Forums >Running 101>Complete Beginner Newb Guy
Ok, so I have made the decision to chase (literally) my dreams of becoming a Law Enforcement Officer. I am noticing all the bad decisions I have made in my life working against me in this journey. I know this forum is more aimed at the longer distances but I was hoping I could get some pointers to help me in my 1.5 mile run and then further down the road my long distance running. I am currently at a 14.3 minute 1.5 mile. I need to be much closer to 12, 10 would be awesome. I have been running for the last few months but cannot seem to break the 14 minute mark. My breathing is probably one of the biggest hurdles I am facing at this point, as well as figuring out my stride and cadence. Any pointers would be very much appreciated! Oh, and yes I do have a solid amount of shin pain...lol
Latent Runner
Fairly simple solution to achieving your goal; run more miles.
In your situation I would say you have to run much slower and much further to enable yourself to run faster for your mile and a half time trial.
Specific recommendation:
Fat old man PRs:
Thank you very much for your help Shipo. Should I aim for, say a 3 mile jog and increase with time? Or should I jog till the wheels fall off and track my progress adding a half to full lap each week or two? Also, if I run out of steam should I do a fast paced walk till I can go back to a jog or walk it back to the finish line and mark my progress? I am currently running either 1.3 miles around my neighborhood, or on a 1/4 mile dirt track. I do apologize for all the questions, I tend to overthink and analyze most of what I do.
Were it that I was coaching you I would suggest you mix it up a bit with regard to where you run, however, given you have shin splints, I would also strongly recommend you stay on dirt (track or trail) until your healed up.
As for the distance, if you can run three miles at a slow jog, that is a great start; simply start with the three, add say a half a mile in a week or so, and then another half mile per run per week. If you're feeling frisky by the time you're running five miles per run, resist the temptation to run faster, just run six instead. Once six becomes the norm, then start speeding things up.
I cannot thank you enough Shipo.
Do you think if I stick to the workout plan I could get to a 12-13 minute 1.5 mile run in a month? I would like to continue this training so I will certainly have more questions after my PAT. Thanks again!
Were it not for the shin splints I would think sub 13 would be possible, however, recovering from that particular injury is often at cross purposes with increasing mileage and running at a faster pace. Some of the folks I've coached have been able to slow down and run through the injury, most others, myself included, needed to take time off running to properly heal. I guess it all depends upon how a slow three miler on dirt makes your shins feel.
Keep us posted.
a month or two is not very long to make changes. it would be a piece of cake to get to under 12 if you tried to work at it for a year. My guess is you could get under 11 within a year if you were able to slowly build easy miles. 90% of what you need is simply aerobic capacity (easy running - slow enough to use complete sentences if talking to someone).
my tips for shin splints:
1-run on soft surfaces (grass, a trail with pine needles if you are lucky, or maybe a rubberized track)
2-warm compress for a minute before running and ice for 5 minutes after running may help
3-toe taps, sit at a desk and tap one foot until the front of your leg is a little fatigued, then switch to the other. in many cases it can help balance muscles and that may be your problem.
4-only as a last resort use ibuprofen. don't rely on it to allow you to run.
I think I went from about 13:30 for 1.5 miles to 9:10 for 1.5 miles in less than 2 years. (at age 39-40, going from 220 pounds to 198 pounds). So it can be done. There is no need for pain if you can give yourself time to get your body to adapt.
Thank you all for the great tips! I have done a tremendous amount of research in the last few days as well. I have found a fair amount of running drills to perfect my technique, (by perfect I mean come close to not looking like a football bouncing down the road while I run and sound like a bull with asthma while doing it). So I am going to throw those in as well, like high knee steps and butt kicks. I'm going to hit this hard. Not over training but super consistent. Loads of stretching, much better diet, NO SUGAR too. I think I am heel striking, as evident by my running shoes and shin pains. For the first time in years, I am noticing a good change in my breathing by just taking notice of it and taking deeper and slower breaths. My hope is that with the proper technique, exercises, diet and pre/post run care, I can hit my target time. Again, I cannot thank you all enough. If I continue to progress, I can certainly see this as becoming quite the habit...lol Maybe even a 5k next year...
for the long term, don't overthink. just do. run when you can, mostly easy.
