on my way to badass
that I will be faster.
After finding the RA forums I took the advice that was being offered to other people and started running longer distances and more frequently.
I still feel slow.
I have a race in a week and a half and I would like to do 5K in 36:00. My last race was 38:46 and I was running just 9-12 miles/week prior to that. What would your race strategy be if you were me? I'm looking for ideas for small changes so I just don't rely on "race adrenalin".
Still waiting for the perfect race picture. 5K PR-33:52 , 10K PR 1:11:16, First HM 2:42:28
You will be faster! Absolutely! For me, it didn't happy gradually, it was all of a sudden. My easy pace had been 12:00 since I started running, then one day it was 11:00 and it didn't feel any different. Then one day it was 10:00, same story.
Increasing mileage and frequency gradually sounds like the right move. But in every day training, instead of feeling faster, you're probably just feeling the fatigue of the extra miles as your body adjusts. But that doesn't mean that you're not getting stronger.
Long term, my advice would be to continue to add mileage like you've been doing. Once you're comfortable running 6 milers regularly, the 5K will have a completely different feel as a race, I think. At least it did for me.
But short term, since your race is coming up, your best bet is to make sure that you take it easy next week and go into your race rested. I'm hoping that you will be pleasantly surprised!
You will be faster.
2015 Races
2XU HM - 29 Mar
Thanks Z and Bin! Progress is really hard to judge right now because there is snow on my trail and I had been running shorter mileage than I thought (I have a Garmin now). The good news is I feel best at the end of the run.
Abt hitting that goal.. I think it might be pacing and finding the correct course. Pace for 35:30 and find a course with not too much hills and not too crowded.. Hope you get it.. Even if you don't in 2 weeks, you will get it if you stick to it.
Smaller By The Day
Gradually increasing mileage and distance really does help with race times in a sneaky, sneaky way. At least it did for me. I didn't see the speed increases coming. It was sort of like what Zelanie was describing.
When you're increasing your mileage, you don't feel like you're getting faster. Your legs are typically kind of tired. Last winter I decided to increase my mileage and frequency and ended up running an hour a night. I didn't feel like I could generate any speed. I wasn't even sure why I signed up for a 5K. I rested a couple of days, and ran the fastest 5K I had ever run BY FAR. I surely didn't feel like I had that in me.
I think it actually helped that I didn't have a watch on. I didn't know I was running that fast. That's tricky though, because with your increased fitness, you don't know how hard you can push for 3.1 miles. If you push too hard, and blow up, consider it an amazing learning experience. Don't worry about it. If you finish wondering if you could have run a little bit faster, or if you sprint to the finish, you'll know that you can run a little harder right out of the gate next time. That's just an experience thing. It comes with more races.
If you're going to wear a watch, don't be afraid to try running up to 2 minutes per mile faster than you train at. Be prepared for it to suck, but don't be afraid. I thought I had run a great 5K earlier this year, and it was a huge PR, but a couple of weeks later I ran a 10K and decided to see if I could hold the 5K pace for a 10K. WOW did that suck, but I was able to. That's how I knew I should be able to run even harder at my next 5K.
I think you're on the right track. You're getting there. I know the doubt that you're talking about, and yet I've PR'ed every race I've run except for Turkey Trots. Don't ask...lol
Improvements
Weight 100 pounds lost
5K 31:02 Sept. 2012 / 23:36 Sept. 2013 (Same Course)
10K 48:59 April 2013
HM 2:03:56 Nov. 2012 / 1:46:50 March 2013
MARATHON 3:57:33 Nov. 2013
Look, anyone who tells you with 100% certainty that you will be faster is just telling you what you want to hear. You may get faster. You may not get faster. And there's not a person on the planet that can tell you with complete certainty what will happen with you.
Physiologically, there is nothing you can do but make things worse in 10 days. Try to go out now and do a bunch of faster running and you'll just step to the line tired and sore. Unfortunately, I think too many people are terrified of speedwork when the reality is that pretty much anyone can benefit from a judicious amount. I think your focus needs to be not on a race in 10 days but on a race 3-4 months down the road. Want to be faster? Pick some 5K in March and then start training appropriately. What can you do? Well, don't do more than a couple of these each week but mix and match as you feel.
1. Strides - Start these when you have a mile or two left to go in a run. Accelerate from a jog to maybe 90% of all out, hold the fast pace a bit, and then decelerate back to a jog. The whole thing should last 100-150 yards. No more.
2. Fast finish - Over the last half mile or so of a run, start to accelerate. Every 100 yards, accelerate a bit again. Finish the last 100-200 yards really hard.
3. Fartleks - Run fast for a while and jog for a while. You can use time like 30 seconds, 1 minute, 90 seconds, and 2 minutes with equal time recovery. Repeat as desired. Or use blocks. 1 block, 2 blocks, 3 blocks, 4 blocks, with equal distance jogs for recovery.
4. Tempo run - Run half a mile easy. Run 2 miles fairly hard. Not all out but fairly hard. Run half a mile easy.
Try those and see what happens. You might even find speedwork a bit of fun. And it makes you feel like a badass.
Short term goal: 17:59 5K
Mid term goal: 2:54:59 marathon
Long term goal: To say I've been a runner half my life. (I started running at age 45).
