Do I need to slow down to run faster?

docsallen

Hello-

Race season is almost here! I am training for a half and I am (and have been for a while now) fine with the distance. It helps motivate me to have a new goal for running so I decided to train for time. So I found a nice plan online which includes long runs, tempo runs, sprints, and always 2-3 easy runs/week. One of my "problems" is that I run negative splits and I have more trouble running slower than my normal pace for the longer runs. For the most part, I run on the treadmill. Except for the days that I include sprints in my workout, when I run, I slightly change the speed and run at a certain pace for 1-3 minutes and then increase it until I hit my "maximum" and then start a new cycle. My first mile is always a warm-up mile (10:40 min/mile) and the remaining miles are done at a ~9:10 pace. The plan I found recommends that my long runs be done at a > 10min/mile pace and then eventually > 9:30 min/mile pace. I find it hard to run at a slower pace than my normal routine. In your experience is it necessary to run the long runs at a slower pace? My sprints are not as fast as those recommended in the training plan I found. Besides practice, is there anyway to get faster?

Thank you for any advice!

-Shannon

scottb81

I think you answered your own question in the next to last sentence.

My sprints are not as fast as those recommended in the training plan I found.

If you run your easy runs too hard then you are too tired to do your speed sessions properly. If you run them too slow you will not get the training benefit you are supposed to be getting.

Also, you don't get any real training benefit from running your easy runs too fast. Easy runs have two reasons for being. One is to build aerobic capacity which is done with runs in the 70 to 80% max HR range. The other is to conserve energy for the hard run days.

In the long term you will improve more if you run your easy runs easy and your hard runs hard instead of the easy runs harder and the hard runs easier.

docsallen

I do my sprint workout on Monday - after 2 days of rest. My long run is the last day of the week so I know that I am not tired for the sprint. I will check my HR when I do the easy runs. My problem is that it takes more of an effort on my part to do my long runs at a slower pace - or at least it feels that way. Maybe if I practice running slower, it will get easier. When I say that I hit my "maximum", it's not really the fastest that I can run - it's the fastest that I can run and still able to talk/answer questions. Thanks for the aerobic capacity explanation - I did not think of it that way.

SteveTries

With your long runs do you know whereabouts your heart rate is? Are you at threshold or below?

docsallen

I am going to check my HR with my runs this week. I haven't done it since I first started running last year and before I lost the weight so I am not sure what my ranges are. Today was my 6 mile, easy run and my heart rate was 132-151 - I think that is right where it should be. I did modify my cycles so that my maximum pace was a bit slower. The more I think about it, the more I realize I tweaked the online program to fit my schedule in a other ways - I also run M-F and do not run on the weekends. I will check my heart rate and keep my pace slightly slower. Even though I did not feel like I was pushing myself, maybe I had just gotten used to it.

scottb81

Somewhere right around 140 should be your easy run. You can go lower if you are tired or doing a run for recovery or a bit higher if you are feeling good. If you are keeping it in the range 132 to 151 then you are probably doing it right.

Tempo runs are probably around 20 beats higher. Speed workouts under around minutes cannot usually be measured by heartrate because it takes around 2 minutes for the heartrate to ramp up. Those you should do by pace.