How to get quicker?

8 watchers

BlastItBob May 2012 3:31pm, 21 May 2012 434 posts	0 BlastItBob It might seem like a silly/simple question but how do I get quicker when racing? I'm in a club and try to train at least three times a week but struggling to get any quicker Does anyone have any (sensible) suggestions that can help
Tarahumara May 2012 3:34pm, 21 May 2012 550 posts	0 Tarahumara Well... what distance do you want to improve? I was told the way to run faster was by running faster So less of the plodding about and more of the actual sessions have helped me. I have just finished marathon training from a P & D plan and my average pace has fallen over all distances
daviec May 2012 3:39pm, 21 May 2012 2,518 posts	0 daviec Run more. Keep it easy effort and just run either more times a week or further then you do at present. Don't bother with speedwork, intervals, etc. They can come much later.
Mykey May 2012 3:42pm, 21 May 2012 1,511 posts	0 Mykey Bob-simple answer is run more. My pace has dropped as my mileage has increased.
Jon_T May 2012 3:43pm, 21 May 2012 1,723 posts	0 Jon_T If you have HRM, try a training plan based on HR, it will help reduce weight as well, at least did for me and a few others I have spoken to
UltraPaulo May 2012 3:44pm, 21 May 2012 233 posts	0 UltraPaulo I would agree with the above... get the number of sessions/weekly mileage up a bit and then once you have done that start looking at specific speed sessions.
Meglet May 2012 3:51pm, 21 May 2012 9,983 posts	0 Meglet Your mileage is certainly fairly low, mine isn't much and yours is less I certainly find that running consistently works well for me, and by that I mean making sure I get at least three runs a week, every week. I'm trying to add a fourth at the moment as I think that will help. Dramatically increasing mileage last year when I was marathon training didn't help as much as I thought it would, but most of my miles were run slowly. Now at least one of my runs a week is faster, just some fartlek or one faster mile, but its helping and my training pace is improving, as is my parkrun time
Dirt Monkey May 2012 4:05pm, 21 May 2012 18 posts	0 Dirt Monkey Running quicker is easy. Just run faster
Lyra OK May 2012 4:26pm, 21 May 2012 4,114 posts	0 Lyra OK Avoid injury and build up plenty of solid base miles. Don't increase your distance by more than 10% each week and run at a pace where you can comfortably hold a conversation. Ideally, 6 months of base is brilliant, but 3 is acceptable. Consistency is key. Easy running and gentle increases reduce your risk of injury. Too much too soon and you'll wind up out of action. This is a really good book if you're interested: amazon.co.uk Let us know how you get on!
Nellers May 2012 8:44am, 22 May 2012 21,380 posts	0 Nellers I would say to increase mileage steadily but keep your mileage low until you are comfortably managing 4 runs a week and totalling 25 miles weekly. The pace should improve just by doing more miles. All the speedwork is just tuning, which obviously helps, but getting lots of miles in is actually building a bigger engine. No matter how much you tune a 1.1 it'll never generate the power of a 2.8 and when you've built your big engine you can tune it up then.