Increasing Pace/Introduction (Read 841 times)

Hi. So this is my first post on RA, but I've been lurking for quite a while. My run today prompted my post. Because this is really long, I'll post my question here, and it will also be at the end of the post. What's a good way for me to increase my pace on my easy runs (and make sure I am increasing my pace while I am running...I don't own a Garmin btw)? Or should I be even worrying about that right now while I'm training for a race (a half marathon)? So some background about me (because it might be helpful to answer the question): I started running just about a year ago for three reasons 1. The gym started to bore me. 2. I was going to Hawaii in May and didn't want to look like a wuss when I took my surfing lessons 3. I watched people finish a marathon where I lived at the time and thought, "It would be cool to run a marathon." So that day, I went to the gym and started running/walking, doing a program I saw in 17 Magazine when I was in 7th grade (and I had started and quit it so many times, I had committed it to memory). In just about 2 months, I went from barely being able to run for 2 minutes at a time to running my first 5k in 34:59. After my 5k, I immediately registered for the Chicago Marathon. When I want to do something, I go balls out, and waiting a year or two to run a marathon just felt like wasted time to me when that's one thing that prompted me to run in the first place. So I trained. I ran all my training runs. Eight miles started to feel relaxing. And then October 7, 2007 came. And it was blisteringly hot. There was no breeze. There were no clouds. And humidity had skyrocketed. The Chicago Marathon was probably the most painful experience I had ever undertaken -- the actual marathon. Around mile 5, I jumped into a public fountain to cool myself off. I had never been more grateful for my fuel belt. And regardless of the horrendous temperatures and the unpreparedness for the demand of fluids, and the horrible pain in my knee, I would have finished that sucker just within the allotted time had the policemen not stopped me somewhere between miles 16 and 17. So now I'm training for the Indy 500 Festival Mini Marathon, and I'm eagerly awaiting June, when I'll start to train again for Chicago part deux. So, last year, when I started running, I felt great if I could finish running 3 miles in 34 minutes (an 11:20/mile pace), and would probably run anything above 5 miles at around an 11:30-12:30/mile pace. I've started doing some speedwork as I find my slowness pretty embarrassing. Right now, I consider a good pace for an easy run around 11:00 - 11:10/mile. And on my race pace runs, I aim for 10:55 - 11:00/mile. Today, I ran a 40 minute tempo run (for me, tempo means run as far as I can going as fast as I can maintain in the allotted time). If it weren't for the ridiculous wind, I would have broken 10 minutes/mile (as it is, I ran 4 miles in 40:09 and my first 2 miles in 19:03 ). So after my run today, I'm beginning to wonder if I haven't been pushing myself enough, especially because I feel I could have run for another 2 miles at least. And finally, my question: What's a good way for me to increase my pace on my easy runs (and make sure I am increasing my pace while I am running...I don't own a Garmin btw)? Or should I be even worrying about that right now while I'm training for a race? Thanks to everyone who's read this far and thanks even more if you're going to respond

Right now, I consider a good pace for an easy run around 11:00 - 11:10/mile. And on my race pace runs, I aim for 10:55 - 11:00/mile. Today, I ran a 40 minute tempo run (for me, tempo means run as far as I can going as fast as I can maintain in the allotted time). If it weren't for the ridiculous wind, I would have broken 10 minutes/mile (as it is, I ran 4 miles in 40:09 and my first 2 miles in 19:03 ). And finally, my question: What's a good way for me to increase my pace on my easy runs (and make sure I am increasing my pace while I am running...I don't own a Garmin btw)? Or should I be even worrying about that right now while I'm training for a race?

11:00 - 11:10 is easy and 10:55-11:00 is hard/race pace? Doesn't seem to quite add up. I can run approx. 8 m/m 5k and try to keep my easy runs about 10 m/m (just got back to running so my numbers are changing frequently). Easiest way to add some "speed" to easy runs I think is adding some strides into the workout. Just pick up the pace for a couple minutes or between landmarks on a familiar run. Time them if you want to. How do you know you have increased pace? Your body will tell you. Longer strides, harder breathing, more sweat, etc. In short, 5 seconds/mile is not a pace change. I wouldn't even trust a garmin to measure it that accurately.

Several thoughts: A) Your race pace will naturally get faster as you run more miles and become more fit. This process can be slow. B) Your race pace will become faster if you do intervals and other higher intensity workouts. This process can cause injury and burnout. C) A combination of the two is the best bet. Most of your runs will be easy; that means comfortable, steady, controlled pace, able to talk to someone. If you can recite the Pledge of Allegiance, you're spot on. D) Begin by adding in strides as mentioned above. Strides are short bursts, no more than about 30-45 seconds, where you run a faster pace. Give yourself plenty of time to recover between each burst. E) You can keep doing the tempo runs, but you should probably back off the speed a little bit. It should be uncomfortable, but not painful. Be in control, feel smooth and fluid. F) Hills, hills, hills. Run them. Here's how. G) Intervals/repeats/whatever you want to call them can come in the last 8-12 weeks before your target race. You should aim to run at least 5-6 times a week. If you have the time, consider doing doubles (two runs a day). Build up the overall mileage slowly. Maintain the long run, but realize that it is not the only component to a successful race. There are three fundamentals to maintain: Frequency; Consistency; Listening to your body. The more frequent you run, the better you get. The more consistent your training, the better you get. The more you listen to what your body tells you about the training, the more you avoid injury, find what works best for you, and the better you get. Ask questions. But be specific. This was a good start; keep it up. Don't get wrapped up in goofiness. It's running, not building space elevators.

Don't get wrapped up in goofiness. It's running, not building space elevators.

Hmmm...nice.

Yeah, don't worry about what your projected finish time is. They just use that to designate starting corrals.

Hi, trojancinephile! Boy, you certainly like to challenge yourself! You've been given some great advice. I'll speak to you purely from my own experience because, being a novice runner, it's all I've got. My race pace got faster when I ran more. At first, my base runs were 4 miles because that's all I could get in in the hour I had allotted for running. Now my base runs are 6 miles--sometimes 10ks, sometimes 7 miles. The more you run, the more efficient you become, and the faster you become, especially if you're trying to become faster at long distances, I think. This might be a longer process than what you're looking for, but it's been true for me. And all this happened in the time before I got a Garmin. I actually got the Garmin to keep me from running too fast, not too slow. In the meantime, interval runs will help, I think, but I'm running those to help me get faster at 5ks. Like others have said, this kind of nonspecific advice is all we can give you without looking at your log, but maybe that's all you were looking for. In training for my first half, I ran four or five easy runs a week, with one long run added on the weekend--upping mileage every other week. My pace was slower on the long runs than on the easy runs. On the weekends when I didn't up the mileage, I did try to work on speed, or hills, or some other form of training. On weekends when I was working on distance, I very specifically did not work on increasing my speed--just worked at logging the distance. For what it's worth, I finished my half about nine minutes faster than the calculators predicted and a few minutes faster than my traning runs (all that adrenaline!). My disclaimer: I am an extremely novice runner. Good luck on your training. K