Topic: Running

[iforgot120]

I've been trying to increase how often I run per week. My original goal was 3 mi/day five days a week but that became too intensive for me. I realized that there are probably better ways of getting in running into a routine than just straight distance running but I've never done running workouts before. I did read around and saw someone suggested sets of 400m with :30 rest in between but are there any other good sets to do? And how often should you run a week?

[Mathew C]

None of your questions have answers that will work for everybody. You need to set some goals. for example, are you training to run a marathon? Are you shooting for a 6-minute-mile?

Why do you want to run more?

[iforgot120]

Hm, that's true.

Whenever I ran, I always worked on sprint training with short distances. Because of that, I have a high topspeed but my endurance is pretty crap; that's basically what I want to work on. I've run three miles straight before but I want to get that up to five with as fast of a time as possible.

Speaking of which, what's a good five mile time?

[Dan Elric]

Hm, that's true.

Whenever I ran, I always worked on sprint training with short distances. Because of that, I have a high topspeed but my endurance is pretty crap; that's basically what I want to work on. I've run three miles straight before but I want to get that up to five with as fast of a time as possible.

Speaking of which, what's a good five mile time?

Five mile or do you mean 5k?  Because five miles isn't as standard for a race distance as a 5k. It also matters whether you want competitive times or noncompetitive times and whether you are male or female.

[iforgot120]

I meant 5mi but I see what you mean. Are there 8K runs? Otherwise I can just average a good 5K and 10K time and play with it mathematically a little.

And I'm male.

[Dan Elric]

Well, a good time would probably be under an average of 6 minute miles.  So I would say 30 minutes would be a good time for five miles.

[Chris Salvato]

5 miles in 30 minutes is a stellar time....like...borderline competitive pace.

What are your goals?  Not your running goals -- overall goals?  Why do you want to run more?  What are you trying to accomplish, here?

[Gregg]

Standard races are 5k, 10k, 13.1 miles [half-marathon] and the marathon 26.2 miles.
College level cross-country races are 8k or 10k.

Set up your own 5 mile course. Goal: finish it. You can record your time, but speed shouldn't be your goal. Not yet. [Chris is right - 5 mi in 30 min is WAY harder than running 1 mi in 6 min.]

If you keep "5 mi fast as possible" as a goal, your training will change. Alternate intense days and easier days. Right now, your intense day could be running two miles at a hard pace, and a rest day might be swimming, biking or jogging for 20-30 minutes.

Intervals are an option for intense days. 400m or 440 yd intervals are a good medium distance. They require both speed and endurance. 50m or 100m require speed.

There are lots of ways to make running interesting.

One way is to run a course that will give you an obstacle about every minute or so - something to jump, climb, balance, quad movement, lift, carry, throw, etc. - and try to go non-stop for 20-30 minutes. It's WAY harder than only running. If you can't keep running, slow to a walk until you catch your breath, and then speed up again. Don't stop.

Experiment. Have fun.

[Dan Elric]

5 miles in 30 minutes is a stellar time....like...borderline competitive pace.

<- Competitive runner.  Good is relative.

Anyway iforgot120, I wouldn't worry about times unless you plan on getting competitive.  I would run a five mile race just to see where you were at and then set your goals from there.  If you don't know where you currently stand then it is hard to decide where you want to be.

[David M.]

Does your school(if your in school) have a CC team or Track team? If so, join them. Or Just work up from how far you can run. Increase half mile a week or so. I personally have gotten a little out of shape so right now I do usually 4-5 miles in the morning for CC practice then in the evening 2-3 miles with a full body workout and some PK and Freerunning stuff. That is definately helping me get back into shape. Whats your best mile time right now? During my 4 mile I usually run 32-35 minutes total.(not race pace but nice pretty easy run) My best mile I have timed is a 5:38. I know I ran faster than that a few times but didn't time myself.

[Steven Low]

I'm not sure why you want to run this much distance?

If your goal is increasing your endurance you can do that relatively faster through intervals and such first.

aka this article
http://eshlow.blogspot.com/2009/06/why-speed-work-is-necessary-for-elite.html

[David M.]

If you're talking to me about running that much, I do cross country and long distance in track. I need the endurance. I also train sprints.

[Chris Salvato]

Sigh.

This is going nowhere.  We have no need for this discussion.  We still don't even know the ultimate goal.  Sounds like we got an XY problem on our hands....

Feel free to smite me if you think I'm being a dick....but there is no good answer for an unstated question.

[Matthew Wang]

Well...if you do end up running 3 miles per day, I strongly reccomend trying to avoid running on cement or similar hard surfaces. Bad for your knees.

[David M.]

Feel free to smite me if you think I'm being a dick....but there is no good answer for an unstated question.

I don't think you are. I know it can be frustrating to have a question without direction. Was the sigh at my previous post?

[Chris Salvato]

It's at pretty much every response here.

If we don't get an answer from him I am going to just lock this thread.  /shrugs

[iforgot120]

Oops, I completely forgot I made this thread. That's why I haven't responded to anything; sorry :[ I'm kinda surprised that I got so many responses; most forums I visit (for various things) aren't this active (or helpful).

Anyways, I didn't really have any goals in mind; I felt like five miles was a good benchmark to be able to run without stopping mostly because I've watched all these videos where the people in them just run and parkour for what seems like a long time. Plus, I've only done sprint work my whole life so my running endurance is pretty low; it's only decent because I've swam competitively for seven years.

Other than that, I guess I just want to be able to run that much as a personal goal.

I realized today that one of the reasons why my endurance might be "so bad" is because I have a warped sense of speed. Today, I decided to get on the treadmill for the first time in a long, long time and immediately set it to 10mph. Within seconds I realized (by feel) that 10mph was a good measure slower than what I usually run at; my guess is that all my speed work has led me to believe that I've been running a lot slower numerically than what I really was doing (my guess is that I was running at 12 or 13mph for two minutes or so).

My goal now is to simply hold 10mph for a mile; that's slower than what I usually run but longer, too. It seems reasonable enough.

[Kevin Davies]

My goal now is to simply hold 10mph for a mile; that's slower than what I usually run but longer, too. It seems reasonable enough.

A simpler way to put that would be "run a 6 minute mile" 

[David M.]

Well if that is your goal then I would reccomend doing intercals of around 4x400(fast 400 then recovery 4 times) with some longer runs(however much you can comfortably do in one stretch) Start with how much you can do and as that becomes easier increase the distance. It may take a while to get up to 5 miles a day so just stick with it.

[Chris Salvato]

If the current goal only includes a mile then there is no reason to run longer than 1 mile at a time.

4x400 m intervals starting with 5 min rest, imho.  Bring rest times down each session.  One run per week that is 1 mile straight to test times.  That's what I would do if that were my goal...