Advice with increasing pace

Helloo,

I'm a really new runner - I am reasonably fit but through other activities such as biking at horse riding.

After visiting the London Marathon 2 years running, I figured I wasn't getting any younger and I should give it a try!

Basically, I have been following the beginners training programme from Virgin London Marathon which is going well - currently can really comfortably run 20 - 30 mins on a flat terrain outside, but I discovered today that I am only running at about 4.2 MPH or about a 13 min mile.

My aim is to be able to comfortably run a 10 min mile so increase to about 6MPH, though I need to find a way of enabling to be able to do this without over exhausting myself - especially when I suffer from chronic side stitches!!

What would people recommend? I have thought of may be running a mile (I have measured one) and seeing if I can do it in 10 mins, but I think that might tire me out so much I am basically walking home at this stage.

Any ideas welcome!

Thanks,

Della 

Short intervals are the way to go!

Perhaps if you've got that measured mile you should go out and run it as fast as you can, just once, and make a note of the time it takes you. This will be a good yardstick for you in times to come.

It's a big jump to improve by 3 minutes a mile, so be patient, don't expect miracles, but improvement will come if you introduce a little bit of speedwork into one of your weekly runs. You read it right, just one of them.

For your intervals, warm up, jog at your normal pace for a good 10 minutes, and then hit the high speeds! It doesn't need to be a full on sprint - just push yourself hard for a short time. How you measure that is up to you - 30 seconds on the watch (that will be plenty to begin with) or choose a landmark (lamp-post?) and run hard to that. Come back down to your normal speed again, or slower, until your breathing settles back down again. When your ready, go again!

Do these "sprints" just 2 or 3 times the first time you try them. Keep a training diary if you don't already do so, and note how many intervals and how far. Over the next few weeks, add 1 or 2 intervals to your speedwork session every week until you're up to 10.

Once you've reached 10 intervals, use your next speedwork session to go out and run that mile again as fast as you can - and see how much you've improved .

Let us know how you get on.  

Hi Rob, thanks for the advice - that's really useful! I will be sure to keep a diary and update on my process.

So after I have reached getting up to 10 intervals (and hopefully I can run the mile faster!!) would you recommend I just try and do each workout slightly faster? I'm just anxious about getting to a stage where I can keep going for the majority of the marathon distance but not being able to run it quickly - hence my trail of thought would be to try and make sure I'm averaging a 10min mile when I try and extend my distances! 

Sorry if this makes no sense but thank you for answering in advance! 

Robs advice is good, but you will also find that as you start to run for longer distances that you will naturally get faster as you get fitter.  As you get further away from home on your runs it opens up new terrain and you can then introduce hills.  These will strengthen your legs and cardio system so that when you run on the flat it will be easier.

I initially started running at about 13 min/miles but in the four months of specific marathon training that I did prior to my first marathon I managed to speed up to just under 10 min/miles without doing any specific speed work.

You don't want to try to run every run faster than the one before, as that puts a lot of strain on your body and can lead to injuries.  Instead try going a little faster on just one run per week, and by faster I don't mean an all out sprint but just fast enough that you feel you are putting extra effort in.  Then maybe once a month you repeat the timed mile that Rob suggests so that you can see your improvement.

It makes perfect sense - we've all had the same or similar thoughts at some time.

I have consistently found that training at least 3 times a week is the gold standard when you are aiming to improve. I have also found the best results (and indeed most training plans are built up on a similar kind of basis) from treating each of those 3 runs slighly differently.

1 Long; 1 Fast; 1 Easy.

Your long one should be at an easy pace, even including walk breaks if you like. If you are aiming to build up your distance, this is the one that you lengthen.

Your fast run is the speedwork session we have been talking about. Because it is harder work though, it should be much shorter than your long run.

Your easy run should be the easy pace of your long run and the short duration of your fast one. It isn't a waste, it is valid aerobic training, without overtraining.

As for what to do after you reach 10 intervals and re-test yourself, it will really depend on what that 2nd test over the mile shows you. I personally think it is a good idea to re-jig your training plan every 4 - 6 weeks, most other PT's would agree. Based on that, test yourself every 4 - 6 weeks, and choose a new plan based on the results of your test.

eg. If you start off with 30 second intervals and it works, you could spend your next 4 - 6 weeks working on building up the distance of your long run, your next 4- 6 weeks building up your intervals from 30 seconds to 2 minutes.... or something like that.

Caz is right too when she says that some improvement will come automatically with increased distance. Many runners achieve their best 5k times just a few weeks after training for and completing a marathon.

Try not to be anxious about it, train consistently and the improvements you desire will come. Doesn't happen overnight though, the body does need time to adapt.

That's SO useful - Thank you so much!

I try and train about 5/6 times a week at the moment but I am definitely going to encorporate the 3 types of run! I have managed to get my sister and Mum involved as well - so should make it  more inetersting!

I'll be sure to keep on updating.

Della :)