Having issues increasing my speed.

judosean2005

Hello.Ive posteed on a few forums about my issue and none give me a straight answer.

Here is my issue:
Ive a fitness test in few weeks.army.
Mile and a half(2.4kms).in under 12.30 minutes.

Now for some of ye good runners this would be easy.

wat i have started to do is run on treadmill,as weather is very poor.

So here is wat i do.

Stretches followed by 10 minute walk.

Then i run 1 kilometre at 11k/h
then 2nd Kilometre at 12km/h
Then final 400 at 13kms.

No i found that it wasnt as physically demanding is i staggered it like that,may be wrong.
done this for a week.6 days a week.

then i tried to up the progress, instead of 11/12/13
i tried 12/13/14

I was wrecked half way through the 2nd kilometre.

Any suggestions??

or should i just go back to 11/12/13 for another few weeks.

any help is appreciated.

cheers

Sean

RoyMcC

Quick reply Sean as busy at work

• Unless your fitness test is going to be on the tready you'd better get off it onto the road or track
• Run at a steady speed with the aim to run your goal distance in (say) 14 mins, reducing that over the next few weeks - no need to be increasing pace during run
• Give yourself a break on one or two days, or just go for a walk or slower run

Good luck

sconhome

How is your base fitness? have you been running or doing any other sport or are you coming into this test with a low level of fitness?

Depending on how much time you have got and your starting point you could try a version of the couch to 5k programs, a mixture of run / walk / run with increasing distances or time in the run phase as you get fitter.

Using the treadmill may have the advantage of being able to monitor your heart rate and train inside but get used to running in the wind and rain, no guarantees of a clear day on the test day.

BobMac104

Two good posts above.

I would really advice running outside (the weather always looks worse looking from inside your house!) and run the total distance at a steady pace and it will eventually become easier. (basically repeating what was said but i think you wont go far wrong)

YFlyer

Hi Sean

I see that you are based in Limerick.

A group of us from Limerick Athletic Club train in UL on Saturday at 11 am and tuesdays at 7 pm near the Salesian School at the North Circular Road.

We are coached by Willy Logan who has years of experience with many athletes. He is very approachable and will help you out.

I usually train the other 5 days by myself or with 1 or 2 others in the Castletroy area.

--amadeus--

At the risk of sounding blunt I think you need to HTFU

You are doing a fitness test for the Army so getting outside and getting a bit wet shouldn't really be an issue for you because if you are afraid of going out in the rain you are really going to struggle through basic training where they won't cancel a planned route march just because it's a tiny bit damp.

Your real issue is probably time. It takes a couple of weeks for fitness gains from a training session to be felt, so if your test is in 3 weeks (for example) you have a single week to train and anything you do in the two weeks before the test is simply going to maintain rather than build fitness. My advice is to work on the principle of specificity - you want to run 1.5 miles on teh road so get out there and run on the road. Mix it up a bit, 3*1.5 miles at an easy (conversational) pace, 1* slow run starting at 2 miles and getting longer and 1*speed session, cruise intervals where you do 1 lap of the UL track fast followed by 1 lap slow for example. There are a couple of speed sessions in Limerick, as well as those mentioned above there are sessions every Tue evening at the UL track, get down to those and they will help.

And train in what you will be testing in - I'm assuming it's PT kit and not boots but it's worth checking. You need to be running 8:20/mile for 1.5 miles. It's really not a particularly high threshold for a fit male under 30 so there is no reason on earth to feel afraid of it. And on the day adrenaline will give you a kick so it's very achievable.

judosean2005

Excellent advice by all.
Ok little background on me.
I was extremely fit up to 5 yers ago(26 now).i was doing soccer 2 days a week,judo 2 days a week and MMA once a week.
Then i got a new job in a supermarket with long 14/15 hour days,so i became the chicken fillet roll /breakfast roll man.
then my wife had kids, which affected certain times and things i could attend.

Kids are now little older,job(due to recession) is only 3 days a week.2 half days and a 15 hour saturday.

I have only started back running about 5 weeks.i started off on the road on my own,everyday running,but i found it an utter bore,but i did it.then a friend of mine said she traing in JJB limerick every morning at 6.30..so that motivated me to get up early cause i didnt wanna let her down etc.
turns out she goes 1/2 times a week as opposed to my 6 times.

as far as i know,i have another interview and then fitness test.so it could be end of January /beginning of Feb.

Am i pushing it a little close??


Thanks for this advice,i really appreciate it.

plodder

Have you timed yourself over the distance yet? If I were you, that's the first thing I'd do. See how much work you have to do ... Would agree also with straightforward steady paced runs (outdoors). No need for anything fancy. It's just basic aerobic fitness you need.

Gringo78

If you can do 11/12/13kph for 1/1/0.4 km then you can already do 1.5 miles in 12.3 min.

Don't attempt it every day, attempt it maybe once per week. Also, better to do it at a continuous speed, so do it at 11.7kph. Up this by 0.1kph per week.

I'm not surprised that upping your session to 12/13/14 was too tough for you - thats a big step up over 1.5mls. All it means is that your current time for 1.5 miles is between 11.5 & 13min.

