"During a marathon, I run about two-thirds of the time. That's plenty." - Margaret Davis, 85 Ed Whitlock regarding his 2:54:48 marathon at age 73, "That was a good day. It was never a struggle."
I know this is an old thread too, but I thought I would mention a couple of things that help me.
1) I think I got faster after I started running some hills. The hills develop leg strength which help you go faster. If there are some hills in the neighborhood, she can incorporate a bit of hills in her training. Not knowing her, I am not sure the legs are her limiting factor here.
2) Doing some shorter races pushes the envelope and helped me to get a bit of speed which I thought translated to the longer distances. For her, a 5K race would be a good indicator of her potential speed.
Of course, I agree with all that has been said before. People probably shouldn't be concerned with speed early on, but of course it is human and natural to want to go faster. Avoiding injury is key. Your speed is pretty slow when you get hurt. Hope it all works out!!
Marathon Maniac #3309
Thanks everyone for your responces.........I thought being runners...............you would enjoy this enthusiastic post from her................is this not Sweet
Tim - Group training on Thursday nights. The Half team, we were suppose to do 4 miles the Full team 6 miles. Not sure the exact reason - but the temperature was only 83....there was a gentle breeze - my legs felt tremendously awesome!!! ...My breathing was calm and even...I can not describe it! It felt like I was suppose to be running! Several ladies from the Full team - said I was kicking their butts!! They asked me to continue on with them...so I did and added the extra 1.5 miles....they told me to keep going and do the full 6 - but I didn't want to ruin such an fantastic run! I finished up so strong! My pace average was 10:45!!! I have never been under 11:15 for 4 miles or more!!!! I did take Tues. off because of my driving back from Nashville - so I had not gone on a run since Saturday! Maybe my 50 year old legs just need more recovery time - or they love the fact it wasn't 95 outside!! I do think my swimming has helped my breathing...so long story short - not sure why but on July 29th, 2010 I had my BEST RUN EVER!!
Made my day that day..................is this not the essence, of why we ALLLL run - really?
Tim
Running has given me the courage to start, the determination to keep trying, and the childlike spirit to have fun along the way - Run often and run long, but never outrun your Joy of running!
.....yep,
you nailed it tim//.......she's gonna be a Good Runner.........
now
just keep her from hurting herself.
..nothing takes the place of persistence.....
I would certainly encourage your friend to give herself a little more time and her speed will come. I'm in the same general age-range. I've been running again since January after a layoff of several years. I'm finding that it takes longer to develop speed than in the past because of my age.
I think suggestions about running pole-to-pole are excellent. She might also run some hills to develop strength going up and also to let the natural flow of gravity take her a little faster going down. Of course, she should be careful not to overstride down the slope and she should focus on good form as she increases her speed.
Trombone