How to increase my speed...

BenderFitness · August 2012

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.

WendyTerry420 · August 2012

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 ^^^^^^^^^^

lorierin22 · August 2012

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?

barncat29 · August 2012

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.

JamesGGAnderson · August 2012

+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.

CarsonRuns · August 2012

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.

lorierin22 · August 2012

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...

shadowkitty22 · August 2012

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.

kimmyj74 · August 2012

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

Thanks

meerkat70 · August 2012

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.

How to increase my speed...

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