »

I ran my first 5k in November of 2011 with a time of 40:43.6 and kept improving until June of 2017 when I ran a PR of 27:12.1. I've had a rough couple of years with various injuries that kept my training mileage lower than I'd like, and I'm currently averaging about a 10 minute mile. I am hoping to shave that down enough to run a sub-30 5k in about 3 weeks, but I'm not counting on it. It took 5 years to get down to a 10 minute mile - and then it seemed easy enough to get a single 8 minute mile... but I never really got to a point where I could run more than one of those in a row... yet.

I looked at the Qualifying Times for Boston recently. I'll need to keep improving for the next 15 years if I expect to qualify at 60. If they don't keep raising the bar. I don't even know why that's a goal for me. It's still something to shoot for, anyway.

Thank you for the reply and for sharing your experience!!

autumnblade75

luckycleo777 wrote: »

pierinifitness wrote: »

To run faster you have to train running faster. Try intervals. Run faster for, say, 2-3 minutes then jog or walk recover for, say. 1-2 minutes. Repeat taking into account your allotted running time and abilities.

If you'd read my whole post instead of just skimming it you'd see that I'm already doing intervals - the post was purely to see how long it took different people to improve.

When I started, I raced every run. I didn't start improving until I stopped trying to "train running faster" and started running further, but slower. I keep trying to remind myself that slower is better, but I have still not broken the habit of trying to run faster than I can sustain. Yesterday, even, I wanted to run 5 miles, but had to stop at 3, because I was pushing the limits on my heart-rate - because I wanted the data to reflect a speed I just don't have, right now.

I really need to focus on building base miles again. The best way to do that is to run slower. I know it in my head. It's hard to remember while I'm running. The ego gets in the way.

dewd2

luckycleo777 wrote: »

pierinifitness wrote: »

To run faster you have to train running faster. Try intervals. Run faster for, say, 2-3 minutes then jog or walk recover for, say. 1-2 minutes. Repeat taking into account your allotted running time and abilities.

As you improve,increase faster running time, decrease recovery time and/or workout duration according to your goals.

Do a search for strucured program for better details. The experts here will chime in with their stellar advice.

If you'd read my whole post instead of just skimming it you'd see that I'm already doing intervals - the post was purely to see how long it took different people to improve.

Which is actually are really, really, really bad idea. You've been running a few months. Not enough time for your body to adjust to running. Before I had a clue I would practice for a 5k race by running lots of 5k's as fast as I could (at least once a week). I never got faster. I did get hurt.

Run longer. More time on your feet is the key. Save the speed work for when your body is ready for it (at least a year). Find a 10k plan or maybe even a half marathon plan for beginners. Then try running a fast mile or 5k.

Good luck.

Eddie_Ice

It took me quite a bit of time to improve speed but to be fair I was just getting the distance down for a long while. Once I got my first gps watch and could actively track my pace I learned quickly where I was comfortable. I started timing my runs for speed at a three mile run and worked up from there. When I could get 3 miles in the time I wanted I added a mile. I am quite sure there are way better ways of doing this but that's what worked for me. Biggest tip I can offer is know the pace you want to set and stick with it, I CONSTANTLY come out the gate too fast and burn myself before I settle into the actual pace I need. It may feel slow to start with but do your best to start and end at a similar pace.

pierinifitness

My apologies @luckycleo777, missed that detail. My experience is that my running speed progresses according to my expectations with a training approach aligning with my expectations.

Beginner improvements are easier than for seasoned runners. As someone who has returned to running, my expectation is shaving one minute per mile pace off my time for a 6-mile run in the next 10 weeks and I’m training with this in mind.

Djproulx

dewd2 wrote: »

luckycleo777 wrote: »

pierinifitness wrote: »

To run faster you have to train running faster. Try intervals. Run faster for, say, 2-3 minutes then jog or walk recover for, say. 1-2 minutes. Repeat taking into account your allotted running time and abilities.

As you improve,increase faster running time, decrease recovery time and/or workout duration according to your goals.

Do a search for strucured program for better details. The experts here will chime in with their stellar advice.

If you'd read my whole post instead of just skimming it you'd see that I'm already doing intervals - the post was purely to see how long it took different people to improve.

Which is actually are really, really, really bad idea. You've been running a few months. Not enough time for your body to adjust to running. Before I had a clue I would practice for a 5k race by running lots of 5k's as fast as I could (at least once a week). I never got faster. I did get hurt.

Run longer. More time on your feet is the key. Save the speed work for when your body is ready for it (at least a year). Find a 10k plan or maybe even a half marathon plan for beginners. Then try running a fast mile or 5k.

Good luck.

^^^THIS. Way too early for speed work. You'll get better results with building volume.

