1.5 mile Run for Army

Hi, nice newsletter by the way, I was wondering if you could help me. I have never been a runner but have decided on joining the British Army.

I need to be able to run 1.5 miles in under 11 minutes for assesment. I am currenly doing it in 13.30.

Are there any tips that would help me gain on that time. I am running around 2 miles four times a week, but just can't seem to get any faster.
A reply would be much appreciated.

Tony


Answer by Dominique:


Hi Tony,
Thanks for your running question.
Shaving off two minutes is quite a bit, but nothing is impossible.
Running two miles four times per week is a good start. I am not sure how long you have been doing this. But if you have been doing it for a longer time, then your body has probably gotten quite used to this routine, meaning that your performance will not improve much anymore.

Therefore, what I recommend you do is to increase your mileage. Why? Well, just imagine you'd be able to run five miles. How easy would a 1.5 mile run be then?
When increasing your mileage you increase the risk of injury, so make sure you do it safely. Also see my page about increasing mileage safely.

Given your limited running experience to date I think that you'd benefit most from only increasing your mileage, not increasing your pace (in your training runs). So, I'd keep on running at an easy pace for most of your runs, but possibly add one tempo session per week as well.

Some other articles which may be of interest to you are:


Base Running: The Foundation of Your Running Training

Tempo Running


Hope this helps you get to your goals.
Best of luck with the running training.
Cheers,
Dominique