increasing speed?

Options
chattychick
chattychick Posts: 90 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
So I am trying to increase my pace while running, hoping to finish a half marathon with a respectable time

My normal pace is in the 11:30 mile pace. I know, I know. Pokey.

I run 6 days a week. On Mondays and Wednesdays I do my normal pace for 4 miles.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays I have personal training. On Thursdays at personal training my trainer does HIIT. But in an effort to do even better, I show up a half an hour before training and run two miles on the treadmill. I sort of do "balls to the walls" (for me, anyway) and run the whole 2 miles at a 6.3 (a 9:31 minite mile). By the end I am huffing and puffing and want to die.

Do you think I should increase that? Or do you think I should wait til that becomes comfortable before increasing.

Replies

  • arc918
    arc918 Posts: 2,037 Member
    Options
    Since you are already doing HIIT, I would trying upping your mileage on your other runs. Take those 4 mile runs up to 5 then 6 miles for a few weeks and I bet that will help.
  • rob_v
    rob_v Posts: 270 Member
    Options
    Not to sound "koy" but to run faster - you need to run faster. Increasing your step turnover and Interval work is what you need to increase your speed. I don't know what your doing is the best way to achieve the speed increase you are after.
    Talk to your trainer about it, im sure he can give you some great interval workouts to help.
  • LoriLoves2Run
    LoriLoves2Run Posts: 80
    Options
    Posting this here too just to put the Jeff Galloway method out there. I ran a 26 mile training run using his method this past weekend and I seriously only lost a toe nail (this is not rare for me). I don't know if I'd like to do an entire mary this way but it works for training.

    Increasing your endurance is key to increasing your speed in my xp. If you can run 9:31 for two miles and increase that for three miles, then in time you'll be able to push yourself at a higher pace for those first two miles. HIIT, from what I gather, is for time limited workouts. If you're looking for endurance training, then you need to allot the time to increase your stamina. Remember when you started running? Could you run for a mile at any pace? I know I sure couldn't. Now you can run two miles at a 9:31. There is a method that Jeff Galloway (an Olympic marathon runner) has created that uses the run, walk, run ratio. It has even helped advanced marathon runners increase their finish times by as much as 15 minutes. That's pretty darn impressive for someone who already finishes in under three hours. Watch this YouTube video when you have time (I just listened to the audio while I ran) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQfOMrEEmF4 . Also check out his website, as it details a lot of information. He will also answer your emails in a timely manner if you have any questions. Practice makes perfect. Feel free to PM me with any questions. I am far from an elite runner though. I'm very average but I've been running for about 11 years.
  • scottb81
    scottb81 Posts: 2,538 Member
    Options
    Read this article "McMillan's Six-Step Training System" for a condensed version of everything you need to know about the physiology of running and how to improve. http://www.mcmillanrunning.com/index.php/articlePages/latest

    Edited to add: At this point your best investment would probably be to run more miles to increase your aerobic capacity. The two mile fast runs you are doing are also good and are essentially a tempo run at high end aerobic.
  • LoriLoves2Run
    LoriLoves2Run Posts: 80
    Options
    ^^^^^ This!

Categories