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How to run faster
Several of the members of this community are relative beginners at running, and some have commented to me that they are concerned with how slow they are, or that they would like to be faster. As it happens, I used to be a fairly slow runner; now I'm a fairly fast runner, at least for my age group. For "Three Weeks for Dreamwidth" I will share some tips, based on conventional wisdom among experienced runners and borne out by my own experiences, on how to become a faster runner.
1. Run more. Practice at something makes you better at it. It might seem a little dubious to apply this rule to something that's not clearly technique-based (compared to e.g. rock climbing or a foreign language) but it works. The more you run, the more you develop running economy, and aerobic endurance, and muscular strength. And endurance really is the key: you can probably run pretty fast if you run all-out for one minute - the trick is to hold that speed for e.g. an entire 5K.
How much is "more"? When I used to run 12 miles per week, I thought 20 mpw was a lot. But 20 is barely enough to get good at running. A beginning runner targeting 5Ks might want to run 20-30mpw; a competitive 5K runner is probably running 40-60mpw, and a competitive marathoner as much as 60-90mpw! The amount of running you do should be balanced with your goals and your life. Do what works for you.
There are various formulas for safely increasing your mpw. I have personally found that it is easier for me to run shorter runs and more days per week than long runs only a few times a week. If you're doing a significantly longer run once a week, the distance of that run shouldn't be more than 1/3 your total mileage.
2. Run slowly. Yeah, I know: "But I'm already running so slowly!" But are you running at an easy pace? Are you able to carry on a conversation (brief sentences) while you run? Or do you feel at the edge of being out of breath all the time?
Running most of the time at an easy pace (as opposed to as fast as you feel you can cover that distance) is better for several reasons. First, it develops endurance, training your metabolism to efficiently supplement stored muscle glycogen (which you don't have a lot of) with stored fat (which you do have a lot of). Second, it gives you time on your feet - muscular fatigue is more a function of how long you are out there than how many miles you cover. Particularly for the longer races, it's more important to have some training runs of the duration you plan to be out there, rather than the distance covered by the race. And finally, it's easier to maintain higher mileage (see #1) without injury if those miles are slow and easy.
If you are running all your runs as fast as you can and you still feel slow, it might be psychologically tough to slow down even more. But if you slow your runs to a genuinely easy pace, eventually that pace will become faster for the same amount of effort. (Here is an article by Coach John Hadd about this kind of training.)
3. Vary your pace. Most of your running should be at easy pace - but not all of it. Formal speedwork is probably not useful (and is more likely to lead to injury) if you're running under 30mpw, but that doesn't mean that all of your runs need to be easy. If you are running 3-4 times a week, one run every week could be faster; if you are running 5-7 times a week you could do two faster workouts each week. If you're running only twice a week, see #1 first. :-)
The simplest thing to do is to run some of your shorter runs a little faster. After a warm-up of 10-20 minutes at your easy pace, speed up to a pace you can hold for the entire distance of your shorter run. Or, if you are alternating running and walking for your longer runs, run continuously for the shorter ones. This kind of running leads into what is called a tempo or LT (lactate threshold) run.
Another thing you can do is the occasional fartlek (speedplay). This is just running little sprints in the middle of a run as you feel like it - between light posts, for example, or every time a car goes by, or just at your whim. During the winter I did what I called "bare pavement fartlek" - I would jog slowly across snowpacked sections of the mostly-plowed paved trail, and then sprint across the dry sections.
Finally, a good way to develop more leg strength and power (if you're not weightlifting, or even if you are) is to do hill sprints. (This page is probably slanted more toward higher volume, more experienced runners; for most beginning runners I would suggest starting with 1 or 2 6-second sprints, and only doing it once a week regardless.)
4. Lose weight. All other things being equal, a given muscle mass can propel a lighter weight faster than it can a heavier weight. If you have excess fat, you will get faster as you shed it. For long-distance running (by which I mean everything other than track sprinting; a 5K is, technically, "long distance") muscle unfortunately does not carry its entire weight (so to speak), so optimal running weight is actually quite a bit under normal healthy weight. But again, balance is important, and if you are not a world-class elite runner (or likely to become one soon) it's better to be fit and healthy rather than skinny.
If you have questions, please ask! If you have become faster, please share your secrets! And if I screwed up somewhere, let me know.
1. Run more. Practice at something makes you better at it. It might seem a little dubious to apply this rule to something that's not clearly technique-based (compared to e.g. rock climbing or a foreign language) but it works. The more you run, the more you develop running economy, and aerobic endurance, and muscular strength. And endurance really is the key: you can probably run pretty fast if you run all-out for one minute - the trick is to hold that speed for e.g. an entire 5K.
How much is "more"? When I used to run 12 miles per week, I thought 20 mpw was a lot. But 20 is barely enough to get good at running. A beginning runner targeting 5Ks might want to run 20-30mpw; a competitive 5K runner is probably running 40-60mpw, and a competitive marathoner as much as 60-90mpw! The amount of running you do should be balanced with your goals and your life. Do what works for you.
There are various formulas for safely increasing your mpw. I have personally found that it is easier for me to run shorter runs and more days per week than long runs only a few times a week. If you're doing a significantly longer run once a week, the distance of that run shouldn't be more than 1/3 your total mileage.
2. Run slowly. Yeah, I know: "But I'm already running so slowly!" But are you running at an easy pace? Are you able to carry on a conversation (brief sentences) while you run? Or do you feel at the edge of being out of breath all the time?
