Improving my times

I ran regularly up until 2009 when a serious leg injury meant I was unable to run for 2 years. Since then I was blighted by shin, knee and ankle injuries until October 2012.

I finally seem to have overcome my injuries and am running a 2hr 10m half marathon. My aim for this year is to knock that down to 1hr 48m and over shorter distances (up to 3miles) I can now maintain that speed.

Other than simply upping the distance, are there any tips to increase speed up to 13.1 miles?

 

 

Comments

  • Stevie  GStevie G ✭✭✭✭

    depends what you're currently doing for that 2hr 10.

    if you're running 15miles a week however you fancy, improvement will be simple.

    if you're doing 60miles a week with 2 quality sessions tailored to your ability, along with a very long slow run on the weekend, it'll be less easy.

  • stutyrstutyr ✭✭✭

    1:48 for a HM is 8'15" min/mile, so I guess you've derived your target time from the pace that you can maintain?

    Trying to run at 8'15" pace in training and build this up to 13 miles is a poor training strategy.  Nearly all training schedules include longer slower runs to build endurance with shorter high intensity runs (e.g. intervals & tempo sessions) to boost speed.  They tend to vary the ratio & frequency of these, but splitting your training into speed-specific and endurance-specific running is the foundation of them all.

    Using the Mcmillan pace claculator, the 1:48:00 HM is equivalent to  48:27 mins for 10k.  So you would be better aiming to break the 10k target first (7'48" min/mile pace), and then build your endurance to enable you to complete the HM in 1:48:00.  

    As Stevie G has said, there's no real shortcut to improving your time - you need to put in the miles, but if you train smarter you can maximise the benefit from each mile that you run.

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