kar328 wrote: »

hkristine1 wrote: »

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KAR328 – congrats on your sub 10 minute mile… even if was difficult, it’s always good to push yourself. If you’re interested, the way I’ve found success in decreasing my per mile time is doing interval training. If I’m used to running 10 min/mile, run that pace for .9 miles, and then run .1 in 9:30. Do that a few times, and then increase to two intervals of .1 at 9:30 time, and then slowly just increase either the number of intervals or the length of the interval, etc. Pretty soon, you’ll be able to run half a mile at the 9:30 pace, etc.

Thanks. I'll work on that. I was doing about 11:30/mile before my 5K 3 weeks ago, then noticed afterwards, when running just one mile that I was going in the 10 min range. Did 10:12 one day, then decided to push it and see if I could go under 10. Somehow it worked, and I lived to tell about it. I did 10:18 just now and it's definitely easier than it used to be. Not sure if I should be working on speed or distance, the 5K is the most I've ever run distance wise.

Not sure that you have to pick one over the other, so long as you're patient. I have gotten off the running bit since I moved in August, but what was really working for me up until then was adding .5 miles to my "long run" every 5th week, and in the other weeks, working on pace. So, when I first started, I was running 1 mile as my "long run" (I was starting after an injury so starting very slowly). I ran that distance 4 weeks in a row (with shorter runs during the week). The first week, I didn't care about my pace - I just wanted to go the distance. Then, from there, I tried to get a little faster each week. After I had run that distance 4 times, I increased my long run to 1.5 miles, and did that 4 times with the same pattern of not caring about pace and then slowly increasing speed. By the time I stopped running in August, I was up to 6 miles as my long run, and I was running that distance at about 9:45 pace, but on my shorter mid-week runs, I was able to run 3 miles at 8:30 pace (which, for me, is SUPER fast) doing the interval training. I was alternating every .5 mile at 8 min pace and then .5 mile at 9 min pace.

All that to say, I think that you don't have to pick between pace/distance - you can put together a plan that incorporates both.

Now, I need to get back into running. I'm not sure where I need to go back to, to start... I'm thinking I'll start with a 2 mile run and see how that goes, and not worry at all about pace.

didn't add any miles today, but moved my *kitten* off... took my son to a big indoor water park, and we played for about 6 hours. I'm EXHAUSTED.