You essentially need to be doing 1500m/3k training so probably 400m intervals will bring you on fastest. Once per week, warmup then run 400m at 13kph, then walk for 90sec. Repeat this 10 times.

So once per week do your 1.5 mile test after warmup (preferably on the road, at a constant pace), once per week do the 400m intervals, and the rest of your runs should be around 30min at a nice easy pace.

You're better off warming up for the 10min running real easy pace rather than walking as you're presently doing.

judosean2005

Hey guys,i will take all yere advice into account.
a big one seems to be get off threadmill and onto road/track.

And yflyer i think i will try to get out to UL with ye on a tues night.
cant do me any harm and ur coach might point me in the right direction.

Thanks all.

Sean

Nwm2

judosean2005 wrote: »

Hey guys,i will take all yere advice into account.
a big one seems to be get off threadmill and onto road/track.

And yflyer i think i will try to get out to UL with ye on a tues night.
cant do me any harm and ur coach might point me in the right direction.

Thanks all.

Sean

There's nothing at all wrong with running on the treadmill for all or most of your sessions in preparation for this. It's nonsensical to think you can't achieve 2.4km in 12.5 mins without running outdoors. Set the incline to 1.5% and you're all set.

Still, it's worth it to try and get a run outside once in a while. Ideally try and go and run the actual route of the test if possible. That will give you confidence that you can do the test.

The sooner you do this, the sooner you see where you are versus the requirement, but you need to run 2.4km at under 12km/hr and as mentioned it sounds like you can do this already.

--amadeus--

Nwm2 wrote: »

There's nothing at all wrong with running on the treadmill for all or most of your sessions in preparation for this. It's nonsensical to think you can't achieve 2.4km in 12.5 mins without running outdoors. Set the incline to 1.5% and you're all set.

I was going to let this sit on the basis the OP could make up thier own mind but that is staggeringly bad advice. You might as well advise someone to train for a bike ride from Malin to Mizen by hopping on an exercise bike in the gym.

Most obvious issue first, how do you know the treadmill is accurately calibrated? It could be misreading distance or speed or both so the OP could be in either better or worse shape than he thinks. I have heard the idea that a 1.5% incline compensates for wind resistance but that is assuming that the OP will be doing a speed test in perfectly calm conditions and doesn't need to train for headwinds. And that ignores rain (or hail). And unless they are running teh test on a track the OP will also have to deal with inclines.

You want to run 1.5 miles in a given time on a road? Train on the road.

RoyMcC

Nwm2 wrote: »

There's nothing at all wrong with running on the treadmill for all or most of your sessions in preparation for this. It's nonsensical to think you can't achieve 2.4km in 12.5 mins without running outdoors. Set the incline to 1.5% and you're all set.

I was going to let it pass as well but this is - let's be kind - a minority viewpoint.

Nwm2

--amadeus-- wrote: »

I was going to let this sit on the basis the OP could make up thier own mind but that is staggeringly bad advice. You might as well advise someone to train for a bike ride from Malin to Mizen by hopping on an exercise bike in the gym.

You equate training for a 12 min run to a Malin to Mizen cycle? Now that's dumb.

In any case, many people, including myself, are spending several hours per week on indoor bike trainers in preparation for next year's competitive season. I guess we're wasting our time too?

Nwm2

RoyMcC wrote: »

I was going to let it pass as well but this is - let's be kind - a minority viewpoint.

Minority, yes. Wrong, no - I genuinely believe so, and think that people incorrectly believe that good training can't be done on a treadmill. I practice what I preach too, as I have mentioned on another thread for various reasons almost all of my running is on a treadmill. And I'm a bit sore today having hit 1:28 in the Waterford Half Marathon on Saturday. Not really fast, but in the top 10%.

It's 2.4km for god's sake, and he can already run it.

RoyMcC

Fair enough, good run and way beyond my poor capabilities. It's still unorthodox advice to someone starting out and being unaware of the big difference between tready and road running.

Do you think you'd go faster if you were able to train on the roads?

huskerdu

Nwm2 wrote: »

Minority, yes. Wrong, no - I genuinely believe so, and think that people incorrectly believe that good training can't be done on a treadmill. I practice what I preach too, as I have mentioned on another thread for various reasons almost all of my running is on a treadmill. And I'm a bit sore today having hit 1:28 in the Waterford Half Marathon on Saturday. Not really fast, but in the top 10%.

It's 2.4km for god's sake, and he can already run it.

True, but its not a race where a minute or two each way will not matter.

Its a fairly serious job interview and he wants to be well prepared.

He will get one shot at it, and if the weather is foul and he is not used to running on the road into a strong headwind and he messes up on the day, he will really regret it.

He has already proved he can run the right speed on the treadmill, it is good advice that he do it outside so he knows what to expect on the day.

judosean2005

OK so the issue is whether treadmill running is the sme as ruuning on road.

Well when i started i ran on the road,and i couldnt run very far without needing a break,hills etc.
But in gym on treadmill,i could run little further then stop.now i can run the 2.4km and not stop.

