Looking for Running Advice

judosean2005

Hi all,

I have my Fitness test for army in January,So that gives me roughly 4 weeks.

I need to be able to do mile and a half in under 10 minutes for a grade 1.
And thats wat i want to aim for.

At present im doing it in 14 minutes which is terrible and a grade 3.

As u know the weather isnt the best for running,few steps and u land on your ass over the ice.

So anyone got any tips or suggestions on how to improve my time.

Oh im an out of shape(actually round is a shape isnt it.lol)

Thanks

Sean

RayCun

Is there a gym you can run in? Nothing is going to improve your times more than running consistently between now and your exam.

judosean2005

there is a number of gyms around my area. However they are mostly full of massive Irish/Polish guys who could break me in half.lol.

So how far should i try to run each day?

should i run mile and half in as fast as possible
or
should i run as long as i can.

im not sure

RayCun

You should do a mix.

How far can you run now, if you just went out and ran at a comfortable speed? 3 miles?
Suppose one session a week, you went out and ran those 3 miles easy.
One session a week you went slower, and ran further. 4 miles this week, 4.5 next week, and so on.
One session a week you do intervals. Run faster for a minute, then easy for a minute, repeat 5 times. Next week run faster for two minutes , rest a minute, and so on.

judosean2005

i can run i guess 2.5 miles, but im dead after it.

Should i run everyday?

i used to be fit,i used to be able to run 8 miles a day.but now im just tired driving 8 miles.:o)

Im from Limerick,
So i can use the University Gym thats there.

RayCun

3 or 4 times a week would be fine

paky

i think you should run every other day. do 3 miles at each session. run the the first 1.5 miles as fast as you can. be careful not to injure yourself at this stage. then just take an easy jog back to the start. make sure you stretch. you should have a reasonable standard of fitness by january

Cluster92

quality is more important than quantity. remember you only want to do 1.5 miles and do it fast. get those fast twitch muscles working. one mile flat out is better than 5 miles at snails pace imho. good luck

ecoli

Cluster92 wrote: »

quality is more important than quantity. remember you only want to do 1.5 miles and do it fast. get those fast twitch muscles working. one mile flat out is better than 5 miles at snails pace imho. good luck

I would argue that. You will see improvements with the development of your aerobic base. Also the other advantage is that slower aerobic work is safer with regard to injury after this is built up you will be able to carry out anaerobic work with less of an injury risk.
This is why many top milers do cross country for strength and include a build up phase before attempting high quality work

Mr Slow

I agree with ecoli, you're not ready for speed sessions and could injure yourself quite easily. If you grow your mileage at a reasonable rate over the next four weeks to 4/5 miles at your current 10 min mile pace you will be able to run the shorter distance faster than you do currently. I await everyones input with enthusiasm :rolleyes: but below is how I'd approach it.

4 sessions per week
Week 1
2 x 2.5 miles 9:30 pace
1 x long and slow 3 miles (this is the one you grow) 10 min miles
1 x 1 mile @ 9 min mile pace

Week 4
2 x 3 miles 9:30 pace
1 x long and slow 4.5 miles 10 min miles
1 x 1 mile @ 7:30 min mile pace

Don't kill yourself because the likelihood that you'll get from 10 min miles down to 6:40 (test pace) in four weeks is slim but some structure to the way you approach it will at least bring your time down and get you a better grade.

Good Luck