Get Faster, faster!

Don Beezie

Hey all

So I am just really getting into running and am loving more as the weeks go by. I have read various articles about how to train,get faster, run longer etc. I would like to her from others in regarding the key things I should be doing to improve with the ultimate goal to run a sub 40 10k in October. I don't use any watches or hrm but rather run off how I feel which is possibly not the correct thing to do but it feels right. Can anyone add any pearls of wisdom to the below?

1. Diet- what foods in particular?
2. Weight/strength training - specific exercises?
3. Interval training - with hills, how many times a week?
4. Stretching post run to help prevent injury- key stretches, for how long?

It would be great to hear from people who have experience or know what helps you get faster quicker.

Cheers,
Beezie

ecoli

Start with the best advice I could possibly give anyone. Its probably the 2 most crucial factors to every runner in the past 50 years (even further but not getting into an argument about some unique pre 1950 training methodology) and also 2 of the most overlooked. For your entire running career your two best friends should be - consistency and progression.

Keep it simple - your aerobic base takes years to build up and as such if you have only started the biggest improvements you are going to see at first is by simply running more. This doesn't mean you have to go from 0-60 mpw over night. This leads me on to my next point

Stress and adapt - The training is only half the story. Recovery is just as important which ties in with the idea of not overdoing it at the start as your body is not used to the training stimulus and cannot recover quick enough. As your body gets used to the training stimulus you progress by either increasing distance or pace but again this should always be looked at in parallel to the recovery required. Never up pace and distance together.

consistency is key - following on from last point. There is no point running a 20 miler hard one day if its going to mean you take a week or two to recover. Better to start off doing a big regularly. The trick is to do just enough to challenge your body to improve without compromising training because it takes you so long to recover from said training session.

The stuff you have posted in your post are important but they are not a magic pill. We often look at the little details so intensely we forget about the big picture. Best advice for improvement that can be given to someone in there first two years of training is run more (sensible progression to ensure minimal injury risk being a given)

However to address your questions

1. Diet- what foods in particular?

Eat cleanly. There are many low carb diets etc around these days that while maybe they are beneficial for weight loss/ body composition can cause problems for athletes. The usual common sense style stuff that you were taught growing up generally is a decent guideline - more with the veg and porridge and less of the pints and takeaways

2. Weight/strength training - specific exercises?

Body weight exercises - squats, lunges, supermans etc are a good start. If you are looking to do weights get someone who knows what they are doing to teach you technique, trust me your 20 years in the future self will thank you for it

3. Interval training - with hills, how many times a week?

Until you start to see diminished returns from just building your mileage I wouldn't worry too much about this. Plenty of time to add this in later.

4. Stretching post run to help prevent injury- key stretches, for how long

I'll leave this one for now as there are plenty who most likely will come on shortly to deal with this topic

Best of luck in your training

Don Beezie

Wow, great advice. I really appreciate you taking the time out to put such a comprehensive response together. I have to admit I was a bit eager and over did it with the first weights session, legs in bits and niggle in hamstring which means I will probably be out for another 4/5 days. I want to get out 3/4 times a week and as you said be consistent with it. Once I have built up some mileage I can begin to incorporate weights etc
Thanks again

adrian522

ecoli wrote: »

The usual common sense style stuff that you were taught growing up generally is a decent guideline - more with the veg and porridge and less of the pints and takeaways

Oh right, I'd always thought it was the other way around, maybe that's where I've been going wrong all these years!

Don Beezie

Hey all

Just by way of an update I have been getting out two possibly three times a week for the
Last few weeks. Ended up running a 10k on Sunday and clocked 40:18which I a really happy with considering the training hasn't been specific or that regular. One thing I am a bit concerned about is that my average hr was 186 with a max of 198bpm. Now I don't know much about hr but it sounds pretty high and anyone I spoke to told me likewise. Has anyone any thoughts or info on this? FYI my resting hr is 67

Thanks in advance

menoscemo

Don Beezie wrote: »

Hey all

Just by way of an update I have been getting out two possibly three times a week for the
Last few weeks. Ended up running a 10k on Sunday and clocked 40:18which I a really happy with considering the training hasn't been specific or that regular. One thing I am a bit concerned about is that my average hr was 186 with a max of 198bpm. Now I don't know much about hr but it sounds pretty high and anyone I spoke to told me likewise. Has anyone any thoughts or info on this? FYI my resting hr is 67

Thanks in advance

What are you concerned about?
The higher HR you can hold in a race the better. Maybe if you can hold a few BPM more in the next race you'll take those 19 seconds off your time.

Don Beezie

Hey
Just thought it might be a bit dangerous to have a hr that high, maybe not though?

menoscemo

Don Beezie wrote: »

Hey
Just thought it might be a bit dangerous to have a hr that high, maybe not though?

You're supposed to go as fast as you can in a race. The faster you go the higher the HR will be. The fitter you are the higher a HR you can hold.
As long as all your training is not at that intensity I don't see the problem.
Also everyone's Max HR is different. Yours might be well over 200 in which case you can actually go harder.

Don Beezie

Thanks for the info, reassuring too know that. New goal is sub 38 in October!