1.5 Mile Run

by Danielle

Hey! :)
Ive been running on and off for about 2 months now, as I am applying for the army. My mile and half time required is 12.45 mins. I run a number of routes all of which equate to 1.5 miles, except some of them I can run in under 11 mins and some of them take 13.

My times are becoming harder to improve on and if anything they seem to be getting worse :(

I was just wondering if you could give me some advice on how to get the best out of myself whilst out running.
THANK YOU :)

Answer by Dominique:

Hi Danielle,
Thanks for your running training question.
It looks like you have a good basic fitness and are getting pretty close to your goal.

Unfortunately you are using not the best strategy. And you are experiencing what others do that use the same strategy as well: stagnation and even deterioration of your times.

The secret of running your 1.5 mile faster is in... running slower. Yep, you read that right.

I am not sure how much time you have got left until your test, but this is the basic idea until then: run slowly, the pace at which you can maintain a conversation and try to build up the distance you run. The goal is to build up your stamina. Imagine if you'd build up to run 5 miles, or even more. How much easier would that 1.5 mile run be then?

Running the same distance over and over again, trying to beat the previous time may work in the beginning. But at some point you will not make progress anymore.
Even worse, because you are doing such tough sessions, you run bigger risks of injury and are wearing yourself out.

I hope you still have some time to implement this strategy. You can still do the 1.5 mile time trial once each week. But the rest of the time I'd spend doing easy running.

I suggest you read the following articles on my website: