Lowering Run Time

torinoel14

Hi Everyone,

I am looking for any helpful tips on how to lower my 2 mile time quickly. Right now I stand at about 16:52, I need to be at 15:40. I mostly do 3 mile runs with one sprint day and one long run day. Thanks

ryno0618

How often are you running now?

And how quickly are you wanting to shave that 1:12 off your time?

Speed work involves doing high intensity intervals. I do 2 days of intervals each week. Usually 2-3 miles distance. For example, sprint for a minute, walk for 30 seconds, sprint for a minute, walk for 30 seconds on and on. But I fluctuate as I go with speed and time. So I will run anywhere from 45 seconds to 2 minutes and then slow pace by 50% or walk for 30 seconds to 1.5 minutes. I do this on the treadmill or around the track at the park keeping time on my heart rate monitor.

Also, running hills is a good way to build strength and endurance and speed.

A good all around running schedule is to run 4 or 5 times per week.
1 or 2 day of intervals
1 day of tempo run
1 day of long slow run
1 day of hills

arc918

My $.02 (based on the limited info available), you need to run more miles for all your runs. You don't have a big enough base to support speedwork.

torinoel14

Well normally I am a distance runner. My long runs range from 5-15 miles depending on if i am training for a race or not. I am capable of running long distances. I do three miles becasue It is a shorter distance and I can focus on speed. I think that 3 miles is an adequate distance for two-mile training. I also add a long run at the end of the week.

IronmanPanda

My $.02 (based on the limited info available), you need to run more miles for all your runs. You don't have a big enough base to support speedwork.

^^Arc beat me to it. If you don't have the base to add speedwork you're just going to end up injuring yourself.

ETA... just saw your post... what is your total weekly mileage? How long have you been running?

torinoel14

I have been running for two years. When I was training for my half-marathon about 2 months ago I was doing about 20-25 miles a week.

arc918

So tell us a little more about your goal run. How much time do you have until you need to run 15:40?

What are your PRs for 5K, 10K & half marathon?

IronmanPanda

Are you following any specific training plan? What does your weekly running schedule look like?

Natural

fartleks

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fartlek

arc918

fartleks

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fartlek

always a good call

jdjefferson

Do you run this timed 2-mile cold? That is, do you warm up at all? You could probably shave quite a bit of time with an adequate warm up.

For such a short distance I would focus on 200m and 400m repeats. Try 8-10 quarters @ around 1:55 with :45-1:00 rest between. Focus on recovery between intervals and keep your intervals consistent, timewise.

mikeyrp

Any kind of interval training / hill training is going to increase your speed.

You can also try exercises to increase you cadence (deliberately take shorter strides but maintain overall speed) and your stride length (the opposite) - put that back together and you get increased 'natural' speed.