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Are fast runners naturally fast, or can you train yourself fast?
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i always used to train according to the time of year rather than any particular race. very generally this would follow a pattern along thelines of;
endurance phase 1 - oct-dec lots of steady running and occasional race
endurance phase 2 - jan-mar steady running with a few more races, tempo runs and long hil reps
pre-competitionphase - apr-jun shorter runs, twice weekly track sessions, regular races
cometition phase - jul-aug - very short runs, two or maybe even three track sessions a week plus a race at least every weekend and possibly midweek too
rest - september
october - start cycle again
obviously that is a very general description - and i was doing a lot of track racing but even as i moved up distances the pattern remained similar
this pattern used to be very common among club runners - and is still in use to a large exent - but these days everyone seems to be training for different things and always seem at a different point in their training. When i was younger it was easier because everyone at the club had the same goals such as the national x/c and the spring road relays
and one thing that has changed - as i alluded previously is the tendancy to follow short term training schedules. What seems to have happened is that people train to an 'average'. For example, I used to run 70miles a week in the winter and 30 miles a week in the summer so all of a sudden this becomes 50miles a week all year round!
anyway - In a nutshell i've always believed that the best training for running is running. I managed 15 years of injury free running. BUT that was then and this is now and I have finally succumbed to the ravages of time and pounding of the legs. I currently cycle to and from work three times a week adn run (v easily) three times a week. I doubt if i'll ever get back to running every day - this kind of backs up the 'only so many good miles' argument. My body can't cope with the type of traiing i used to do - but whereas i'll never run sub-32min 10k again I can still do 40mins off relatively little training - which kind of backs up the 'benefit of miles in the legs' argument.
that is very useful, even to me
x
IWILL - nearly anyone who starts running at say, 30, will be fitter at 40 than they were at 30. If they start running at 40 adn are still running at 50 they wil still be fitter then they were at 40.
It's unlikely they wil become as fast as if they had started running when younger but the beauty of running is that whenever you start you really can expect to improve for a good few years.
BUT to return to one of your earlier points about what type of training wil be most effective I can only reiterate my belief that the best thing for someone in your position is to build up your endurance as much as possible before embarking on speedwork.
I've remained injury free more or less (touch wood), and that's down to listening to my body and not doing too much too soon.
And it's been said so often, focus on either adding distance or speed, not both, otherwise you'll end up overtrained or injured.
However if you want to become a fast runner it is possible to change your lifestyle if fast running is not something you've done before. You do have to start with a bit more than running for the bus, like jogging 1 or 2 km in a park, several times a week, gradually building up over a few months and running a 3km or a 5km race.
Providing you are in good health (no major heart, lung and neurological conditions) you should be able to do one session of fartlek (interval training of fast bursts with a slow jog to warm up before and cool down after each burst) a week.
It depends on what distances you want to run, what you do next. You can look up all the websites of any athletics clubs who run specific distances, and some do speed training or fartleks one day a week.
There is another kind of interval training called long interval training, where you run slightly fast-paced jogs for 10 minutes per "burst" at a speed you could run continuously for a half-marathon or full-marathon distance, with 15 minutes warmup and 10 minutes cooldown before and after each burst. These sessions last 70 minutes and are designed for running half-marathons.
If you did not start out in life as a fast runner, but try any of the above, with a sedentary lifestyle, you can surprise yourself. I have a number of minor health problems including a heart murmur, so I run slowly, and have taken 10 years from starting to jog 1-2 km continuously, 5km races nearly 4 years later, many more 3k's and one or two 10k's to completing a slow marathon in 8:35:00 last year.
Healthy people do not know what they're missing when they believe if they were never the first past the post at school, that there's no point in trying later.
Start jogging 1-5km continuously, add in some fartleks, choose your distances that you know you do well every week, run some races then watch your speed increase!
We are the same size and, I guess weight, but he is training for london doing the races he has, whereas I am still doing my twenty to thirty miles a week with little attention to higher paced runs as my london place is guarranteed ( I,m into baggage). Does that say it all about training?
For example, take Antonio Pinto who made the Olympic 10,000m final within 3 years of taking up running. He was just born that way.
Similarly, a friend I train with recently had the best part of 2 years without running due to injury. With a month's training (with sessions at my training paces, but much less volume) he ran under 32 mins for a local 10km and is now looking to run under 30mins by June / July (which is still about 2 mins off his previous best times though). Depressingly his sister is equally as talented - they chose the right parents.
For the rest of us, there are always small local races, age group prizes and day jobs ;-)
1 Some runners are naturally gifted and therefore excel from the outset, however this is a minority select group
2 Runners seem to have so many “marathon miles” in them
3 Age is not a major restriction
4 Having the right build helps (losing those extra few pounds of love handles!)
5 Running more, eg upping your mileage
6 Some form of speed work, although many runners adapt differing sessions
7 Positive belief in setting a new PB or hitting a particular time
Anyone, care to correct me on this? Feel free to cut and paste it into your post and add or delete things you disagree with!!