I don't know about "hitting this hard", but certainly being consistent is key. honestly, most men under 50 could run under 12:00 for 1.5 miles in a year of training that required no "hard" workouts. sometimes the hard workout just means that you can't run for 3 days. and that's why just being easy, consistent, and slowly building is the most reliable way.
for the long term, don't overthink. just do. run when you can, mostly easy. I don't know about "hitting this hard", but certainly being consistent is key. honestly, most men under 50 could run under 12:00 for 1.5 miles in a year of training that required no "hard" workouts. sometimes the hard workout just means that you can't run for 3 days. and that's why just being easy, consistent, and slowly building is the most reliable way.
Most guys under 50? Hmmm, interesting way of looking at it. You're probably correct that if any given sub-50 guy trained for a year, even if he were morbidly out of shape, he could probably go 1.5 miles at an 8:00 pace. That said, there are some sub-50 guys here in my office with pretty much zero chance of ever seeing an eight minute pace again (assuming they were ever able to run that fast earlier in their lives).
Thanks for challenging my brain to think about this issue from a very different perspective.
OK, not perfectly accurate. But OP didn't give us much to go on. He could be 23 or 53. I don't know.
An 8:00 pace for 12 minutes doesn't require "speed" really if you are in your 30's (and probably in your 40's). Just endurance. If you are 65, then sure... you'd need some speed to be able to hold an 8:00 pace. That's all I meant.
I've run 800's at a track with marathon runners. And these guys with 60 mile per week base are just faster than me in the repeats on shear endurance. If we run 100's I can smoke them. But anything over 400 meters becomes so much about endurance. Some people think you need to be "fast" for a mile or two race. And they want to crank out 400 repeats. Then along comes a 60 mpw marathon runner who blows them away without even straining.
I didn't mean to say anything bad about 50+ guys! My long term "reach" goal would be a sub-6 mile at age 50. It won't seem fast to some people but it would feel fast to me.
not bad for mile 25
OK, not perfectly accurate. But OP didn't give us much to go on. He could be 23 or 53. I don't know. An 8:00 pace for 12 minutes doesn't require "speed" really if you are in your 30's (and probably in your 40's). Just endurance. If you are 65, then sure... you'd need some speed to be able to hold an 8:00 pace. That's all I meant. I've run 800's at a track with marathon runners. And these guys with 60 mile per week base are just faster than me in the repeats on shear endurance. If we run 100's I can smoke them. But anything over 400 meters becomes so much about endurance. Some people think you need to be "fast" for a mile or two race. And they want to crank out 400 repeats. Then along comes a 60 mpw marathon runner who blows them away without even straining. I didn't mean to say anything bad about 50+ guys! My long term "reach" goal would be a sub-6 mile at age 50. It won't seem fast to some people but it would feel fast to me.
This is encouraging, considering I'm a distance runner and am running my first 800, 1500, and 3000 this weekend. FWIW I'm 60+, and have yet to do a sub-6:30 mile. Close, but...
(DougB, are you aware that your signature must have a lot of enter characters after it? Your posts are taking a lot of screen real estate for blank space.)
First distance then speed. Run 3-5 days a week. Your first goal - run 5 miles without stopping. After that add one mile to your long run each week. Later add some distance to your other runs. After you get up to 30mpw add one day of speedwork.
Until you can start speedwork run hills.
If you want to walk try Gallaway run walk training system.
Sorry guys, I guess I should have told you about what I am working with. I started this running journey about four months ago. I am 37, 5'11 and started at 210lbs. I hit the gym pretty regularly for years, but stayed far from any real cardio. Just quit smoking about 3 years ago. I know, I was working towards a degree in early death. I am now smoke free!, I've dropped down to 195, and can now walk to my vanpool every morning without being so winded I could collapse. That's a hair over one mile with a decent hill smack in the middle of the walk. Even now, I can jog and not get too winded after doing some lung exercises and just going jogging. Though due to my shins I haven't been able to really push my lungs the way I would like to. I still have a long way to go to get my lungs to where they need to be, but it is a steady progression I can see. My biggest hurdle right now is my shin splints. Taking it easy for now on the running, doing some swimming and going to start bicycling until my shins are able to take the run a little better. All that on top of all the great advice I got here. Oh, and I run in a pair of Asics Gel Maverick 3's. I know they aren't the best, but they are comfortable.