As someone calculated i can now do the run in 12.3 minutes roughly.
I need to do it under 12.40.

But id really like to blow the time away.like 10 minutes,and even 9 if i could push it.(or someone pushes me in a wheelchair).

Sean

Nwm2

huskerdu wrote: »

True, but its not a race where a minute or two each way will not matter.

Its a fairly serious job interview and he wants to be well prepared.

He will get one shot at it, and if the weather is foul and he is not used to running on the road into a strong headwind and he messes up on the day, he will really regret it.

He has already proved he can run the right speed on the treadmill, it is good advice that he do it outside so he knows what to expect on the day.

Did you stop reading halfway through my post?:) Here's the rest:

"Still, it's worth it to try and get a run outside once in a while. Ideally try and go and run the actual route of the test if possible. That will give you confidence that you can do the test.

The sooner you do this, the sooner you see where you are versus the requirement,..."

Still, I disagree with what I perceive to be your underlying premise that he can't properly train on the treadmill. It's HOW he trains is what is important, not whether it is road or treadmill. Tempo runs, intervals, easy runs - all can be done on the treadmill. But as I said before, it is only a 2.4km run and he used to be fairly fit.

Nwm2

RoyMcC wrote: »

Fair enough, good run and way beyond my poor capabilities. It's still unorthodox advice to someone starting out and being unaware of the big difference between tready and road running.

There are differences, but they are not the huge ones that many people think, especially not the laughable one that all you are doing is lifting your foot out of the way and letting the belt move under you. At this fundamental level there is no difference in that you are still propelling yourself forward in almost exactly the same manner.

He has a 2.4km, 12km/hr fitness test in a few weeks and he gleaned from other people's posts that his #1 priority was to get off the treadmill and onto the road. My point is that sufficient speed/fitness can just as easily be gained on the treadmill, for this test.

In fact, I'd go so far as to say with any regular running at all of any sort he will be grand, but yes if I was asked I'd give him a plan of some sort.

RoyMcC wrote: »

Do you think you'd go faster if you were able to train on the roads?

Probably in ideal conditions, but in reality amongst other things that would involve me running in the pitch dark on potholed narrow country roads, hoping not to be hit by speeding cars suffering limited visibility due to rain etc, so any sort of proper road training is very difficult. My treadmill running is pretty high quality - about 3.5 hrs a week total (I replaced one mile-repeat session with a long run since I started training for the HM about 8 weeks ago).

In any case, this is irrelevant to someone who is training for a 2.4km, 12km/hr run where the fundamental issue is basic fitness, not trying to squeeze out some extra performance at the top end.

--amadeus--

Nwm2 wrote: »

You equate training for a 12 min run to a Malin to Mizen cycle? Now that's dumb.

In any case, many people, including myself, are spending several hours per week on indoor bike trainers in preparation for next year's competitive season. I guess we're wasting our time too?

Reductio ad absurdum.

As for spending hours a week on an indoor bike prepping for a competitive season no you are not wasting your time. I would argue that you are however not making the best use of your time, which is a very different thing. Hence the principle of specificity. According to the OP the only reason he is running indoors is because the "weather is very poor". Given how little running experience he seems to have advising him to get out and train under the conditions he will be tested in seems pretty fundamental.

judosean2005

OK so after establishing that running on the road is the best option for me.and if i run on treadmill its OK too.

So what should my next step be??

I would love to get under ten minutes on my time.
SOoo. any one got a plan or link i could go by??

Sean.

PS. Lets day timeline is 5/6 weeks.

RoyMcC

Sean you'd be better off just aiming to get inside your target time for this interview. Come back to us afterwards when you're ready for a world record attempt

RayCun

judosean2005 wrote: »

OK so after establishing that running on the road is the best option for me.and if i run on treadmill its OK too.

So what should my next step be??

Gringo's plan in post 9

judosean2005

RoyMcC wrote: »

Sean you'd be better off just aiming to get inside your target time for this interview. Come back to us afterwards when you're ready for a world record attempt

Problem is,its a graded run. 12.30 is a grade 3.which is a pass.

But in these bad times alot pf people are applying to army and defence forces,so if it came down to it.
Me and another guy and he beat my time by 1 minute,he'll go through.

I have the time,i have the ''will-power''.
wat i lack is the knowledge and the lung capacity.lol

Sean

judosean2005

OK.
So ive started to do all that was suggested for me!!
and its been great.
I went from a personal best of 12.06
down to 10.11.
So thats about mile in 7 minutes.
my next goal is to break 10 minutes.

Any other tips u could give me??

Sean

Gringo78

judosean2005 wrote: »

OK.
So ive started to do all that was suggested for me!!
and its been great.
I went from a personal best of 12.06
down to 10.11.
So thats about mile in 7 minutes.
my next goal is to break 10 minutes.

Any other tips u could give me??

Sean

My tip would be to not go over board on doing 'time trials' over the distance, this may lead to injury. Trust in the training that brought your time down significantly and just continue that - plenty of easy running and max 2 sessions per week continuing the interval training, gradually increasing the speed.