Finding It Impossible to Do a Sub-6 Min 1500 Metres

by Jay
(Ireland)

I am a 42yr old male, height 5' 9" weight 154lbs For a couple of years I've been walking 2 miles in 22 mins or so. But about six weeks ago I began to run 1500m every day in my local park. Some days twice, once in the morning and again in the evening.

My very first time was 07:49mins and my current PB is 06:08mins. If i was to take an average of all my times (which I record) it would be 06:30mins.

My question is: I can't seem to get below 06:00mins. What should I be eating and how long before I run to give myself more energy and speed? Thanks.

Answer by Dominique:
Hi Jay,

Thanks for your question about your 1,500m time.

It looks like you have made some good progress over a short period of time.

And you may find that by taking this exact method going forward you'll still be able to improve a little bit over the next few weeks and months.

But there is a better way. So, rather than talking about food to give you that extra special energy to get faster, I'd like to provide a few useful training suggestions:

1. Why have you hit a wall?
2. Do not race every day, but start easy running
3. Still do some faster running

Why Have You Hit a Wall?

What you are currently doing is that you run the same distance as fast as you can. And this method can be successful to start off with. But at some point, as you noticed, you stop improving. You more or less hit this invisible wall.

Running fast often can help improve your speed. But at the moment, your speed is as good as it can be. We need to now approach this problem from a different angle.

The 1,500m is a tough, tough race. One of the toughest ones out there. Why? Because you need to build a good combination of endurance and speed. As you would have no doubt have experienced, six minutes is a very, very long time to be running at close to top speed.

The 1,500m relies on speed, for sure. But even more than speed, it relies on endurance. And you haven't trained your endurance. So, let's try fix that.

Do Not Race Every Day

Rather than going all-out and doing 1,500m every time, I would advocate a different approach: run slower, but further.

This will help you bild an endurance base.

Start by running at a conversational pace, the pace at which you are able to have a conversation while running. Over time, build up the time spent running. From maybe 10 minutes at first, to 15, 20 and so on. It would be great if you could run 30-45 minutes per week 3-4 x per week.

Check out a bit more about this idea on the base building page.

And also check out the increasing mileage safely.

Still Do Some Faster Running

I am not saying you cannot race the 1,500m anymore, but I would really recommend you give yourself a break from the constant pressure of that particular distance and instead practice some interval running.

When running intervals you can be flexible and play around with the length of the intervals, the number of intervals and the pace. One idea is to do some shorter workouts at a pace that's just a bit faster than your current Personal Best (PB), and then do some longer interval workouts at a pace that's just a bit slower than your current PB. This will help make you faster over time.

E.g. Your current 1,500m pace is 4:05 min /km. You could do 5 x 300m at 4 min/km pace with a 1 minute rest in between as a shorter workout. And for example 8 x 400m at 4:20 min/km pace with 90 seconds rest in between.

Do your intervals only once a week, not once a day or even twice a day! Way too much! You may find that even just cutting down on the daily intensity will provide you with better results.

Then once every 2-3 weeks, do a 1,500m time trial. I bet you that after building a stronger endurance base and giving your body a break from the constant racing, you will start seeing improved results. There are many other ways to train than just going completely all-out all the time. And, you will find, over time that variety and endurance will provide you with much better results!

Best of luck.
Kind regards,
Dominique