Look, anyone who tells you with 100% certainty that you will be faster is just telling you what you want to hear. You may get faster. You may not get faster. And there's not a person on the planet that can tell you with complete certainty what will happen with you. Physiologically, there is nothing you can do but make things worse in 10 days. Try to go out now and do a bunch of faster running and you'll just step to the line tired and sore. Unfortunately, I think too many people are terrified of speedwork when the reality is that pretty much anyone can benefit from a judicious amount. I think your focus needs to be not on a race in 10 days but on a race 3-4 months down the road. Want to be faster? Pick some 5K in March and then start training appropriately. What can you do? Well, don't do more than a couple of these each week but mix and match as you feel. 1. Strides - Start these when you have a mile or two left to go in a run. Accelerate from a jog to maybe 90% of all out, hold the fast pace a bit, and then decelerate back to a jog. The whole thing should last 100-150 yards. No more. 2. Fast finish - Over the last half mile or so of a run, start to accelerate. Every 100 yards, accelerate a bit again. Finish the last 100-200 yards really hard. 3. Fartleks - Run fast for a while and jog for a while. You can use time like 30 seconds, 1 minute, 90 seconds, and 2 minutes with equal time recovery. Repeat as desired. Or use blocks. 1 block, 2 blocks, 3 blocks, 4 blocks, with equal distance jogs for recovery. 4. Tempo run - Run half a mile easy. Run 2 miles fairly hard. Not all out but fairly hard. Run half a mile easy. Try those and see what happens. You might even find speedwork a bit of fun. And it makes you feel like a badass.
Love me some tempo runs. I think that a lot of new runners are afraid of pushing themselves. My friend just started running a few months ago and did her first 5K around 34 min. Yesterday she PR'd on a hilly course and dropped over 4 minutes and her average pace was under 10 minutes per mile. I am so proud of her. It does not happen over night. It takes many miles and dedication to see results. Don't get discouraged though. You are out there running!
Running is my mental-Ctrl-Alt-Del.
Skirt Runner
I went from 37:07 to 28:16 in 7 months....no speedwork just building up my mileage. I believe in you
PRs: 5K- 28:16 (5/5/13) 10K- 1:00:13 (10/27/13) 4M- 41:43 (9/7/13) 15K- 1:34:25 (8/17/13) 10M- 1:56:30 (4/6/14) HM- 2:20:16 (4/13/14) Full- 5:55:33 (11/1/15)
I started a blog about running :) Check it out if you care to
Because there is no such thing as a flat course, hill work really appeals to me. I have a race in mind for March, I've got something to work for.
Thanks Kristin!
I abhor tempo runs with the force of an F-5 hurricane (mostly due to their length), but I understand their importance and thus do them religiously as part of an overall plan.
Much of the frustration for new racers comes from the complete unpredictability of race day performances. You can do all the things that you did for your last race and sometimes finish the next one slower than the previous three!
It was that frustration and lack of race day predictability that led me to a 5k training plan. That gave me an understanding of the principles and physics of racing, and with that I was able to more accurately set race day goals based on my current fitness, not reaching for a time that I was not ready to run.
Yes, you may very well get faster by more mileage and running. But if you want to put yourself in position to assure you will get faster, you have to put in the work. Weight loss and speed work go hand in hand with faster times. If done correctly, you may completely blow the doors off your expectations, and come to realize that the sky is the limit, not some arbitrary time goal.
I see you have a 4 x 400 workout in your log, you were on the right track when you did that. If you took that one simple workout and ran it once a week alternating between 10k pace one week and 5 pace the next, you could probably knock those two minutes off that you seek well before March. There is obviously a ton more to it than that, but that is just something basic.
Regarding your race in ten days, there is not much more you can do to assure yourself that you will get your goal. At this point, you either are in that shape or you are not. Some strides and/or a couple of fast finishes will not hurt though. I would not recommend much more than with such a short turnaround, unless you recover easy.
Moving forward, if you want to become the best that you can, pick up a book by Daniels, Hudson, Lydiard, Pfitz or one of a half dozen others and come to understand The Why of running & racing. Doing that is the simplest, quickest way to put you in position to succeed on race day.
Getting faster when you are relatively new is not only easier but assured. Keep adding mileage and see what you can do. I agree with LTH: find a 5K in the Spring, have a plan, and work at that speedwork.
Because there is no such thing as a flat course, hill work really appeals to me. I have a race in mind for March, I've got something to work for. Thanks Kristin!
There are. In Miami.
Damaris
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Stone, is your log a true indicator of your running? I mean, did you just start running in November or is that just when you started to use the log here? Either way, I think you have a lot of room to improve. Most folks with your mileage see increases in speed just by being consistent about their running. Not consistent over a few weeks, but consistent over months and months and months.
My strategy for a 5K is to run hard for 3.1 miles. It is 3.1 miles of suck. If you're having fun, run harder.
<3
Getting faster when you are relatively new is not only easier but assured. Keep adding mileage and see what you can do. I agree with LTH: find a 5K in the Spring, have a plan, and work at that speedwork. There are. In Miami.
It is most assuredly NOT assured. There are a relatively few people who are training non responders and they do not get faster. All you can tell someone is that it is likely they will get faster but it is not guaranteed.
A fit person may not get faster through targeted training, I'll agree with that. But an unfit person will definitely be faster after running regularly for 6 months, especially if they lose some weight along the way.
Like Kristen and Zelanie, I had huge gains in the first 6-12 months I ran regularly. In my ~37 minute 5k in May, when I'd only been running steadily for a month, to my sub-30 in October. Good Luck!