Can anyone help me run faster? I started a Couch to 5K program in January and am just finishing it up. My daughter asked me to run in a 5k with her for Mother's Day. I have the endurance part down and can run for 30 minutes. I've moved from the treadmill to running outside over hilly terrain ("hills are our friends" my Boston Marathon running pal tells me) but I am very slow. I have short legs and am even a slow walker. I will be lucky if I can finish the 5K in 45 minutes. Today was the worse! While I was really pushing myself to work on my speed, I hear someone behind me. It's this guy who must have been at least 85 years old. And he was walking! And he passed me and I couldn't catch up with him. I'm totally devastated! This really did a mind game on my running. I really think its great that I can run for half an hour straight, when I started, I remember the 90 second run was a stretch! But I would like to have a more reasonable pace. <sigh>. So while I can run for longer and longer times, I can't seem to get any faster.

Congratulations!!!!

It's going to be quite a while until I can run a "respectable" pace. I accepted that a while ago. I'd rather be a penguin than risk injuring myself by doing too much too soon. My goal is to be able to run a 5K without walking. Once I can hit that, I'll working on chipping away at my pace. The running blogs I frequent all recommend the same thing: build up endurance before trying to gain speed.

Right now I'm nursing a sore groin (rookie mistake: if you find a shoe that works, don't mess it up and buy a different model of the same brand! Stupid Ravennas!) so I'm forcing myself to take a week off. It bums me out I guess I can walk a few miles instead but it's going to be hard to resist trying to run. My 5K today wasn't nearly as good as I thought it would be. But.....at least I did it and didn't seriously hurt myself.

Congratulations!

@@ShanRN Its great to hear of someone else that is continuing to run at a slow pace. Sorry about your injury. Hope it heal fast an you are running again soon. I did a shorter, faster run a few days ago. Today, for my 5K run I started at a slower pace than usual and was able to keep running the whole way and was fairly comfortable so even though I was breaking any PR for pace, I felt I was turning a corner in my endurance and in managing my speed. It was my first time without walking and I really only got tired the last quarter mile. Hopefully, once I can be comfortable with the distance, I can work on pace.

Its not always about speed but distance. Believe it or not while running lots and lots of half marathons I am always checking people out besides me and sometimes it is people MUCH older that pass me by, but guess what I am out there, I am running and completing the race before the last person out there along with the vehicle that pushes you/me along. So with that said it doesn't matter how fast you go, it is all about just getting out there, enjoying the fresh air, your surroundings and making yourself happy.

Enjoy the run, sometimes people pay a lot of money and never enjoy it...

good luck!

Most of the great distance runners are not the 20-24 year old group. We have one who became a noted runner after their 40th birthday - closer to 50 actually. Same for their partner.

Consider adding some high intensity interval training into one of your weekly runs. It's basically running a series of intervals but you really focus on short bursts of speed.

5 minutes warm up

2 min regular pace

30 sec-1 min very fast (just short of a sprint)

2 min recovery (walk or super slow jog)

And repeat for how ever long you want to run.

Consider adding some high intensity interval training into one of your weekly runs. It's basically running a series of intervals but you really focus on short bursts of speed.

5 minutes warm up

2 min regular pace

30 sec-1 min very fast (just short of a sprint)

2 min recovery (walk or super slow jog)

And repeat for how ever long you want to run.

I found steady state running super boring and slow. I switched to an interval schedule like above. Keeps me occupied by tracking the time -it's the longest minute ever! Plus, I improved my max speed.

I agree with the sprinting suggestions. This is how I have self taught myself to run fast.

One approach that has helped me when I first started running following WLS is "Chi Running." There is lot of free information on this running philosophy. I find that only when the body is in a state of relaxation, there is a strong stable core and there is elegance around every movement, only then can true speed be achieved in an effortless manner.

My comfortable running speed is currently 8.5 mph where my max sprint speed is currently 12.3 mph. It usually takes me about 20 minutes to reach my comfortable running speed and I can maintain that for up to 10 k (and then run out of gas). I find if I run too fast too soon, then I cannot sustain the comfortable running speed to complete a 10 k. Is sprinting still the approach to achieve a faster ramp up to comfortable running speed or should something else be considered.

Thanks for all the encouragement and advice about sprinting. I do run over a hilly terrain and that keeps me from getting bored. I will have to try some of the shorter sprint times you all suggested. Unfortunately, I've hit a bit of a hiccup in life and tomorrow will be my last run for a few weeks. I need to have some minor surgery but will have an incision that will keep me from running or any vigorous exercise for a few weeks.

One strategy that has worked for me is what I have come to term " the boiling frog" strategy. Named this way because intensity slowly raises to a boiling point without the runner being aware they are being boiled. The body ramps up to the intensity as you increment the intensity even more.

Once the body is "warmed up" to the intensity, you iterate on the HIIT where both top and bottom parts of HIIT are at a super high intensity and high intensity before returning to a moderate intensity for active recovery.

I am sure it is not original because in this modern day it is hard to have a truly original idea. It is based on bringing up the running intensity a little bit at a time (challenging yourself) and then doing a segment of HIIT at high and super high intensity (but not dropping to low intensity as you would with standard HIIT) followed by an active recovery. Do this two or 3 times during a running session.

I did this today and ran for an hour, burning about 1200 calories total (a lot at my 5'11" 180#) and running 8.2 miles. Not only did my 5 k and 10 k times come in at fast race times, but after the high intensity segments, the active recovery felt like easy jog). This approach will get you running at race competition speeds in no time. It is best done on a treadmill with a hr watch . I use a polar watch and hr strap around chest. do not grab handle bar sensors when sprinting.

this approach I think would help prepare someone for being the best in a race. Not sure because I do not race, but it would seem to be a good strategy.

Here is breakdown to demonstrate (scale mph depending on your level- this is my level)

5 minute jog (6.0 mph or whatever is jog for you) warmup

5-10 minute dynamic warmup stretching

Minute MPH Notes

1. 6.0. Starting speed, increase .1-.2 every minute until 8.0 is reached. Hr below and moving in fat burn zone.

5. 7.0.

10. 8.0. Every minute, alternate between 8.0 and 10.5 until 20 min. Hr in or above cardio zone.

15.

20. 7.5. Drop into active recovery for 2 min. Hr in fat burn zone.

25. 8.0. Every minute, alternate between 8.0 and 10.5 until 30 min. Hr climbs up in and above cardio zone.

30. 6.5. Drop into active recovery for 2 min (lower then first time), increase .1-.2 every minute until 8.0 reached. hr should be fat burn zone or lower.

35. 7.0.

40. 8.0. Every minute, alternate between 8.0 and 10.5 until 50 min. 10 k at 43 min. Hr is moving in cardio zone.

45

50. 7.0. Drop into active recovery for 2 min, increase .1-.2 until 60 min. Hr is in fat burn zone.

55

60. 8.0. Hr at or above cardio zone.

5 min cool down ( gradually get your hr down into low 120s and down below 100)

5-10 stretching (static and isometric)

Edited June 1, 201412 yr by Fiddleman