How quickly do you gain speed?

joehempel
joehempel Posts: 1,543 Member
edited January 2 in Fitness and Exercise
I've been getting back into running over the past couple months, training for my 3rd Half-Marathon. (2nd official, one was a trail half that wasn't promoted as a half to keep entries down). I took about 4-5 months off this year from running and have been re-building.

Well over the past couple weeks I've noticed a drastic improvement in my time. Like almost a minute or more per mile, even PR-ing 5k time from 28:02 to 26:23.

Today I wanted to go for an easy run for a 7 mile distance, and throw in some trails to strengthen quads/glutes/core. So when I was done, and I was analyzing my run, to my surprise, with the exception of the trails or road/trail combo, my times were ALL under 9 minutes per mile! Even the last 3. Mile 5, 6, and 7. (7 might have gone just over 9, but my sock had dipped below my heel and I got a HUGE blister and had to stop .08 miles short of 7 miles, but ran the .92 miles in 8:20)

Not only did my time stay below 9 minutes a mile, I ran FASTER with each mile after the trails!

This all being said, I don't feel like I killed myself doing it, I just ran. It just kind of happened all of a sudden, and I wasn't sure if it happened like that lol.

I guess I'm wondering if I'm setting myself up for injury or something. I didn't TRY to run under 9, it just kind of happened.

Here's the link to my run, you can see where I entered trails and that's where my time dipped to over 9 and 10 a mile.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/234351027

Replies

  • McBully4
    McBully4 Posts: 1,270 Member
    V = D/t
  • joehempel
    joehempel Posts: 1,543 Member
    smh. ask a serious question get a smartass answer. thanks for not helping
  • meshashesha2012
    meshashesha2012 Posts: 8,329 Member
    before i started playing rugby i trained as a sprinter and we never gained speed solely from running. speed comes from explosive power you get from your posterior chain.

    so cross train doing things like box jumps, deadlifts, squats (front and back), push presses, snatches, etc
  • joehempel
    joehempel Posts: 1,543 Member
    before i started playing rugby i trained as a sprinter and we never gained speed solely from running. speed comes from explosive power you get from your posterior chain.

    so cross train doing things like box jumps, deadlifts, squats (front and back), push presses, snatches, etc

    Hills are all around my area, and they kill my legs lol. So that's where I'm guessing the speed is coming from. Reading up on it running hills do as much as those...but I'm going to incorporate some of what you've said, or do some P90X Plyometrics again
  • meshashesha2012
    meshashesha2012 Posts: 8,329 Member
    yeah plyometric stuff definitely helps, also do some runs where you force yourself to take longer strides more powerful strides

    i dont know how to explain it well without showing, but it ends up looking like you're running in slow mo. that would be killer on the hills.

    the opposite side of that is practicing taking quick choppy steps with high knees. you can alternate that with long stride.

    this reminds me that i'm supposed to be working on a personal challenge to reduce my 1 mile time
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