Running most of the time at an easy pace (as opposed to as fast as you feel you can cover that distance) is better for several reasons. First, it develops endurance, training your metabolism to efficiently supplement stored muscle glycogen (which you don't have a lot of) with stored fat (which you do have a lot of). Second, it gives you time on your feet - muscular fatigue is more a function of how long you are out there than how many miles you cover. Particularly for the longer races, it's more important to have some training runs of the duration you plan to be out there, rather than the distance covered by the race. And finally, it's easier to maintain higher mileage (see #1) without injury if those miles are slow and easy.
If you are running all your runs as fast as you can and you still feel slow, it might be psychologically tough to slow down even more. But if you slow your runs to a genuinely easy pace, eventually that pace will become faster for the same amount of effort. (Here is an article by Coach John Hadd about this kind of training.)
3. Vary your pace. Most of your running should be at easy pace - but not all of it. Formal speedwork is probably not useful (and is more likely to lead to injury) if you're running under 30mpw, but that doesn't mean that all of your runs need to be easy. If you are running 3-4 times a week, one run every week could be faster; if you are running 5-7 times a week you could do two faster workouts each week. If you're running only twice a week, see #1 first. :-)
The simplest thing to do is to run some of your shorter runs a little faster. After a warm-up of 10-20 minutes at your easy pace, speed up to a pace you can hold for the entire distance of your shorter run. Or, if you are alternating running and walking for your longer runs, run continuously for the shorter ones. This kind of running leads into what is called a tempo or LT (lactate threshold) run.
Another thing you can do is the occasional fartlek (speedplay). This is just running little sprints in the middle of a run as you feel like it - between light posts, for example, or every time a car goes by, or just at your whim. During the winter I did what I called "bare pavement fartlek" - I would jog slowly across snowpacked sections of the mostly-plowed paved trail, and then sprint across the dry sections.
Finally, a good way to develop more leg strength and power (if you're not weightlifting, or even if you are) is to do hill sprints. (This page is probably slanted more toward higher volume, more experienced runners; for most beginning runners I would suggest starting with 1 or 2 6-second sprints, and only doing it once a week regardless.)
4. Lose weight. All other things being equal, a given muscle mass can propel a lighter weight faster than it can a heavier weight. If you have excess fat, you will get faster as you shed it. For long-distance running (by which I mean everything other than track sprinting; a 5K is, technically, "long distance") muscle unfortunately does not carry its entire weight (so to speak), so optimal running weight is actually quite a bit under normal healthy weight. But again, balance is important, and if you are not a world-class elite runner (or likely to become one soon) it's better to be fit and healthy rather than skinny.
If you have questions, please ask! If you have become faster, please share your secrets! And if I screwed up somewhere, let me know.
no subject
It's also reassuring to read that we should stick to an easier pace most of the time. I've tried pushing on speed a little bit recently, but my goodness it tires me out quickly. It's good to know I can keep that to one or two runs per week.
no subject
If you keep most of your runs easy, you should notice that easy pace getting faster. I didn't run at all from December 2008 through February 2009, so I started somewhat from scratch last March. I ran all easy runs (I have a HR monitor, so I actually measured my HR and deliberately kept it below a threshold) through March and most of April, then started mixing in one tempo run each week at the end of April. These are just estimates looking at my log from then:
Week 1 my easy pace ranged from 11:00-11:30 pace.
Week 2 it was 10:30-11:00.
Week 3 I pretty much kept it at 10:30-10:35.
Week 4-7, 10:15-10:30.
Week 8-12, 10:00-10:20.
Week 13-15, 9:45-10:15.
And so on. This March, my easy pace was around 9:20 - 2 minutes per mile faster than it was a year before. It's taking me longer to get faster, but it's still working.
no subject
What sort of threshold heart rate do you run at? I've read varying things about percentages of max heart rate, and mine seems to veer upwards no matter what I do.
no subject
An excellent HR tool is Greg Maclin's HR zones spreadsheet which you can download from his website on the calculators page. If you enter your resting and max HRs it shows graphically what the different ranges for different types of run should be.
The critical thing is that you have a reasonable estimate for max HR. The formulas based on sex and age are meant to apply to populations and not necessarily accurate for individuals. The only way I can get to close to my max HR is toward the end of an all-out 5K; there are other tests you can google.
Anyway, for me, 65% of HRR (heart rate reserve) is 139. My easy runs (that I mention in the comment above) I keep my average HR 139 or lower. And in fact on "recovery" runs - the very easy relatively short run the day after a hard workout or a long run - it's usually below 135. But it definitely took several weeks of running a lot of miles that felt horribly slow before it was easy to keep my HR low on the easy ones. The better your aerobic conditioning, the less upward drift you will have during a run. (Also hydration is a factor; if you don't drink during a long run your HR will drift upward.)
My LT was indirectly measured at 166 (I was in a VO2max test at the local college, and they derived that from measuring the constituents of my exhale) but that looks about right to me, as that's where I generally "feel it" when sprinting or going uphill. That's the low end of 10K race pace on the spreadsheet, and that's about the HR at the end of one of my tempo workouts (which is about a HR of 162 at the beginning but more like 166-168 after 4-5 miles).
no subject
Hope your injury settles quickly. My physio's been really helpful with mine, and she's also been critiquing my running style to try and prevent future injuries. Today I got to jump off a box while she pointed out my tendency towards knee wobble.
no subject