How to increase my speed...
shadowkitty22
Posts: 495 Member
So a few weeks ago I completed the C25K program. I'm currently doing the walking portion at a 3.5 and the running (which is really more of a power walk/jog for me) at a 4.2. I'd really like to work on increasing my speed but I'm unsure of how to do it. Should I restart the program and just alter my speeds to where I'd like to be? Or should I just continue jogging as I am (30 straight minutes) but just slowly increase my speed every couple of weeks? As in start going at a 4.3 the next week and then once I feel comfortable maintaining that speed bump it up again?
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Replies
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Run longer, run farther. Increasing the amount of time/distance that you run will make your body more efficient and you will naturally get faster.0
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in my opinion the most effective way to build speed is to run intervals one day per week.
Find a track somewhere. Every high school has one. Then you should run a number of 300 meter sprints (a good number is 10 of them). This means you run 3/4 of the way around the track as fast as you can. Then you wait 60 seconds to recover and then run another 300 meters and afterward wait another 60 seconds and then start again.
One other variant is to run a sprint 3/4 of the way around the track and then walk the last 1/4. You might want to start of with 5 or 6 sprints and then add one each week.
You should only do this once a week. The other running days you go for distance at your normal pace. Within a month you will see a significant change in your pace. Good luck0 -
I am a big proponent of interval training, but I don't think that sprinting is always the best choice. A beginner will likely find it more enjoyable and effective to do intervals at "threshold"--a hard effort just slightly slower than 5K race pace, or a hard effort that is still controlled--than to do all-out sprints. You can usually do more volume at that intensity and there tends to be better carryover into your everyday training. That, and some squats and lunges.0
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in my opinion the most effective way to build speed is to run intervals one day per week.
Find a track somewhere. Every high school has one. Then you should run a number of 300 meter sprints (a good number is 10 of them). This means you run 3/4 of the way around the track as fast as you can. Then you wait 60 seconds to recover and then run another 300 meters and afterward wait another 60 seconds and then start again.
One other variant is to run a sprint 3/4 of the way around the track and then walk the last 1/4. You might want to start of with 5 or 6 sprints and then add one each week.
You should only do this once a week. The other running days you go for distance at your normal pace. Within a month you will see a significant change in your pace. Good luck
Before the intervals will do you any good, you have to have the aerobic base to support the work, which is generated by lots of slow, easy, conversational pace running. If you don't have the base, you will only get marginal gains from the intervals before quickly hitting a plateau.0 -
I'm with Carson, true speedwork is a waste until you have built up your endurance.
What you need is more miles, more miles and more miles - you will get faster or your money back!0 -
I have only been running for about 8 months, and I agree with run longer, run farther! I am up to 12 miles for my longest run, and can now comfortably run 6 mph on shorter runs - faster if it is a race (I did 5 miles in 48 min recently). I have tried some interval training, but I think I am still at the stage where the long runs are benefiting me most. Just keep an easy pace for those longer runs - it really will benefit you immensely and you are less likely to injure yourself.0
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I agree with arc and Carson. Speed will come as your body gets more efficient and fit. Just run...run...run!!!0
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First off, Shadow Kitty, great job on your weight loss! 70 pounds is a lot of weight to lose. I"m not sure what increases your running speed, but I do know if you shave your all your body hair off supoossedly you can swim faster. That wouldn't work in this case, but I still thought it was interesting enough to share
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Train with a weight vest, then during race day, run without the weight vest.0
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I'm in a running club - worth joining one for the advice. I'm at about the same level as you and my weekly schedule is
1 - 4 miles in my own pace (slow)
2 - 1.5 miles fast (as fast as I can anyway)
3 - 2.5 miles medium pace - not too hard for 2.5 miles
4 - 3 miles a bit slower than 3 but a bit faster than 1
The speed increase is from 2 - the idea is I'm pushing my system to its maximum to improve the way my body processes oxygen. The long runs are there to increase my endurance. Endurance and speed are loosely related but just running longer won't get me faster it will just allow me to run longer.