OP: To answer your original question: When I restarted running in 2011, my starting pace was hard to measure, since I could only run for a few minutes before needing to walk. My trainer happened to be a running coach, so he had me start to build distance slowly. In the course of a few months I was able to run a 5k distance without needing to walk. I continued to build distance, moving up to 8-9 mile runs. The second year, I moved to half marathon distance. This focus on building volume, with NO speed or interval work, brought my 5k time down significantly. I only added speed work after completing my second year of running.

exhilen

I agree with worrying less about intervals at the moment and building volume.

To answer your question though, when I first started running, I was in the 12:00-13:00 min/mile range. It took over a year to get that down to about 10:50-11:20 with a few under 10 mins/mile. However, it should be noted that this was after I trained for a half and had at least a base mileage of ~20-30 miles a week. Everyone is different though. I had to really work to get to that point. Some people find that it comes more naturally.

spiriteagle99

I did C25k on the treadmill. When I finished, I could do 5k in about 31 minutes. About a month later, I ran my first 5k race in 29 minutes (race day adrenaline!) Two months later I did a race in 27:30. I lost a couple of years after that dealing with various injuries. After recovering and rebuilding my base I ran a 5k in 27:05. 18 months later 25:36. I don't race much and switched from 5ks to HMs and marathons. Over the past four years, my marathon times went down from 4:21 to 4:15 to 4:05 to 4:01:30. My HM went from 2:08:53 to 2:00:50 to 2:00:40 to 1:54:28 to 1:53:05 in the same 4 years. So I made progress, but slowly. Given my age (62) I'm find with that.

nowine4me

I run the same 5k every year. Started at 45 mins, then shaved off 5 mins a year. The past two years have been exactly 30 mins and this year I’m training to hit 27 mins.

Domonicdave

After a 15 year drought from running (kids), i picked running back up in September 2018. Man i was slow. I have a 4.23 mile circuit and went from walking some of it to running non-stop with a 11:30ish pace in about 3 months. I’ve run that dumb circuit so many times, i know every crack in the concrete. I kept saying to myself, base, base, base. In April, i started increasing my distance and I can now run 12 miles without stopping. Last Thursday I did the old base track with a 9:30 pace...So, my experience is 7 months of base, then start working on speed by increasing your distance. I’m 48.

RunnerGirl238

I have been running for 10 years. Started with an 11 minute mile for a half marathon and 10:15 for a 5k.

I'm down to averaging 9:30 for a half and (fingers crossed)8:50 for a 5k. My fastest single mile has been 8:30.

10 years, 2 babies , a lot of moves, no big injuries.

I run 4 or 5 days a week (tempo, a speed day or two, a long, slow run, and a junk mile/check in run) lift 3 or 4 of those days, and take one dedicated rest day.

Long slow runs help me get faster. No doubt. I also add strides at the end to practice fast turn over with tired legs. Inthink that helps me.

I have never followed a real training originally, but I bet, if Ihad, i would have gotten faster quicker. One thing that helps my speed is consistent weight- I can see a huge difference between 135 and 145 for me.

My major goal is to break a 2 hour half. 1:59:59.

TravisJHunt

I've been on and off again with running for the last 6 years and to be honest I'm still as slow as ever. But that's good enough for me. I'm a 13.10 minute mile timeframe when not racing, I get a little better in competition as I'm stubborn and will really push it. Sucks to be slow but I figure its better than doing nothing at all.

tirowow12385

All my times are 5k sat the same route over a period of time and these are just some of the 5ks i jog, theres too much to list but ill just list most of my PRs

June 06, 2017- 21'21"
June 24, 2017- 17"28"
July 20, 2017- 14'35"
August 06, 2027-15'47"
September 23, 2017- 14'11"
October 28, 2017- 13'51"
November 28, 2017-12'42"
December 3, 2017- 12'34"
January 24, 2018-12'10"
February 07, 2018- 12'29

Around this time i took up a c25k program so i could learn how to run at 180 paces per minute as i wanted to get faster

April 03, 2018-10'39"
May 03, 2018-09'59"
June 06, 2018- 09'18"

I took up lifting around this time so i could get stronger and didnt run for PRs as i was lifting more.

Start of 2019 which was about 6 months into heavy lifting, ive gotten more muscles and huskier but more powerful especially in my legs
January 08, 2019-09'09"
February 05, 2019-08'49"
February 25, 2019-08'10"
March 13, 2019-07'47"
April 11,2019, 07'30"
May????

Was i ever discourage? Yes, was i ever ashamed? Yes! Especially when middle age women would brag about running a 12 minute per mile 5k and i struggled at 13, that used to boggle my mind. Did i ever give up? Hell no.

I just ran 5ks, tried my best and lost weight which really really helped alot besides lifting.

Ill probaably get faster, just gotta keep at it. You can get faster too.

Commander_Keen

luckycleo777 wrote: »

So I have been running about 2-3 months on the treadmill, and now the weather outside is super nice so I can do ‘real’ running I use my watch to track my pace and HR, and I can run outside at the same pace as I’d been training on the treadmill. Yay.

