Building up speed

devilsad

I'm a novice and have been running for about 4 weeks now. I've found it fairly easy to run at a slow pace and can keep going at that pace without running out of breath. I managed 13 kms yesterday. However, if I try to pick up the pace even a little my lungs start to burn and I quickly run out of breath and have to slow down again. Will the ability to run faster come once I get fitter? I read elsewhere about 'Stretch & Strength' where on days that you don't run you do some weights relevent to the muscles you use when you run. I've never done weights before and was thinking of asking the gym for a programme to help me. Would this have an impact on being able to run faster? I'm not too worried about it as my short term plans are to be able to run for longer not necessarily faster. I'm running the 10k Great Ireland Run on April 18th and am thinking about a half marathon in August.

At some stage though, I'd like to be able to run a bit faster. At present I run approx. 10kmph. If I even bring that up to 11kmph I'm goosed.

Any advice?

DublinRunnerJoe

Hi,

To build up speed you need to include interval training into your weekly running, a basic interval session would be 8 sprints of 200 meters with a 2 minute rest period in between each sprint...

ecoli

devilsad wrote: »

I'm a novice and have been running for about 4 weeks now. I've found it fairly easy to run at a slow pace and can keep going at that pace without running out of breath. I managed 13 kms yesterday. However, if I try to pick up the pace even a little my lungs start to burn and I quickly run out of breath and have to slow down again. Will the ability to run faster come once I get fitter? I read elsewhere about 'Stretch & Strength' where on days that you don't run you do some weights relevent to the muscles you use when you run. I've never done weights before and was thinking of asking the gym for a programme to help me. Would this have an impact on being able to run faster? I'm not too worried about it as my short term plans are to be able to run for longer not necessarily faster. I'm running the 10k Great Ireland Run on April 18th and am thinking about a half marathon in August.

At some stage though, I'd like to be able to run a bit faster. At present I run approx. 10kmph. If I even bring that up to 11kmph I'm goosed.

Any advice?

Speed will come with strength. How often do you train? If you find that your weekly routine is easy add an extra km to each run one week or an extra day running. Over time you will develop whats called an aerobic base which will help your ability to maitain a quick pace for longer without becoming as tired

ecoli

DublinRunnerJoe wrote: »

Hi,

To build up speed you need to include interval training into your weekly running, a basic interval session would be 8 sprints of 200 meters with a 2 minute rest period in between each sprint...

Intervals are strenuous on the body and increase the risk of injury especially if the athlete has only been running for four weeks. intervals should only be added after a base is built up

devilsad

Thanks for the replies.

As ecoli suggests, I think I'm a bit off 200m sprints. One of those would finish me off I think! Maybe with a 2 hour break in between!

Speed will come with strength.

This is what I'm hoping. I'm about to add in a weekly session in the gym once I get someone to show me what I should be doing.

How often do you train? If you find that your weekly routine is easy add an extra km to each run one week or an extra day running. Over time you will develop whats called an aerobic base which will help your ability to maitain a quick pace for longer without becoming as tired

I'm already wondering if I'm doing too much too soon. I was away last week and was running every other day. I was mixing it up a little. I did approx. 7.5kms one day then 10kms two days later then back to 7.5kms and so on.

I don't want to introduce another runnning day to the week as I 've heard it's not good to run two days on the trot to allow muscles to repair. Is this sound advice?

On Sunday it was a beautiful day and I felt good so I just kept going and ran 13kms. At that pace I was having no difficulty and could have kept going.

Like I said, I'm more interested in building up the ability to run for longer rather than faster. However I'd like to know if the ability to run even a little faster will come with fitness or will I have to eventually introduce the aforementioned sprints (which do not sound appealing!)?

Peckham

devilsad wrote: »

I don't want to introduce another runnning day to the week as I 've heard it's not good to run two days on the trot to allow muscles to repair. Is this sound advice?

No it's not sound advice. As you build up your base, it should be pretty straightforward to run on consecutive days. The trick is not running hard on consecutive days - it's all about alternating "hard" and "easy" days. In fact, an easy day following a hard day can do more for your recovery than total rest will - a gentle session in effect flushes out the stiffness that just builds up if you stay idle.

But it's all about building up easily. As you start off, taking every second day off is a good idea...but to build endurance you should be aiming to run 4 or 5 days a week.

devilsad wrote: »

Like I said, I'm more interested in building up the ability to run for longer rather than faster. However I'd like to know if the ability to run even a little faster will come with fitness or will I have to eventually introduce the aforementioned sprints (which do not sound appealing!)?

If your primary objective is to build up endurance (i.e. run for longer, rather than faster), then forget about speed sessions for the moment. Concentrate on getting out running more often, running at a pace at which you could hold a conversation, and gradually build up the mileage and number of running days.