A little advice for a newbie? (Read 96 times)

Ok so I'm extremely new to the running world. I really haven't run unless it was absolutely necessary, which would only be when we do the PT Test in JROTC, but now I find myself just running two miles at an easy pace for fun.  I average around a 7:25 mile time with my fastest being 6:58 last summer. Now I max out around 7 flat. I want to increase my mile time to under 6:30 (6 minutes flat is the goal), but I am not sure exactly how. I've always been told that running distances much longer than a mile at a steady easy pace can increase your overall time on the one mile, but after seeing all of the "advice" that people post online, I have a feeling that what I've been told is wrong. I'm training for service academy applications and running is by far my weakest area. I just want an idea on what to do to increase my mile speed to my goal. I cannot do bicycling because I am not spending the money to buy one (I see lots of people talk about that) and swimming isn't an option either since it's either freeze to death in my pool or sink money into a gym membership.

It does not sound like you are running near enough for even basic running fitness. Try slowly working up to 30-60 minutes of running 5 or 6 times a week (getting one of those weekly runs up to about 90 minutes would be even better). After about 6 months of that, you should have basic running fitness given appropriate weight and no health issues. Then you can consider more specific workouts to increase your mile speed (but it will increase during this initial phase).