So anyway, I’m curious as to how quickly different people improved their ‘starting’ running pace. I’m currently running around a 13’45” per mile average for 3 miles and I refuse to be ashamed!!! But I would like to improve over the summer and was wondering how long it took different people to improve. Did you easily shave off 30 seconds in one month? Did it take you 6 months? I do long runs, intervals, etc, so I know the ‘how’.... just want to avoid getting discouraged!

Thanks in advance for sharing!!

I guess for me, to help you with that answer would by run on a treadmill to see what your pace is, then start increasing it, over time. so if you run 5.0 m/h, try 5.1 or 5.2 etc. and eventually your time will start to decrease.

twatson4936

In the beginning you should see a quick improvement. Once improvement slows then you have to adjust your training. I ran a 5k in 27 minutes. I then started training to see if I could get under 25 minutes. I trained for 8 weeks and my 5k went down to 24:15. I am now training to see if I can get below 24. My training has 400m, 800m and 1000m intervals. I do the 400m at 7:04 pace, the 800m at 7:30 pace and the 1000M at 7:54 pace. I recover at 10:55 pace until my HR is down close to zone 2. Along with the intervals I run very slow easy miles. This is also important. I run my race this Sunday so we will see how much improvement I made. You can improve very quickly, but keep in mind that your heart will improve faster than your legs.

DX2JX2

Don't bother with intervals or dedicated speed work until you're regularly running ~20 miles per week. The best way to get faster at 'shorter' endurance events like a 5K is to run easy for longer.

Get yourself to the point where you are regularly running slow 10Ks a couple of times per week. It'll take 3-4 months to really build up your cardio base but once you get used to that routine I think you'll find your 5K times will have made a pretty significant improvement. Then you can add speedwork to your routine as a 'second wave' of improvement.

T1DCarnivoreRunner

IMO, some people are just faster than others. In theory, intervals at or just above your lactate threshold should help improve VO2 Max, which should increase speed. I've been trying this strategy off and on for a couple years and have seen some benefit for shorter runs, but my longer run (marathon and longer) average pace hasn't improved at all.

So this goes back to my "some people are just faster than others" theory. I know someone who recently ran a half marathon for the first time. Even in training, she didn't run that much distance... and she was sick during training, so trained for probably 4 weeks total in the 8 weeks prior (and pretty much nothing else before 8 weeks prior). She still came in at 1:58 - faster than my half marathon PR. How? It wasn't training. It's just that she is a faster person than me. Think what could happen if she actually trained properly!

OK, so now that I'm done with comparisons - the question is how you can get faster than your current speed (ignoring everyone else). The scientific answer is intervals. But my experience is that only works for shorter distances. If you are looking at longer distances, my experience is that intervals don't help as much. If that is your goal, perhaps there is something for endurance to help keep you at higher intensity for longer distances/time. If you find that answer, let me know.

deannalfisher

i've read most of this thread, but i wanted to comment - honestly i didn't see any improvement in my running times until i started adhere'ing to Matt Fitzgeralds 80/20 running plans (just this past year) - you do 80% at Z1/Z2 and then 20% at the Z3-Z5 - he talks a bit about Zone X and Zone Y - which are when people get caught up in the not slow enough for low intensity, but not high enough for high intensity work - which can be detrimental to training

Silent_Soliloquy

I'm new'ish to running and also interested in when the speed gains become incremental... so i have been tracking my own:

January 24'th i started tracking my times ... i did 2 miles in 24 minutes on my first "timed run".

by mid February i did 5K in 28:31 and 10K in 62:20

mid march i did 5K in 26:45 and 10K in 54:30

mid April i did 10 miles in 91 minutes (longest i've run)
also mid April i did a 52:35 10K, my current PR.


May 1 i PR'd my 5K at 24:10
May 10 i tried "speed training" for the first time and did a 7:05 mile, and a series of sub 3:25 half-miles.
Last night i hit 2:50/Km pace for 20 seconds, which, while more of a novelty, was a pretty decent sprint i thought (4:32/mile pace). did three 30-second speed drills all in the 2's (2:57, 2:50, 2:55 per Km)... was able to fully recover while running sub 6:00/Km pace, and even turned out a 4:19 8'th kilometer.

i have a 5K race on may 18th, but it is a rough terrain trail, so time is a crapshoot. i will attempt to re-PR my 10K next week.

BrianSharpe

There's an old expression "Comparison is the thief of joy" which I think is very apt, especially for new runners. If you've only been running for a few months my suggestion would be to focus more on endurance and building aerobic capacity than speed. Running requires a lot of physiological adaptations and they take time.

The good news is that a certain amount of speed comes just from running longer distances.

FWIW I ran my first 5K race at 53 in Sep 2009 and my only goal was to finish under 40 minutes (which I barely did) the following year I ran is it 26:46.