The programme gradually adds distance (mainly to one long run with starts to streak ahead in distance) and I will end up turning the number 3 run into a fast one as well
I've done this before and they started me on intervals about 4 months from now to make sure my body is up to it. Once I started these there are many ways of getting there - I know a really steep hill I can sprint up - lovely jubbly - if I try now though I'm likely to injure myself (even if I don't want that to happen) so Its best to take it reasonably easy.0 -
The way I'm currently doing it is this:
Day 1 intervals
Day 2 easy run between 3 and 5 miles at a sustainable pace
Day 3 Tempo run, shorter distance at the pace to which you wish to improve
Day 4 off, or do something low impact, swimming, cycling or some light resistance training, up to 60 min
Day 5 easy 2 miles
Day 6 long run, 5 or more
Day 7 off
It's working great for me. But if a slow run maxes your heart rate, I would stick to light runs until your hr comes down a bit.0 -
in my opinion the most effective way to build speed is to run intervals one day per week.
Find a track somewhere. Every high school has one. Then you should run a number of 300 meter sprints (a good number is 10 of them). This means you run 3/4 of the way around the track as fast as you can. Then you wait 60 seconds to recover and then run another 300 meters and afterward wait another 60 seconds and then start again.
One other variant is to run a sprint 3/4 of the way around the track and then walk the last 1/4. You might want to start of with 5 or 6 sprints and then add one each week.
You should only do this once a week. The other running days you go for distance at your normal pace. Within a month you will see a significant change in your pace. Good luck
Before the intervals will do you any good, you have to have the aerobic base to support the work, which is generated by lots of slow, easy, conversational pace running. If you don't have the base, you will only get marginal gains from the intervals before quickly hitting a plateau.
...and you could well end up injured which will screw everything up for you :-)0 -
Train with a weight vest, then during race day, run without the weight vest.
This is just a bad idea. The extra weight just increases the chances of getting injured.0 -
Train with a weight vest, then during race day, run without the weight vest.
This is just a bad idea. The extra weight just increases the chances of getting injured.
Besides I like to think of my body as its own personal weight vest. I started off this year 70 pounds heavier and with each week I'm shedding a couple of pounds here and there. But yeah, I wouldn't actually run with added weights.
Thank you for the suggestions so far everyone. If it makes any difference at all, I currently prefer to run on a treadmill as I hate heat and the coolest it gets right now is 75 and that's at about 5 am and I can't go running then because my husband has to leave for PT and we have two young children. I'm liking the idea of combining the endurance runs and the speed interval runs into my weekly routine. I guess I'll just have to see what works for my body. All I know is that while I don't yet "LOVE" running, my body does frequently tell me on my off days that it's looking forward to my next run. Haha0 -
The long runs are there to increase my endurance. Endurance and speed are loosely related but just running longer won't get me faster it will just allow me to run longer.
That's how I thought until I increased my mileage farther than I ever have this year and ran most of those miles at an easy pace (conversational). I added speed work back in last week and I have definitely gotten faster while I wasn't doing it. Lots of slow running will develop your aerobic system. Then you can run faster at the same effort level. I run faster now at an easy effort than I ran at a hard effort before I upped my mileage. I broke 40 miles for a week for the first time this week and I'm setting personal bests at multiple distances even while running mostly at an easy pace. Today I ran 9 miles total with 4 half-miles at a fast pace and it was my fastest 9 miles yet even though 7 of them were at a conversational pace.0 -
The long runs are there to increase my endurance. Endurance and speed are loosely related but just running longer won't get me faster it will just allow me to run longer.
That's how I thought until I increased my mileage farther than I ever have this year and ran most of those miles at an easy pace (conversational). I added speed work back in last week and I have definitely gotten faster while I wasn't doing it. Lots of slow running will develop your aerobic system. Then you can run faster at the same effort level. I run faster now at an easy effort than I ran at a hard effort before I upped my mileage. I broke 40 miles for a week for the first time this week and I'm setting personal bests at multiple distances even while running mostly at an easy pace. Today I ran 9 miles total with 4 half-miles at a fast pace and it was my fastest 9 miles yet even though 7 of them were at a conversational pace.
Testify! :happy:0 -
I finished C25 in January. At the time I was probably 'running' at about 4.5mph, three times a week. (13 mpm) I did exactly as carson, tappae and others have described, I added mileage steadily, increasing my distances, and slowly increasing frequency too. My shorter runs are now 6 miles, my long runs are always over 10miles. In terms of your question, the most noticeable shift is in speed. I am still very heavy for a runner (which slows me down), but I'm much faster than I was, with most of my short runs coming in at under 11mpm. This is still pretty slow for most people, but I'm sure you can see what an increase it represents in speed, over a relatively short period of time. And excitingly, I now get just a teensy bit faster all the time.
