How do I improve my 8k time?

DogSlySmile

Hey everyone, just looking for a little help on this.
I've been running for a few years now mainly for fitness just doing 2 mile runs 3 times a week. But recently I signed up for a 8k race in mid September, so I've been running that distance for the last couple of weeks. My best time so far is 37:47 (with 3 x 30ish second breaks during the run).

The first 2k of the run is pretty quick (I think!) at 8:13, the second 2k is a slower 9:34, the third 2k is really slow at 11:19:eek:! but my fourth 2k is nearly as fast as my first at 8:37:confused:.

I really want to improve my overall time (especially the third 2k time) anyone any suggestions?? Obviously I've considered not taking walking breaks during the run but I'm just not ready for that yet!

Heres my times/ pace etc. http://connect.garmin.com/activity/44698730

Cheers for any help!

RoyMcC

Crikey - first of all I'd advise you to try for a constant pace, one that you can maintain throughout and try to improve over time. You're clearly going out too fast, at a pace that you haven't the ability to maintain. That last fast 2k is not unexpected as you anticipate the finish line. So, as your race is only a couple of weeks away

1. Start at a steadier pace
2. Maintain that pace as best you can
3. Step it up as best you can towards the finish.

Going forward you should develop your pace control with longer, slower runs. Speed can be developed with shorter, tempo runs or intervals.

DogSlySmile

Cheers,

I don't feel like I'm running too fast when I'm starting out though, I just run at what I feel is a natural pace.

So you're saying I should slow my pace in the first 4k in the hope my second 4k will be quicker and give me a better overall time? Yeah I'll give it a shot, this may even help me to cut the need for breaks/walks during my run.

So what is a good time to be running my first 2k if 8:13 is too fast?

Thanks for your help

RoyMcC

9.25 per 2k throughout would still bring you in on 37 mins. Your body's letting you know that 8.13 is fine for a while but you haven't yet the strength endurance to hold onto that pace. You probably will have in time.

'Going for home' at 4k is a bit ambitious, maybe leave it a bit later. But it's better to be making those decisions from a point where you are feeling good rather than having run your legs off in the first part of the run.

token56

They say you should always each half of your run around the same time, or even the second half a little bit faster. You're averaging just around 7:30 min miles which is a good pace so that fact you are stopping and walking a lot is a bit surprising. As Roy has said you need to run at a steadier pace, even if you feel you can run faster at the start.

You are running your first and last 2k under 7 min miles which is probably too fast for you at the moment. Considering you also need the breaks at the moment the hardest thing will probably be getting over running all of the 8k. Once you do that things should become easier. I'd recommend seeing if you could run the whole thing around 5 min/k pace or 8 min miles. This is a bit slower than you can do, so it should allow you to maybe run the whole thing. When you can run the whole 8k at this pace, starting bringing down the pace. It will probably drop fairly quickly once you get the strength to run the whole thing because you have decent enough speed.

DogSlySmile

Hey!

I took your advice and went for the 8k run at a slower pace and I did the whole thing with no breaks or walking. Yayyy me!

I ran at about a 7.45-8 min/mile at the start, it felt so weird running that slow but I stuck with it to see what happened. I didnt feel out of breath or tired during the run (the aul legs tightened up a bit but nothing that uncomfortable) and I was able to up the pace to a 6.30 min/mile for the last half mile or so. So I did the whole thing in 36:48, which is a minute faster than my previous best!

I felt great after (no gasping for air this time) and caught my breath in about 20 seconds. heres my pace/times etc. http://connect.garmin.com/activity/46353493

Do you think I'd be able to up the pace for my next run? Say to 7 min/mile or should I stick with this pace for a while?

Cheers for your help!

token56

Well done, thats great going, and looking at the data each mile got faster as you went on, but not by a huge amount which is good, so its great running.

How you progress from here is really up to you. Running at a constant 7 min/mile pace would be a big enough step from your last run. You'd be talking about taking off almost another 2 mins. You should also be wary of running all your runs hard. You shouldn't be pushing hard on every run, easy run's are good too.

I'm also just a bit curious about whether you have any aims in general or are you just running to get fit, and also are all your run's this same route etc? Do you have any different runs for your training? I suppose if you have a particular aim it would be easier to give advice about where you should go from here, and what you might do.

RoyMcC

Well done You're now in a much better position to judge for yourself what you can and can't do.

Rather than keep banging out 8ks ahead of your race why not try a bit of speedwork (e.g. 1k reps at faster than race pace) and the odd longer, slower run thrown in, to build a better base?

DogSlySmile

Cheers lads!

@token - I usually just run 2 keep fit, but since I signed up for the race ive been running so I dont make a show of myself! I'm really enjoying training for the race though so I'd say i'll defo be entering more races after this one. Ive been running the same route because I know its 8k and I can run it on grass or tarmac. I do have some other routes I usually run but they're around 3k each.

@Roy - you think that would help me up my pace? Maybe I could do one 8k run, one longer slower run of 10-12k and and short sprint day a week. Think that would help?

Thanks for your help guys!

RoyMcC

Your pace is fine (you'd beat me though that's no great triumph) but yes, a mixture of distances and speeds is the way to build on it.

DogSlySmile

Yo

Just thought i'd update yis on my progress so far. Went out for a run yesterday, I attempted to run a 7 min/mile for the whole thing.

It was harder than I thought it would be (though I was nursing a hangover), but I made it to the end without breaks and got my time down to 35 minutes. heres the details http://connect.garmin.com/activity/46825961

I think I'll stick with the 7min/mile pace again for my next run just to see if it was the hangover or my fitness levels that made it such a tough run

token56

Wow, I have to say fair play, thats two very big improvements and good running and the pace was fairly solid too. One thing, I know its fun to push it on runs like this and see how fast you can go etc, but be careful to not run too many runs hard especially with the race coming up soon. If you are going to do your next one hard again I'd say take the one after that easy anyway.

If you are interested you should start a training log in the sub forum. It'll be a good way to record your progress, especially if you are going to keep the running up after this race, which I think you should do anyway, and a few more people might be able to give you some help from time to time.

DogSlySmile

Thanks, I'll try and go for a slower/longer run on thursday, you havent steered me wrong so far! Sure I dont think going for a hard run would be such a good idea after Guns n' Roses on wednesday anyway! How slow is "slow" though? Like 8:30 min/mile?

Yeah I'll defo look into starting a training log aswell.

Cheers for your help!

token56

It's no problem,

I suppose how slow is relative to runner, from what I know your long slow runs should be at least 1min/mile above your racing pace. So if we take your fastest so far as racing pace for arguments sake then around 8-8:30min/mile will probably be prefect I'd say.

macinalli

DogSlySmile wrote: »

How slow is "slow" though?

I found McMillan good for this info (link). As well as predicting your time for a number of race distances, it'll also give some advice on the pace that you should run the various workouts. All the talk of LSRs, easy runs, intervals etc can be confusing - I found this helpful