I often get stuck running at a comfortable pace and have a hard time pushing myself to go faster. I have been working on increasing my speed the past few weeks. I have found some great tips for pushing your pace and thought I would share them with you today.
- Speedwork: Track workouts are key for pushing your pace and finding out what your top speed is. You should be pushing yourself by running sprints all out. One of my favorite track workouts is 4x800, 4x400 and 4x200. I push my pace at 45 seconds or less for the 200's, 1:30 or less for 400's and 3:00 or less for 800's.
- Tempo Runs: Warm up for about a mile and then push your run a minute faster than race pace. Currently I try to run my tempo runs at a 7:30 minute mile pace.
- Focus on Form: Keep your back straight, shoulder's back and relaxed with a slight forward lean. Focus on swinging your arms in rhythm with your strides. The faster your arms swing, the faster your legs will go.
- Strength Workouts: Work your legs in the gym with squats, squat jumps and burpees. These all help increase leg strength in running. Also, upper body strength and cross training keeps your body strong and injury free.
- Hydrate: This is so important during your runs, as well as before and after. Keep your body functioning by hydrating properly.
- Diet: Focus on eating foods for performance. Look at food as fuel and focus on a healthy diet, lots of fruits, veggies and protein.
- Hire a Coach: Getting a coach may be key in pushing you out of your comfort zone. You may not be able to afford full time coaching, but even a few sessions can make a world of difference in your running.
- Find a Running Group: Run with a group that challenges you to push your pace. Ask at your local running store, or check your area Nike or Athleta stores, they often offer free running groups that provide challenges and motivation from other runners and coaches.
- Nike LA has the She Runs LA Crew
- Nike San Francisco has the SF Crew
- Nike New York has the Bridgerunners
- Nike Eugene has a Run Club
- The Stump Runners hail from Portland, OR
- Athleta Roseville has a Sunday morning run club
- Fleet Feet stores offer training groups and run clubs
- Social Media: Reach out to your social media friends and communicate with others on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. These avenues can offer instant support and motivation to push yourself further. On Twitter you may want to follow:
- @nikerunning, @mariepurvis, @augustinafitness, @jeanettejeankins, @fitfluential and other friends you may find through the fit world on Twitter.
- Sleep: Make sure you are getting at least eight ours of sleep a night. Your body recovers and rebuilds while you are sleeping so don't slack off on sleep.
- Write a Plan: Focus on your goals, make a plan and stick to it.
Happy Training!
I don't know why, but running fast scares me. Especially those track workouts. I'm going to give it a try, only because I plan to run a marathon someday soon, and I want to make sure I have the endurance for it. Thanks for your tips.
ReplyDeleteRunning fast can be scary in the beginning, but once you try it, it becomes fun to challenge yourself to beat previous times and it feels so good when you complete a workout. I always feel stronger after a track workout. Let me know how your first speed workout goes!
DeleteWill do. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI do speed sessions on the track and also tempo runs with the Centurion NikeRunZA group once a week. During speed session I do mostly between 6x400 and 8x400, depending on how much time I have. I usually aim at the beginning for 1:25 and then half way when I'm warm I crank it up to 1:20 or less, maybe say 1:18.
ReplyDeleteOn tempo runs I make sure to start easy and then I crank my pace up to between 4 and 5min/km. The distance covered is 5 to 6km. It's helped me quite a lot in my running and I've been able to shave off sometimes up to 2 minutes off my 10k times in the last few months. I certainly attribute the speed sessions to having achieved my current PB of 42:52 and 5k PB of 19 minutes. Unfortunately I'm still recovering from a calf injury at the moment so my current 10k times are a bit slower than before but I'm confident I'll be blazing those fast times again very soon and will hopefully also break that 40 minutes barrier soon. What are you times like in the 10k. I'm also planning to run my first half marathon in September. Looking forward to it!
You and I seem have similar training routines, especially with the speed sessions and tempo runs which is great!! Is there any way we can maintain regular contact and share ideas and training methods. Something else we also have in common is the shoes. I also run in Nike Lunarglide shoes.
You can also check out my running blog where I also post updates of my training runs as well as races (or at least I try to). http://runningfir.blogspot.com/.
Thanks for the comment! That's exciting that you train with NikeRunZA! I checked out your blog too, great goals! We should definitely stay in contact and share training plans. I try to update my blog frequently and am going to focus it on training more this year as I work on lowering my times and aiming for PR's.
DeleteSounds like you have some pretty fast PR's, sorry about the calf injury, but I am sure you will bounce back soon. It's awesome that you run in lunarglide's too, they are great training shoes.
That's great! I'll definitely keep you up to date with new developments in my training and how I do at races! I did a 10k on Saturday where I finished in 55:33. Nowhere near my PB as you can see, but it's okay! I'm happy with it. I'm going continue taking it easy for a while until I'm certain I can start pushing it hard again!
DeleteI'll keep you posted!