Improving Run Time/Improving Run Distance

I would say do the run/walk program (C25K?) and try do the run portions with your ideal (but realistic) min/mile pace. You may need a running app to monitor this.

Nothing has helped my speed like lifting. Squats, lunges and deadlifts have taken more than a minute off my time.

Running further is the best thing I've done to help my distance, though IMO, it's as much mental as it is physical.

According to Runner's World, HIIT training increases speed. I have not tried it yet (but plan to next year) as my goal for this fall is distance and I've found a pretty comfortable and sustainable pace for myself.

http://www.runnersworld.com/running-tips/run-faster-with-high-intensity-interval-training

Highly recommend a training program:

One is free online Hal Higdon's - pick your distance:

http://www.halhigdon.com/training/

The other is a book and costs ~$12 on Amazon (very good; I'm using it and it was recommended to me by my marathon running friends)

Road Racing for Serious Runners

http://books.google.com/books/about/Road_racing_for_serious_runners.html?id=MFMCf_JVJeQC

Run stairs on your non-run days. I've been doing it the last few weeks & has help[ed my speed & endurance. I run up the stands & down the stairs,@ a football field, can really feel it when I'm running hills on my routes & my momentum is easier to keep up. : )

^^^ all awesome stuff. +1000 on couch 25k

after that, interval training.

I started lifting and did a little research on posterior chain. Most of my running pains have minimized thanks to squats, deadlifts, etc.

Not sure where you live and whether or not this is an option for you, but I am fortunate enough to live where it mostly is gently rolling terrain but not far from me is a big hill that has a neighborhood that has 3 routes up/down the hill and the main street outside the neighborhood has a sidewalk. The sidewalk is the toughest; it rises about 300' in a half mile. Inside the neighborhood the routes up are a little longer. Anyway, hill training allows you to work harder to maintain the same pace and after you have done that a few times it is easier to increase the pace when on more level ground. At least that is what I was told and my training experience seems to be bearing it out, though I am still on the slower side right now. But I think it will work if for no other reason than I believe it...

Running is the only I was ever gifted with (it doesn't require much coordination). If you want to improove your run times it isn't in the distance. It's nice to be able to run a long stretch, but it isn't going to pick up your pace. I do a lot of hill and interval training. If you can run for a half hour strait try doing this. Pick something you think is about 75-100 yards away and give run at a pace that will get your heart rate pumping. When you've reached that spot, run SLOW for about 200 yards (make it feel like a nice, slow REWARD for that fast run) and keep repeating the cycle. I like to do it this way, vs using a stop watch. I don't like staring at a clock and thinking "Ugggg, is this over yet!", Picking random spots helps make the run go faster and keeps it interesting.

Try running a coarse with a variation of hills as well. Yes, they aren't very fun, but if you push hard through them, they'll pay off! Doing this every few days, makes it easier to fly through the flat courses.

Good luck!

If you want to improove your run times it isn't in the distance. It's nice to be able to run a long stretch, but it isn't going to pick up your pace. I do a lot of hill and interval training.

I would disagree. I think that distance and total mileage is the biggest factor in your ability to improve your distance and pace. Show me a list of people and let me see each one's monthly mileage. I could pick the winner out of that list easy. It's most likely the one that puts in more miles consistently every month.

Intervals are nice but that's like adding the trim and moulding in once you have the house built. The structural part and the bulk of the house is the daily mile upon mile at an easy to moderately difficult pace.

As a few of the other posters here have said, you need to run more. Doing HIIT will give you a quick improvement, but it won't take you far. In order to run faster, you have to run more distance over time. This is the tried and true method that is accepted as the gospel by running coaches from the running store all the way up to Olympic coaches.

You can already run 30 minutes, so the C25K is too beginner for you. If you are currently running every other day, I would suggest you increase the time of 2 of your weekly runs. Go for 35 to 40 minutes on those and keep the other runs at 30. Do this for a few weeks, that cut back to all 30s, then start to increase a third run. Do 30, 35, 40, 35 one week. That type of thing. Work toward doing 4 runs a week, with two being 45 minutes, one being 60 minutes and the other being 75 minutes. Take a few months to get there. When you have conquered that, you'll be ready to post her asking for the next step.

Great advice here! I've read in a plethora of books - that running is what helps running speed and distance. The more you run the faster you get. Running longer, farther....and throw in sprints.

It has proved true for me.

The biggest help for me (and based on lots of reading on the topic) is the following:

To improve your pace, incorporate some interval training. Doesn't need to be anything fancy - alternate your slow jog with short periods where you run as fast as you can. You'll be AMAZED how big a difference this makes!

To improve your distance, add 10% to a long run each week and run this one at your slow pace.

I usually do one speedwork run, one long run, and then another run that is a little faster than my long run each week.

As a few of the other posters here have said, you need to run more. Doing HIIT will give you a quick improvement, but it won't take you far. In order to run faster, you have to run more distance over time. This is the tried and true method that is accepted as the gospel by running coaches from the running store all the way up to Olympic coaches.

You can already run 30 minutes, so the C25K is too beginner for you. If you are currently running every other day, I would suggest you increase the time of 2 of your weekly runs. Go for 35 to 40 minutes on those and keep the other runs at 30. Do this for a few weeks, that cut back to all 30s, then start to increase a third run. Do 30, 35, 40, 35 one week. That type of thing. Work toward doing 4 runs a week, with two being 45 minutes, one being 60 minutes and the other being 75 minutes. Take a few months to get there. When you have conquered that, you'll be ready to post her asking for the next step.

^ This. More running.

Miles and miles and miles of running will make you faster.

For one of your running workouts, do some speed work. (intervals or fartleks... I love saying "fartleks")

For another one, do some hill work.

Do one "long" run every week. Increase distance slowly (no more than 10% per week on your long run... same for total weekly distance)

Follow that one with a "recovery run" the next day (light pace, short distance)

wash, rinse, repeat.

haha you said fartleks :laugh:

Oh he really didnt mean it.