Running-when does the speed come?

I am not sure, but the fitter and stronger I get, the faster I go, I have knocked a whole 9 mins off my original 5km time set a few years ago...that is just by changing the way I run (I am minimalist now and find I run faster and lighter and with less pain). I run with no heel strike and it does increase efficiency and decrease the stress on your legs and feet. But to each their own, we all run very differently.

Speed work (interval training both running and cross training on bicycle and with rowing) and strength work (heavy weight lifting) have also helped my times, although I am not that concerned with beating any records per se, I have noticed a big change in speed this year.

As someone said earlier, up the pace and you will go faster, you have to set the goals to beat in order to beat them!

p.s. running up hills (or a steep incline on the treadmill) helps too, I finally am able to sprint a full 400m up a 10% incline this year (last night in fact)...

Impressive heart rate! I'm coming up on my runniversary as well. (After a 20+ year break).
I started at 1mile at 12min (above 170)
now I do 4-6 miles (at about 170)
and do about 9:30 minute miles outside and 7:45 inside.

For me "speed" (it's all relative at my age!) came when I let my heart rate go back up to 170.
In the gym, I can keep it around 150, but outside it still goes sky high.

On another front: my most recent RESTING heart rate was 55. Down from 85.

edited to add: I feel like I can focus on speed when I run on the track.

I'd say the easiest way to get speed workouts in is to get a mile warm-up in. Then pick a point and push yourself harder to that point (I wouldn't say all out sprint but definitely faster). So say two light poles away, then jog to the next pole and repeat. Another one is to go to a track...Mile warm up then "sprint" the straightaways and jog the curves. Or do a fast lap, slow lap, rinse and repeat. :-) These were workouts I did in High School and really should do again.

Congrats on being able to go for two hours straight! I have never done that myself I agree with everyone else. You don't get naturally faster you have to push yourself to get there. For me, the treadmill was the best way for me to up my speed. I use to run 15/16 minute miles myself and now I do under a 10 minute mile. I simply had to just keep gradually pushing myself. When I felt comfortable at a pace and my breathing felt steady, I would creep up another .5 on the treadmill. I went from 4.0 to 6.5 doing it like this. It took me a while but it really worked. I also did a lot of interval running where I did bursts of sprinting. Basically just challenge yourself to go faster. It will feel tough but you are definitely going to see that little by little you can handle the faster pace. Hope that helped!

Push your heart rate more.
Map your run before hand, know some distance markers - this road to that road is 3/4 miles, etc. Pick the pace you want to hit, and push yourself to cover those know distances in that pace.

i.e. you map out a course that does half mile loops around a park. You decide your goal is 12:00 miles. Aim for 6:00 loops. Even better, note the half way points on said loops and shoot for 3:00 quarter miles. A track works good too, but I have problems getting bored if I'm on a track for more than half a mile.

If you have a GPS watch, you can try and use it's instant pace for the same thing.

There is no such thing as natural speed increase. You have to push.

Horse hockey.

OP, have you run a 5K recently? How have your 5K times improved. Race times will be the best indicator of fitness improvements.

In your case, I would start by adding two elements to your weekly runs. Don't change the mileage (or time) that you are doing now, just add these things into your current routine.

Strides - Once a week, at the end of one of your runs, do short bursts at as fast a pace as you can run. Start by doing maybe 4x40 meters (or 5 to 7 seconds). Do that for 4 weeks, then go to 6x60 for 4 weeks, then 8x80, etc until you are at 10x100m.

Tempo - An earlier poster suggested this, and I will expand on it. A tempo pace run is generally done at a pace which you can sustain for about an hour. For faster runners, this may be their HM pace. For slower runners, this may be their 10K pace. The classic Daniel's Tempo (see Jack Daniels - "Daniels Running Formula") is to do a 20 minute segment at this pace. So, if you plan to run for an hour, do 30 minutes at your easy pace, then 20 minutes at your tempo pace, then 10 minutes at your easy pace.

I would add these elements (and only these elements) for about 6 months. This will get your body accustomed to moving faster and will allow the appropriate tissues to adapt to the new levels of stress. After 6 months of this, you'll notice an improvement in your overall pace and you'll be prepared to do some more high intensity workouts, including hills, intervals and fartleks.

Yep it's all about the intervals baby! Now you've got that amazing endurance in your legs switch down to a shorter distance and works those intervals. I got a Nike MP3 with Alberto Salazar the Nike running coach giving instruction but that took minutes of my times and I've then applied that pace to distance over a period of time.

So what I did was drop to 40 mins of running, 10 min warm up at your current pace, then 3 minutes faster (now this is the bit I struggled with, we aren't talking full on sprint or you won't do the 3 minutes, we are talking something that feels faster than normal but you can do for 3 mins but not 4) and then 3 minutes back at the normal pace........ do that 4 times plus a 10 minute cool down at your normal pace. I'd do this twice a week and then 1-2 times a week I'd just run for 40 mins as quick as I could and my times just dropped like lead. Once I'd done this for a few months I started gradually adding distance to the straight runs but keeping the intervals during the week too. I've now translated faster pace to my 10k and 1/2 marathon pace from originally being a run/walker like you..... read my blog entry.

Go to the Runner's World website and search for articles on speed work. You need to be doing some higher speed intervals to get your speed up.

This.

Endurance comes with base work... speed comes with speed work.

Go to runnersworld.com and create a training plan. You can run a mile as fast as you can, and use that as your "race time" to develop the plan. The site should give you more details on warm up, how much effort, etc. for the mile run. Do this on a track, or somewhere outside.

I run intervals...it has increased my speed dramatically.

And, there's something about being DRIPPING wet when you're done. :drinker: