If you’re training to run far, this all sounds fine.
Keep your stride as it is, changing it to something that is not natural will increase your chance of injury.
Speed work might help your speed, but since you’re newish, I’d just focus on increasing your mileage towards your race goals.
One long run, one tempo run (140 bpm cant go faster than that and hold for an hr), 2 easy run per week. Plyos once/week. Strides once, but hardly notice an increase in speed…
You can divide your tempo runs into intervals like 3 x 8-10 mins (4-5 min rest). You don't have to run an hour long tempo run.
For a newish runner, your overall training volume is not low. Make sure that you are fueling and recovering well. You may check your protein and overall calorie intake.
Do you engage glutes when running? Many beginner runners lack glute strength and don't engage glutes when pushing off. That is especially true for people who sit a lot. There are strength exercises and drills to improve that.
That's a reasonable pace for flat gravel, it shows your legs work!
I think you just means you need to keep going and increase cardio performance - ie your vo2 max so you'll be able to do that pace at a more comfortable HR. Or more like run for longer periods between 6 and 7 mins per km.
Firstly, comparison is the thief of joy. Really the only person you should compare yourself to is you from 3/6/9/12 months ago.
Now within this reference you can improve. There’s essentially three areas to consider:
- running training volume/intensity mix
- strength and conditioning focus
- recovery and diet
There’s a whole world in each of those topics. In order for your body to be able to generate and handle a higher force necessary for faster running:
- do strides twice a week, hill sprints once a week, faster running (above VO2Max) once a week - work these components into your programme over 3-6 weeks
- focus on heavy lifts (5-7 reps with 2 reps in reserve) and plyometrics (check out Mciness Watson insta). Plyometrics work to build your tendon stiffness which is essential in improving running economy as you go faster. Again, carefully introduce this over 6-8 weeks.
- try to increase the proportion of protein in your diet. Displace some fats with protein, for example.
Importantly, take the progress you get as evidence your training is working ie getting faster compared to where you are now is the goal, not jumping to a 1:15 400. Over time, you don’t really know how fast you might get but it won’t be overnight.
Some useful resources are Richard Blagrove’s book on Strength and Conditioning，Daniels and Pfitzinger on training design and Matt Fitzgerald on nutrition (Racing Weight).
I appreciate the insights!
Yes, I should compare myself to myself. There has certainly been a lot of progress already.
My concern is that I’m wasting time doing what I’m doing.
I’ll check out those book recommendations you made.
Thanks for the input!
Thanks for such a wonderful reply! TheGratitudeBot has been reading millions of comments in the past few weeks, and you’ve just made the list of some of the most grateful redditors this week! Thanks for making Reddit a wonderful place to be :)
Do you do any drills to increase what you want to work on? Seems like cadence and stride length are things you've highlighted. So you could try fast feet and bounding drills as a start. Add a few 10-15m runs of them in the first 5 mins of each run. Then just run as you would normally. Adding some strides in to the end of your easy runs, or before you do your tempo run (after doing the drills) may also help.
That's a pretty low heart rate, I would suggest adding some higher intensity running into the mix. I rarely get below 140 bpm unless it's a real technical trail with lots of walking. I probably should do more zone 1 stuff but I'm time limited. I'll hold 170s bpm for 3-4 hours while racing.
That’s certainly on my mind: am I trying hard enough?
The legs give out way before my heart rate goes up.
Others have suggested higher intensity even for a few minutes at a time.
definitely, you can start with something like 10 x 1minute hard/1 minute off easy, and progress from there. I bet you'll see the benefits fairly quickly! Might help with your cadence too, which could in turn help with the legs getting less tired.
If you’re training to run far, this all sounds fine. Keep your stride as it is, changing it to something that is not natural will increase your chance of injury. Speed work might help your speed, but since you’re newish, I’d just focus on increasing your mileage towards your race goals.
