running

Contrary to what many people may believe, breathing hard (whereby you and others close to you can hear you gasping for air) is not necessarily a sign that one is having a productive run.

As has been mentioned, about 80% of your training runs (as a general rule) should be done at a conversational pace. This 'conversational pace' is defined as being able to carry on a conversation (read: talking in full sentences with someone, without gasping for air) with someone. This 'conversational pace,' whereby your heart doesn't feel like it is beating hard nor can you or someone next to you hear you breathing as you talk, helps one to build what is often referred to as the aerobic base.

What (some people) may not know or may forget at times, is that the body's ability to consume and transport oxygen through the body improves at a faster rate (as a general rule) than the joints, ligaments and bones. And when a person experiences improvement of their oxygen transport ability, he or she often times will (wrongly assume) that the body (as a whole) has improved at the same rate and thus able to withstand the stress of running faster, as well as farther. And this errant belief is what often triggers injuries that are related to the 'too much too soon' mindset.

If you are new to running, it is best to take it very slow with the distance and pace of your running.

If you want to learn how to run faster, you first have to learn how to go slow.

In my opinion, new runners should focus on being consistent with their training, slowly building aerobic base, and concentrating on having the proper form, (as best they can) instead of getting caught up in trying to run faster each session etc.

If one is mindful to incorporate the aforementioned on a consistent basis, improvement in speed will be one of the benefits. The kind of improvement I am broadly speaking of does not happen in a week or two etc. It takes months upon months.

Once you have built up a good foundation, then hill repeats, fartleks and other workouts that help to build speed can be slowly incorporated into your weekly running.

Injuries happen long before we actually feel any physical pain. By the time we start feeling pain, the damage done has multiplied, and the recovery time is often increased. Remember that the next time you feel the urge to want to run faster when you are just starting out.