Running - how fast did your speed improve?

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  • DX2JX2
    DX2JX2 Posts: 1,921 Member
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    Don't bother with intervals or dedicated speed work until you're regularly running ~20 miles per week. The best way to get faster at 'shorter' endurance events like a 5K is to run easy for longer.

    Get yourself to the point where you are regularly running slow 10Ks a couple of times per week. It'll take 3-4 months to really build up your cardio base but once you get used to that routine I think you'll find your 5K times will have made a pretty significant improvement. Then you can add speedwork to your routine as a 'second wave' of improvement.
  • T1DCarnivoreRunner
    T1DCarnivoreRunner Posts: 11,502 Member
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    IMO, some people are just faster than others. In theory, intervals at or just above your lactate threshold should help improve VO2 Max, which should increase speed. I've been trying this strategy off and on for a couple years and have seen some benefit for shorter runs, but my longer run (marathon and longer) average pace hasn't improved at all.

    So this goes back to my "some people are just faster than others" theory. I know someone who recently ran a half marathon for the first time. Even in training, she didn't run that much distance... and she was sick during training, so trained for probably 4 weeks total in the 8 weeks prior (and pretty much nothing else before 8 weeks prior). She still came in at 1:58 - faster than my half marathon PR. How? It wasn't training. It's just that she is a faster person than me. Think what could happen if she actually trained properly!

    OK, so now that I'm done with comparisons - the question is how you can get faster than your current speed (ignoring everyone else). The scientific answer is intervals. But my experience is that only works for shorter distances. If you are looking at longer distances, my experience is that intervals don't help as much. If that is your goal, perhaps there is something for endurance to help keep you at higher intensity for longer distances/time. If you find that answer, let me know.
  • deannalfisher
    deannalfisher Posts: 5,600 Member
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    i've read most of this thread, but i wanted to comment - honestly i didn't see any improvement in my running times until i started adhere'ing to Matt Fitzgeralds 80/20 running plans (just this past year) - you do 80% at Z1/Z2 and then 20% at the Z3-Z5 - he talks a bit about Zone X and Zone Y - which are when people get caught up in the not slow enough for low intensity, but not high enough for high intensity work - which can be detrimental to training

  • Silent_Soliloquy
    Silent_Soliloquy Posts: 237 Member
    edited May 2019
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    I'm new'ish to running and also interested in when the speed gains become incremental... so i have been tracking my own:

    January 24'th i started tracking my times ... i did 2 miles in 24 minutes on my first "timed run".

    by mid February i did 5K in 28:31 and 10K in 62:20

    mid march i did 5K in 26:45 and 10K in 54:30

    mid April i did 10 miles in 91 minutes (longest i've run)
    also mid April i did a 52:35 10K, my current PR.


    May 1 i PR'd my 5K at 24:10
    May 10 i tried "speed training" for the first time and did a 7:05 mile, and a series of sub 3:25 half-miles.
    Last night i hit 2:50/Km pace for 20 seconds, which, while more of a novelty, was a pretty decent sprint i thought (4:32/mile pace). did three 30-second speed drills all in the 2's (2:57, 2:50, 2:55 per Km)... was able to fully recover while running sub 6:00/Km pace, and even turned out a 4:19 8'th kilometer.

    i have a 5K race on may 18th, but it is a rough terrain trail, so time is a crapshoot. i will attempt to re-PR my 10K next week.
  • BrianSharpe
    BrianSharpe Posts: 9,249 Member
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    There's an old expression "Comparison is the thief of joy" which I think is very apt, especially for new runners. If you've only been running for a few months my suggestion would be to focus more on endurance and building aerobic capacity than speed. Running requires a lot of physiological adaptations and they take time.

    The good news is that a certain amount of speed comes just from running longer distances.

    FWIW I ran my first 5K race at 53 in Sep 2009 and my only goal was to finish under 40 minutes (which I barely did) the following year I ran is it 26:46.



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