[egoist]

hello!!

I'm kinda extremely desperate to increase my timing for running. Currently, I take around 16min to complete 1.5mile. IM HORRIBLY OUT OF SHAPE!!!


My goal is to take about 10min to complete 1.5mile.


I've been running every single day for around a month already but I don't see any significant improvement in my timing.

One question I have is that to increase my timing, should I run faster in 1.5mile or run longer, so that I can run faster? (does this even make any sense?) Should I build on speed or endurance?

I've also noticed that when I run, I tend to take small steps. More like jogging actually. I've tried to actually take bigger steps while running but I get wiped out very fast and I find that I don't have the energy to complete the run.

Imma girl by the way, if gender has anything to do with the development of stamina.


Any cross country runners/sprinters/anyone who's good at running??? HELP ME!!!


Thankyouguyssomuch!

[aF 1]

you should work on overall conditioning and endurance first
one way to achieve this is to incrementally increase the volume of your running
for example 2 miles a day for week 1
2.5 miles a day week 2
3 miles a day week 3
3.5 for week 4
and so on (at your pace/discretion)
soon you will find 1.5 miles to be a walk in the park - no pun intended
and you will have alot more energy to improve your times

dont worry so much about technique/stride at this point
its more important to concentrate on conditioning/vo2 max

there are plenty of resources online
google is your friend!

[Makaveli]

I have a couple of questions for you first before I make
any recommendations. How often do you run?
Also do you do any other physical activities before it?
Lastly do you eat a decent meal before running?
aka carbs with a little protein.

[egoist]

I have a couple of questions for you first before I make
any recommendations. How often do you run?
Also do you do any other physical activities before it?
Lastly do you eat a decent meal before running?
aka carbs with a little protein.

hi XD

I run everyday and I would do a full body warm up before running.

And I do martial arts so sometimes before running I would do a few kicks and punches with my punching bag.

Yup, and I eat 3 hours before running. Normal meals, not too heavy. Usually it's bread and soup or sometimes rice and grilled chicken.

[timothyparkerr]

All I can say is you might want to breathe deep from your diagram to breathe out the CO2 building in your system.

[Makaveli]

3 hours? I'd suggest 2 hours. I personally eat roughly an
hour prior to training. Make sure you eat a lot of bread
with your soup. Running every day isn't really effective
as it doesn't give your muscles time to rest, grow
and buffer out the lactic acid. I would say try running 4 times
a week and just keep pushing your intensity every time you run.
I would personally increase the durations. If you can run that
same pace for double the mileage then the first half should
be easy.

[SOCKBUNNY]

^imo, running everyday was more effective for me. makes it a habit and stops myself from slacking off...

deeper breathing helps, breath in from nose and out from mouth (helps relieve cramps too)

I'd go with what aF 1 says (looks similar to workouts the cross country coach would put up), building endurance should come first if you want speed.

another thing, what kind of courses are you running on? imo, hills are your bff. running on a course with varied slope will help you more with endurance than a flat course. of course, they're pain to run on

[egoist]

3 hours? I'd suggest 2 hours. I personally eat roughly an
hour prior to training. Make sure you eat a lot of bread
with your soup. Running every day isn't really effective
as it doesn't give your muscles time to rest, grow
and buffer out the lactic acid. I would say try running 4 times
a week and just keep pushing your intensity every time you run.
I would personally increase the durations. If you can run that
same pace for double the mileage then the first half should
be easy.

hmm ok. lol. I couldn't eat an hour before training, I tried that once and it felt terrible running. Strangely, I run everyday but my leg muscles don't feel very sore. Maybe I'm not running more intensively or something.

^imo, running everyday was more effective for me. makes it a habit and stops myself from slacking off...

deeper breathing helps, breath in from nose and out from mouth (helps relieve cramps too)

I'd go with what aF 1 says (looks similar to workouts the cross country coach would put up), building endurance should come first if you want speed.

another thing, what kind of courses are you running on? imo, hills are your bff. running on a course with varied slope will help you more with endurance than a flat course. of course, they're pain to run on

I run on a flat course on a track, cos I'll be able to measure the distance. XD

[Makaveli]

hmm ok. lol. I couldn't eat an hour before training, I tried that once and it felt terrible running. Strangely, I run everyday but my leg muscles don't feel very sore. Maybe I'm not running more intensively or something.

Soreness is not an indication of progress or growth.
It's caused by excess lactic acid build up.

[knockblock]

One question I have is that to increase my timing, should I run faster in 1.5mile or run longer, so that I can run faster? (does this even make any sense?) Should I build on speed or endurance?

Yes. And build on your endurance/stamina.

[darkdragon315x]

try changing your course; run on hills and run further than 1.5 miles; try fartlek style (wiki it for more info); that'll help you improve on speed and endurance

and use this for measuring distance: http://www.geodistance.com/

i personally use it to explore the neighborhood and plan my routes just to make things more interesting

[damyoungji]

Endurance first, then speed.

After all, if you do not have the endurance, you will not have the energy to run faster. Your body will slow you down when you do not have endurance.

[Elee]

you should eat healthier. stop jogging if you want to work on your speed. try running hills (inclines).. try SPEEDING bc it wont really help if you run 8 miles and it takes you like 3 hours... try running LONGER and FASTER.

3 hours? I'd suggest 2 hours. I personally eat roughly an
hour prior to training. Make sure you eat a lot of bread
with your soup. Running every day isn't really effective
as it doesn't give your muscles time to rest, grow
and buffer out the lactic acid. I would say try running 4 times
a week and just keep pushing your intensity every time you run.
I would personally increase the durations. If you can run that
same pace for double the mileage then the first half should
be easy.

4 times? maybe 5. take the weekend for your day off. im a cross country runner, we run all week long except sundays, because you need at least ONE day to let your muscles rest. MAKE SURE YOU ICE .. PLEASE PLEASE REMEMBER TO ICE WHERE YOU FEEL PAIN. because it wont go away and will only get worse. last year was my first year that i ran and i was a lazy bum before that. the training was too intense and my body wasnt used to it, and i didnt ice at all. the punishment my body gave me was that i missed two days of school because i could barely walk . . and everything went downhill from that.

focus on running LONGER before SPEED b/c as everyone said, you cannot speed without endurance. try running longer than 1.5 miles and increase your distance as the days and weeks go by. soon enough 1.5 miles will be nothing for you. when that happens, YOUR SPEED is going to increase, thats for sure !

[edrianisawesome]

I know how you feel, when I was starting out two years ago. I was so bad, actually back when I was in the 5th grade (sophomore now.) it took me about 23 mins to run 1 mile, just coz I was that slow. In that span of two years from 2006 to now, I have improved my running, time and speed so much because I was determined too. I know that running is not all that good at first but when you get used to it like I did, it feel really good.

[edidi]

Run shorter distance with a bag with heavy stuff in it

[FFDk]

Run while carrying something heavy it improve speed n endurance

[jihinpark]

-Avoid eating too much food before you run i.e. running before breakfast is the best time.
-Try increasing your time each session. Run 8 laps today, 9 tomorrow, 10 the day after, etc.
-Focus on a balanced diet with both carbs and fats because your body needs fats as energy when you run.
-Try running more on the toes than the heel, this will propel you forward more since you're leaning forward.
-Buy leg weights (I used to run with 5 lbs on each side during track season). This is really tiring but will train you!
-Run everyday! (except sunday)