How fast can I get faster?

September 23, 2011 4:26 PM

What degree of speed improvement should I expect or aim for in trying to improve running times?

I've been running for about two years now. In the last year or so, I found several races that I liked, and now I'm running them for a second time and trying to achieve PRs. When I started running, I was happy if my training runs averaged 12 min/mile. I want to work towards running 10 min/mile comfortably, because for some reason I have it in my head that that's a respectable pace, but I don't know how long it should take to get there.

I'm preparing for my second attempt at a half marathon in December. When I did it last year, the goal was just to finish. Having accomplished that, I want to do better this year. Any improvement is a win, but I also want to set challenging (but realistic) goals that will keep me motivated.

I'm using Hal Higdon's intermediate plan to train for the half. (I used his novice plan for the half last year, and I just completed his intermediate plan to improve my 10K time from last year.) The plan references race pace, so what should I realistically aim for as a race pace? Should I be aiming to beat last year's pace by 3 seconds per mile, 30 seconds per mile, a minute per mile?

I can provide a rough chronology of my race activities, if that would be helpful. The most relevant ones are probably a 10K I ran last weekend at 10:30 min/mile, and last year's half at just a hair under 12 min/mile. When I'm running a few miles comfortably, I'm usually around 11:30 min/mile.

Thoughts and insights?

posted by Terriniski to Health & Fitness (8 answers total)

I don't know if this is useful information... I am a hobby runner; I mostly run for fitness. Thus, I am not too particular about my times. However, three years ago, I ran a 15k. I then ran the same 15k one year later, and I noticed that my average per mile time had improved by two minutes. I went from 11 minute miles, to 9 minute miles. I don't if that's a good guide for improvement, but, well, there you go.
posted by AlliKat75 at 4:40 PM on September 23, 2011

You can run 10K at a 10:30 pace. Good. I think you should stick to the beginner plan and not move up to intermediate yet, but here goes:

Run at least three times a week. Long run on the weekends. Your hard day is one of the following three:

5x2mi @ 15 seconds faster than goal pace. 3 min active recovery between intervals.
3x3mi @ 15 seconds faster than goal pace. 4 min active recovery between intervals.
2x4mi @ 10 seconds faster than goal pace. 5 min active recovery between intervals.

I'd throw in some 800m repeats in there as well. As fast as you can go and still do at least four of them, six if possible, and building up to a set of eight. Do the first one kinda easy, make the middle ones count, and die on the last one.

To run fast at a long distance, you need to run faster at a shorter distance. If 10min/mi is going to be fast for you, you need to put a lot of work in at an 8:00min/mi or 7:30min/mi pace.

December? That's kinda tight. Right now you're running comfortably at 11:30. You could probably race at 11:00 without a problem. A 10:00 race is possible, but you need to put the work in now AND not get injured. I'm kinda worried about you pushing hard and throwing all this hard work down the drain.

Speedwork should be the icing on the cake.
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 5:04 PM on September 23, 2011 [2 favorites]

OH! And get a GPS watch. You can find a Garmin Forerunner 305 for ~$140 on Amazon. They're not essential, but they're very useful for pacing strategies. At a glance you can see your current pace, your average pace, your last lap pace, and your heart rate. Good to know when you're doing this type of training.

actually there's a ton of more info you can tell it to give you, but that's how i use it.
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 5:21 PM on September 23, 2011 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Just to be clear, I'm not aiming for 10 min/mile for December. I'm trying to figure out what to aim for in December. (And as a follow-up, how long it might take for me to work to 10 min/mile. Next year? The year after that?)

Here is the training plan I'm using. It's very similar to the training plan I just completed for the 10k, except that the long runs go further.
posted by Terriniski at 5:52 PM on September 23, 2011

Best answer: I'm taking a wild-ass guess and saying you could nail 10:00 by next year, no problem. You could do that without any speed work, just by putting in the miles (but by paying attention to your pace, gradually pushing yourself to do your LSD runs a little faster every time).

If you're running a 10K in 1:04:00 right now, the McMillan Running Calculator says that your half marathon pace is 10:35. That's a big improvement over what you did last year already. Shoot for that. If that feels too aggressive, try 10:45 or 10:50. This is where having the 305 would be really handy.
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 8:04 PM on September 23, 2011

I've found that, as a decent approximation, I'm about 6% slower at double the distance. So, for example, if I can do 5K in 24:00 then I'd expect to do 10K in about 51:00. In your case, this suggests that if you're doing 10:30 per mile at 10K then your pace for the HM would be about 11:10 per mile. So I think you should be able to get that down to 11:00 per mile by December.

Also, I agree that the Garmin Forerunner is really useful for working on your pace. If you know what route you're running, you can even set a "virtual training partner" who does the course at a fixed target pace. The Garmin then tracks how far ahead or behind your "partner" you are, which can be a good motivator sometimes!
posted by logopetria at 8:12 AM on September 24, 2011

Response by poster: That calculator is very helpful - it seems to have everything I need in terms of telling me what pace each of my workouts should be at. Thanks! I may look into a Garmin at some point. I have a basic HRM without GPS, and I use the RunKeeper app on my phone to track my runs. I'll just have to play around with it a bit so that I get the most useful updates on my pace throughout a run. Maybe a Garmin in the future.
posted by Terriniski at 10:12 AM on September 24, 2011

Have you considered Heart Rate training? You can find guides that help you calculate max HR, and then where you should be getting your HR to with your training sessions (90%, 80%, etc).

Let me know if you are interested, I can explain further.

Also, have you tried the Galloway run/walk method? For slower runners, this can speed you up a lot.

Are you a man or woman? How old are you? How often do you run? What is your weekly mileage? Do you run in a group or by yourself?

All these things will affect how much faster you get and how quickly.

Anecdotally, I started exercising January 1, 2010. I was 33 years old, male, and 350 pounds. I was just walking, but I did it every day, for 3 miles (about an hour). By May I was down to 280, so I could start running very short distances. By June I could run a mile. October 2 I ran my first half marathon, using a 1/2 mile run and 1 minute walk, and finished in 2:28, about a 12 minute mile. November I ran my second half marathon, in 2:10, about 10 minute miles. January, 2:07. Then in March, I did a 1:53 half marathon in my last race of the season.

Right now I am training for a full marathon. I'm right at 200 pounds. Last Saturday I ran a 15K in 1:17, about a 8:15 pace.

I run almost every day, but I gradually improved my distance and followed the 10% rule. I did a run group 2-3 times a week, and always tried to run with guys faster than me. Running with people faster than you is the best way to get faster.

So how fast can you get faster? Pretty quickly. Dropping from 12:00 min pace to a 10:00 min pace could be done in a few months. December would be ambitious, but March or April isn't. But there are a lot of variables that go into the equation.

Also, losing weight helps too (if you are overweight). I've read that 10 pounds can affect your 10K time by 1 minute.
posted by I am the Walrus at 7:34 PM on September 26, 2011