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best way to increase run/sprint endurance and pace????

Looking to increase my 1.5mi time....how should I go about it?

matt42van
matt42van g Matt VANDEWIEL
53 Post(s)
53 Post(s) Gender: Male Goal: Gain Muscle Date Joined: March 3, 2015
Posted

Hey folks!

Planning on starting a military fitness program(personal challenge...not in the Military).  The biggest challenge for me is going to be able to meet the aerobic and anarobic goals...as Ive never been a fan of running (and the standards are ridiculous!!).

Anyway...There are two ways I can think of training for a better 1.5 mi time.

1. Getting a base line and attempting to slowly increase pace over time until you hit the goal; or

2.  Start at your goal pace....run as far towards the 1.5 mi as you can and slowly increase distance everyweek until you hit the goal.

Which is better??  Personally I have always found it difficult to judge pace and making a different pace everyweek seems complicated as I dont have any fancy GPS running watches...and dont plan on getting one).  while if I know the pace I want, I can find a song with the right tempo and go about it that way.

Realistically it is going to take me longer than the prescribed time to reach teh goal...if I even can, as I am after the winter months not even at the recommended minimum fitness level to start the program cardio wise. 

Any thoughts? 

Cheers!

crood
crood a Chris P.
467 Post(s)
467 Post(s) Gender: Female Goal: Train for a sport Date Joined: August 8, 2014
Posted

i can share some of my experiences with running:

 

- first of : do not run the full distance right away. Especially not when you have never been running before, or never that distance in particular, or maybe not have been running for a longer time already.

The reasons:

your tendons, ligaments and bones and joints will not be up for it. Running is really stressfull for joints and ligaments.

I can tell, because I had the full spectrum of all injuries you can have from running too much, too early and too uncoordinated in the planning.

Afterwards I had learned a lot valid lessons and aquired a lot knowledge from doctors and other athletes.

The consequences of ignoring this can reach from impinched joints, inflamed tendons (even chronical) up to microbreaks in the bones.

 

so basically work your way slowly up to the distance. Every week a bit more.

 

And only when you can do the full distance without any strain or feeling very stable, you can begin to work on the speed.

So basically yes - to Nr 2. But also nr 1 , here is why:

 

For the progression, you'll need to vary what you are doing.

 

Endurance: you'll want to have events where you actually run more than the 1,5 miles but in a medium pace. So that the 1.5 miles become at some point an easy task - when done slowly too, compared to the higher distance.

 

Speed progression: you'll want to do short sprints on certain days to work on your power, as well as having days where you are actually trying to beat your former time on the 1,5 miles distance.

 

And yes as untrained individual, not even being at the recommended minimum fitness level you will of course take longer to reach that goal.

BUT - that should not stop you - nor should you feel bad about it. You need to be realistic, and thus understanding that progress is not linear, it needs steps forwards but also steps back, as well as pauses / recovery, and side steps (working on speciffic parts of a thing instead of doing the full thing).

 

And only that pattern and consistancy will bring you to your goal. But you'll get there.. and who cares in that case if it was taking you a longer time to get there =)

 

 

 

Admin + MS Athlete You will get nowhere, if you don't move :) - crood -
matt42van
matt42van g Matt VANDEWIEL
53 Post(s)
53 Post(s) Gender: Male Goal: Gain Muscle Date Joined: March 3, 2015
Posted

thanks for the reply! Yeah, some of the goals such as the strength and plyo style goals are reachable as I meet, exceed ot am close to many of them already. Just the aerobic and anarobic goals are a little more lofty(kind of rediculous actually). I am splitting some of the goals into a few sections...for example if I have to loose 4 minutes on my 1.5 mile time...I will set a 3 month goal or subtracting two minutes, subtracting 1 minute for the 3 months following that and the last 3 months for the other minute. Realistically the first 2 minutes will drop a bit quicker just because I havent done a whole lot of cardio over the winter but the first bit will come back pretty quick I assume.

 

Who knows I may take a full year to make some of them...or maybe I may never get there, as some of the goals are pretty high.

jmboiardi
jmboiardi p John M Boiardi
2.6K Post(s)
2.6K Post(s) Gender: Male Goal: Bodybuilding Date Joined: October 10, 2013
Posted
Posted By: matt42van

Hey folks!

Planning on starting a military fitness program(personal challenge...not in the Military).  The biggest challenge for me is going to be able to meet the aerobic and anarobic goals...as Ive never been a fan of running (and the standards are ridiculous!!).

Anyway...There are two ways I can think of training for a better 1.5 mi time.

1. Getting a base line and attempting to slowly increase pace over time until you hit the goal; or

2.  Start at your goal pace....run as far towards the 1.5 mi as you can and slowly increase distance everyweek until you hit the goal.

Which is better??  Personally I have always found it difficult to judge pace and making a different pace everyweek seems complicated as I dont have any fancy GPS running watches...and dont plan on getting one).  while if I know the pace I want, I can find a song with the right tempo and go about it that way.

Realistically it is going to take me longer than the prescribed time to reach teh goal...if I even can, as I am after the winter months not even at the recommended minimum fitness level to start the program cardio wise. 

Any thoughts? 

Cheers!

Best way to prepare for meeting running and aerobic goals - Find a guy who is nuts fresh out of the looney bin. Give him an M-16 assault rifle and tell him you are from the planet Nebulon and you have been sent to take him back to the home world to be tortured for past crimes :-P

 

Seriously - Chris gave you good pointers above.

 

John

34 years of lifting and nutritional experience and resident "old man" :-) MS Athlete and past Super Hermanite since 2013.
muscular strength
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