Best-Running-Tips.com

How to Improve my Running Time

I am running a 13:42 Mile and a half. I am leaving for the marines in less than 3 weeks. I need to cut it to at least 12 minutes. Is there anyone who can help me do that because right now it seems impossible.
by Mike (Florida)

Answer by Dom: Hi Mike, thanks for your question. You have not given yourself a lot of time to improve — but three weeks is enough to get faster, and more importantly, to arrive at boot camp uninjured. I'll break my response down as follows:

1. What 12 minutes really asks of you
2. Do longer runs
3. Do some faster running
4. What to do with so little time left
5. Your three-week plan
6. Test day: how to pace the 1.5 miles

1. What 12 minutes really asks of you

Let's do the maths. 13:42 is about 9:08 per mile, or 2:16 per 400 metres (one lap of a track). 12:00 is 8:00 per mile, or 2:00 per lap. That's 16 seconds faster on every lap, six laps in a row.

It's a big ask for three weeks. Some runners who have been training badly (or not at all) find a minute or more in that time, because pacing and a bit of structure make such a difference. Others find 30 seconds. I don't know which you are yet — so aim for 12:00, and be pleased with anything under 13:00 that leaves you healthy.

2. Do longer runs

Imagine you'd be running 5 or 6 miles a number of times a week. Then how easy would 1.5 miles be?

1.5 miles is a great test of not only your speed, but also your endurance. For many people this is the big problem, they don't have the endurance to be able to go fast for a prolonged period of time.

You can't build up to 5 or 6 miles in three weeks, so don't try. Instead, run 25 minutes at easy pace in week one, 30 minutes in week two, and 35 minutes in week three. Easy means you can talk in full sentences. If you can't, slow down.

3. Do some faster running

One way to improve your running is to do some faster running, especially running just around the lactic acid threshold. This is the speed you can keep up for a longer period of time, just below the speed at which your legs would start feeling heavy. Read up more about Tempo Running.

For you, threshold effort is roughly 9:45 to 10:15 per mile. Once a week, run 10 minutes at that effort after a proper warm-up. Add a second session of shorter, quicker repeats, where you practise the 2:00-per-lap pace you need on the day:

• Week 1: 4 × 400 metres at about 2:05, with a 90-second walk or jog between each.
• Week 2: 6 × 400 metres at about 2:02, with 90 seconds between each.
• Week 3: 3 × 800 metres at about 4:05, with 2 minutes between each.

Warm up with 10 minutes of easy running first and finish with 5 minutes of easy jogging. Those repeats should feel hard but controlled. If your last one is much slower than your first, you went off too fast.

4. What to do with so little time left

Yes, this is a big problem. Ideally you would have asked this question three months ago. Suddenly doing 5- or 6-milers now would leave you very exposed to running injuries.

So I would like to advise you to go running every day over the next few weeks, but you would very likely end up injured.

A possible way to overcome this is do some other cardio-training as well, e.g. bike riding. Bike riding is a great way to build up stamina as well, without the impact on knees and joints that running has. As such it is a great complementary exercise to running.

Ride for 30 to 45 minutes on your non-running days, at a pace where your breathing is steady but not easy. Beware of shin pain, too. A dull ache that eases as you warm up is a niggle — a sharp pain on one spot of the bone that gets worse as you run is not. Stop, rest, and listen to your body.

5. Your three-week plan

Run four days a week at most, with a rest or bike day in between. The same pattern repeats each week:

• Tuesday: 400 or 800-metre repeats (see above).
• Thursday: 10 minutes at threshold effort, with easy running before and after.
• Saturday: easy run of 25, 30, then 35 minutes — on grass or a trail if you can.
• Monday, Wednesday, Friday: bike ride, or rest. Sunday is rest.

In the last week, cut the mileage. Keep the Tuesday session short (3 × 400 metres at 2:00) and do nothing harder than an easy 20-minute run in the three days before your test.

6. Test day: how to pace the 1.5 miles

Most runners at your level start too fast, feel great for 400 metres, and then die. Don't.

Run your first lap in 2:00 to 2:03, not 1:50. Hold that for laps two to four, even when it starts to hurt. Then with two laps left, start to build, and give everything you have in the final 400 metres. Even pacing wins this test.

Warm up with 10 minutes of easy running and a few short, quicker strides, finishing about 10 minutes before you start.

Mike, wishing you lots of luck over the next few weeks. I hope you will get closer to that 12-minute mark — and keep running once boot camp starts, because you will keep improving long after the test is over.

Good luck.
Kind regards,
Dom

Some Other Pages You May Like