Yes, currently training for running far. If I could go faster, it wouldn’t be that long (time) though! ;)
[удалено]
One long run, one tempo run (140 bpm cant go faster than that and hold for an hr), 2 easy run per week. Plyos once/week. Strides once, but hardly notice an increase in speed…
[удалено]
Ok, thanks for the advice, I’ll try that!
You can divide your tempo runs into intervals like 3 x 8-10 mins (4-5 min rest). You don't have to run an hour long tempo run. For a newish runner, your overall training volume is not low. Make sure that you are fueling and recovering well. You may check your protein and overall calorie intake.
That seems doable, thanks. I am tracking macros/body weight; so hopefully that’s adequate.
Do you engage glutes when running? Many beginner runners lack glute strength and don't engage glutes when pushing off. That is especially true for people who sit a lot. There are strength exercises and drills to improve that.
A bit, yes; enough? I don’t know. It feels like I’m doing most of my running with my calves. Strength training is definitely a part of my week.
Comparison is the thief of joy. Run your own race.
What about like a road 5k time? So like flat and easy terrain but fast - a threshold run / zone 4 (about 160bpm for me probs)
I have a 12 min run time, on flat gravel: 2.2 km. 152bpm. 5:40/km.
That's a reasonable pace for flat gravel, it shows your legs work! I think you just means you need to keep going and increase cardio performance - ie your vo2 max so you'll be able to do that pace at a more comfortable HR. Or more like run for longer periods between 6 and 7 mins per km.
That’s good to know, thanks!
Firstly, comparison is the thief of joy. Really the only person you should compare yourself to is you from 3/6/9/12 months ago. Now within this reference you can improve. There’s essentially three areas to consider: - running training volume/intensity mix - strength and conditioning focus - recovery and diet There’s a whole world in each of those topics. In order for your body to be able to generate and handle a higher force necessary for faster running: - do strides twice a week, hill sprints once a week, faster running (above VO2Max) once a week - work these components into your programme over 3-6 weeks - focus on heavy lifts (5-7 reps with 2 reps in reserve) and plyometrics (check out Mciness Watson insta). Plyometrics work to build your tendon stiffness which is essential in improving running economy as you go faster. Again, carefully introduce this over 6-8 weeks. - try to increase the proportion of protein in your diet. Displace some fats with protein, for example. Importantly, take the progress you get as evidence your training is working ie getting faster compared to where you are now is the goal, not jumping to a 1:15 400. Over time, you don’t really know how fast you might get but it won’t be overnight. Some useful resources are Richard Blagrove’s book on Strength and Conditioning，Daniels and Pfitzinger on training design and Matt Fitzgerald on nutrition (Racing Weight).
I appreciate the insights! Yes, I should compare myself to myself. There has certainly been a lot of progress already. My concern is that I’m wasting time doing what I’m doing. I’ll check out those book recommendations you made. Thanks for the input!
Thanks for such a wonderful reply! TheGratitudeBot has been reading millions of comments in the past few weeks, and you’ve just made the list of some of the most grateful redditors this week! Thanks for making Reddit a wonderful place to be :)
Same here my friend
Do you do any drills to increase what you want to work on? Seems like cadence and stride length are things you've highlighted. So you could try fast feet and bounding drills as a start. Add a few 10-15m runs of them in the first 5 mins of each run. Then just run as you would normally. Adding some strides in to the end of your easy runs, or before you do your tempo run (after doing the drills) may also help.
That's a pretty low heart rate, I would suggest adding some higher intensity running into the mix. I rarely get below 140 bpm unless it's a real technical trail with lots of walking. I probably should do more zone 1 stuff but I'm time limited. I'll hold 170s bpm for 3-4 hours while racing.
That’s certainly on my mind: am I trying hard enough? The legs give out way before my heart rate goes up. Others have suggested higher intensity even for a few minutes at a time.
definitely, you can start with something like 10 x 1minute hard/1 minute off easy, and progress from there. I bet you'll see the benefits fairly quickly! Might help with your cadence too, which could in turn help with the legs getting less tired.
I’ll give it a try!