I didn't start interval work until I'd built up some secure mileage - I started adding intervals in about 8 weeks ago. I also started doing tempo runs at about the same time. But to reduce your risk of injury, you want to make sure your legs are good and strong before you start working with fast intervals.
So yeah, as a fairly recent C25 graduate, I'd agree with these very experienced and seasoned runners (who do generally know *exactly* what they're talking about.... ) Run longer. Your speed will come naturally as your distance increases.0 -
Oh and OP, you're *definitely* right about the impact of weight on training and on speed. I know I speed up very rapidly in phases where my weight loss is good.0
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Add hill work. Keep your running pace the same, but make it up hill and then walk down to recover. Repeat. I've been told on some runnig forums and running friends that hills are the best way to build speed. (Plus when you hit the hills in a race they aren't so bad.)0
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Wanna run faster? Enter a 5k. You'll be surprised how much more you push yourself in a race environment!
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I agree with the other posters. Keep doing what you're doing, and your body will become more efficient at running. You want to build your endurance and blood volume so your body can utilize oxygen more efficiently. As this happens you will naturally speed up. Because you are working out on the treadmill you can increase your speed as it becomes easier for you. You want to be working out at a pace where you can still talk, but it feels like an effort. Try increasing your speed (just a little bit) and see how your body responds.
Good luck! You will definitely get there. When I started running I hated it, and could barely go 2 blocks without walking. Now I love it, and can go out and do 10 miles if I feel like it, and have put up some good 5K times. Just focus on small goals, and keep pushing. 0 -
Run longer, run farther. Increasing the amount of time/distance that you run will make your body more efficient and you will naturally get faster.
This ^^^^^^^^^^0 -
in my opinion the most effective way to build speed is to run intervals one day per week.
Find a track somewhere. Every high school has one. Then you should run a number of 300 meter sprints (a good number is 10 of them). This means you run 3/4 of the way around the track as fast as you can. Then you wait 60 seconds to recover and then run another 300 meters and afterward wait another 60 seconds and then start again.
One other variant is to run a sprint 3/4 of the way around the track and then walk the last 1/4. You might want to start of with 5 or 6 sprints and then add one each week.
You should only do this once a week. The other running days you go for distance at your normal pace. Within a month you will see a significant change in your pace. Good luck
Before the intervals will do you any good, you have to have the aerobic base to support the work, which is generated by lots of slow, easy, conversational pace running. If you don't have the base, you will only get marginal gains from the intervals before quickly hitting a plateau.
So what is a good base? How many miles per week or per run would be a good base to have before starting interval training?0 -
Interval training can be helpful. Warm up at your normal speed for about 5 min. then run a little faster , like 4.5mph for 1 min, then recover for a couple minutes then repeat 4-5 times during the remainder of your routine. Next week try increasing your baseline speed by 0.1mph.0
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+1 for lots of slow running before adding intervals. They say speedwork is like the icing on the cake, but unless you're running 35-40 miles per week you don't even have the cake. Build up slowly and run as many days per week as you can. You'll get faster despite not running fast, then when you stop making gains or don't have time to run more, start adding some intervals and harder runs in. There's a reason elite runners run 120miles per week.0
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in my opinion the most effective way to build speed is to run intervals one day per week.
Find a track somewhere. Every high school has one. Then you should run a number of 300 meter sprints (a good number is 10 of them). This means you run 3/4 of the way around the track as fast as you can. Then you wait 60 seconds to recover and then run another 300 meters and afterward wait another 60 seconds and then start again.
One other variant is to run a sprint 3/4 of the way around the track and then walk the last 1/4. You might want to start of with 5 or 6 sprints and then add one each week.
You should only do this once a week. The other running days you go for distance at your normal pace. Within a month you will see a significant change in your pace. Good luck
Before the intervals will do you any good, you have to have the aerobic base to support the work, which is generated by lots of slow, easy, conversational pace running. If you don't have the base, you will only get marginal gains from the intervals before quickly hitting a plateau.
So what is a good base? How many miles per week or per run would be a good base to have before starting interval training?
