How did I run so fast? (Read 445 times)

Ok, I've been studying these forums since Spring.  Started Couch to 5k end of February and started enjoying running and wanted to learn everything I could about it. What I gleaned from all of you here, was to basically run slow and comfortably until my body can handle more rigorous training (after about a year of regular running).  Nobby usually seems to advise someone like me to do simple fartleks, and nothing more structured than that for training.  So, this is what I've done.

Trying to apply the Lydiard style of running, my comfortable, no push pace has dropped from a 13 mm to 11 mm to 11:30 mm during these months.  I've run an average of 15 to 20 miles a week which includes one hour or 1 1/2 hour run.

So, I entered my first 5K ever this Sunday and was able to run a 9:18 mm for a 28:53 finish.  I am amazed and baffled!  How did my body do that, when the only time I've ever even seen the 9's was during a brief all out sprint fartlek that I could only hold for maybe 10 seconds???  If any body can explain this biochemically, I would love to hear any explanation.  I understand race adreneline, but I don't see how that was maintainable for 3 miles.

A little more about me:  40 yrs, female, 150 lbs.  Was not active or in shape at all before picking up running in February.

There is this mistaken believe common out there that in order to run a distance race at a certain pace, you need to run that fast a lot.  People beat themselves up.  The truth is, you need to train the body to be able to hold that pace for X amount of time but the majority of the training needed to achieve that is accomplished by slower running.

When you are running easy you are not pushing yourself to full capacity...no wonder you can do better on race day.  A 5K is like 98% aerobic, and much of this development you get simply from running consistently.  Run more, your time will continue to come down.  Add in tempo work once a week, your time will come down even more.  Now yes, if you add in intervals at 5K pace or faster your time will come down some more.  But that is really the icing on the cake; the bulk of your improvement will come from slower aerobic work (but if you want to bring your time down I do suggest trying some more fartleks or tempo runs once per week).

For tempo runs, if they are new to you, start at 10 minutes and work your way up to 20.  You should always feel like you could run another 10 minutes or more at that pace when you stop and start your cooldown.

As a couple examples....

In my mid-20s I'd come into the beginning of track season off 80-100mpw of mostly easy distance with tempos and run around 16:00-16:10 after a couple weeks of interval workouts.  I was probably a bit slower with zero interval workouts but didn't race then.  A couple months of interval workouts and I'd be in the 15:30s.  So the bulk of my speed actually came from volume and tempos; sub-5K paced work only took last 20-odd seconds off.  Important at a competitive level yes; but most people probably focus too much on intervals early in their running career.  You get more return, with less recovery, from more volume or tempo/fartlek work.

Biochemically, the intervals are helping build lactate tolerance but again that is something that gives you an extra boost towards the end and not something that forms the foundation of your abilities.  That is raw aerobic capacity (ability to deliver oxygen to your muscles), something built quite well with slower running.

From one 40 year old, 150# female to another...kudos!  I don't think I had a 5k that strong until I'd been running for a couple of years.  Fabulous job!

That's fantastic! Congratulations.

 

I find that I always run shorter races MUCH faster than I'm training - frankly, I'm not sure why. I understand conceptually what other people are saying, but it's always seemed strange to me. I ran a 10K a week or so ago at about a solid 8 minute pace - but, in the meanwhile, a 9 minute pace during my training runs feels Herculean.

It's all about perception - how much discomfort you are feeling as opposed to how much you expected to feel.  In a race situation, I want that PR time.  I've psyched myself up, expecting to feel lungs burning and legs aching.  So when they do, I simply acknowledge it as what was expected.  For day to day training runs, my general expectation is for much more limited discomfort.  With that pleasant expectation, anything approaching normal race discomfort exceeds expectations, so feels relatively worse than the greater, but expected, race discomfort.   I'm not sure I explained that well, but hopefully you get the idea.

There's Spaniel's explanation and there's the "race day magic" explanation.  Take your pick.

 

Congrats!  Sounds like you're doing thing right!  Keep it up!

I think it's safe to say that Spaniels explanation applies to everyone. There's no substitute for what he said. Mileage and threshold running can get nearly every runner pretty darn close to their peak for a range of distances.

As for race-day magic, that does account for some of it, but race-day magic isn't going to turn a 6:00 mpm (for 5K) into a 5:00 mpm. It might knock off up to15s/mile, but likely not much more than that.

There's Spaniel's explanation and there's the "race day magic" explanation.  Take your pick.

These are not mutually exclusive.  The better your training, the more prepared you will be to use that magic.

MTA - corrected should have been not mutually exclusive

 

These are not mutually exclusive.  The better your training, the more prepared you will be to use that magic.

 

MTA - corrected should have been not mutually exclusive

I agree.  It's the combination of the two that is wonderful.

Congrats!   Coach said there is race pace and there is training pace. That's all the explanation we got.