I would aim for somewhere around 25 miles per week for about 3 months before embarking on a program that contains intervals. Now that doesn't mean that you have to do 100% of your running at conversational pace, but try to keep at least 90% of it that way. You can incorporate some strides once a week where you might do 40 to 60 meters at a fast pace. Repeat this 4 to 6 times with a minute or two of easy running between each one. Maybe do a half mile of a 4 mile run a little faster, once a week. Break it up a little bit. The idea is to do the bulk of it easy until your legs are strong enough to handled the rigors of true interval sessions.
Then, as you get stronger, you'll still have blocks of training where you will be working primarily on building aerobic base, along with periods where you build strength, periods where you build speed and then periods where you peak and race. It's all cyclical.0 -
in my opinion the most effective way to build speed is to run intervals one day per week.
Find a track somewhere. Every high school has one. Then you should run a number of 300 meter sprints (a good number is 10 of them). This means you run 3/4 of the way around the track as fast as you can. Then you wait 60 seconds to recover and then run another 300 meters and afterward wait another 60 seconds and then start again.
One other variant is to run a sprint 3/4 of the way around the track and then walk the last 1/4. You might want to start of with 5 or 6 sprints and then add one each week.
You should only do this once a week. The other running days you go for distance at your normal pace. Within a month you will see a significant change in your pace. Good luck
Before the intervals will do you any good, you have to have the aerobic base to support the work, which is generated by lots of slow, easy, conversational pace running. If you don't have the base, you will only get marginal gains from the intervals before quickly hitting a plateau.
So what is a good base? How many miles per week or per run would be a good base to have before starting interval training?
I would aim for somewhere around 25 miles per week for about 3 months before embarking on a program that contains intervals. Now that doesn't mean that you have to do 100% of your running at conversational pace, but try to keep at least 90% of it that way. You can incorporate some strides once a week where you might do 40 to 60 meters at a fast pace. Repeat this 4 to 6 times with a minute or two of easy running between each one. Maybe do a half mile of a 4 mile run a little faster, once a week. Break it up a little bit. The idea is to do the bulk of it easy until your legs are strong enough to handled the rigors of true interval sessions.
Then, as you get stronger, you'll still have blocks of training where you will be working primarily on building aerobic base, along with periods where you build strength, periods where you build speed and then periods where you peak and race. It's all cyclical.
Thanks! Looks like I have a lot of work to do before I need to worry about intervals...0 -
I finished C25 in January. At the time I was probably 'running' at about 4.5mph, three times a week. (13 mpm) I did exactly as carson, tappae and others have described, I added mileage steadily, increasing my distances, and slowly increasing frequency too. My shorter runs are now 6 miles, my long runs are always over 10miles. In terms of your question, the most noticeable shift is in speed. I am still very heavy for a runner (which slows me down), but I'm much faster than I was, with most of my short runs coming in at under 11mpm. This is still pretty slow for most people, but I'm sure you can see what an increase it represents in speed, over a relatively short period of time. And excitingly, I now get just a teensy bit faster all the time.
I didn't start interval work until I'd built up some secure mileage - I started adding intervals in about 8 weeks ago. I also started doing tempo runs at about the same time. But to reduce your risk of injury, you want to make sure your legs are good and strong before you start working with fast intervals.
So yeah, as a fairly recent C25 graduate, I'd agree with these very experienced and seasoned runners (who do generally know *exactly* what they're talking about.... ) Run longer. Your speed will come naturally as your distance increases.
Just had to let you know that you're amazing! 121 lbs lost and still going strong. It's good to know there's other way overweight women like me out there that have taken on the challenge of becoming a runner.
Once again, thank you to everyone for your advice on how to go about this.0 -
in my opinion the most effective way to build speed is to run intervals one day per week.
Find a track somewhere. Every high school has one. Then you should run a number of 300 meter sprints (a good number is 10 of them). This means you run 3/4 of the way around the track as fast as you can. Then you wait 60 seconds to recover and then run another 300 meters and afterward wait another 60 seconds and then start again.
One other variant is to run a sprint 3/4 of the way around the track and then walk the last 1/4. You might want to start of with 5 or 6 sprints and then add one each week.
You should only do this once a week. The other running days you go for distance at your normal pace. Within a month you will see a significant change in your pace. Good luck
Thanks0 -
Just had to let you know that you're amazing! 121 lbs lost and still going strong. It's good to know there's other way overweight women like me out there that have taken on the challenge of becoming a runner.
Once again, thank you to everyone for your advice on how to go about this.
Thank you. :-) There's a fair few of us about.0
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