On improving pace and distance.

[ButterCookie]

Hi, I graduated around June last year and ever since then have been running 2-6k. Had to take 3 months off due to rain but I'm back again.

My pace is just over 8min/km. My best 5k is around 40 minutes 12 seconds. I would like to improve my pace and I have read that increasing frequency and distance are the way to go. I used to run only 3 times a week but now I'm running 5 times account to this Nike 10k plan: nike.com/in/running/10k-tra....

I've just finished week 1 of 8 and it's been okay so far because even the the frequency was greater, the distance was not too much. What are the best ways to improve pace according to you? Should I be focusing on something else as well?

[Instructor57 Graduate]

Hello, You may find this FAQ post useful

healthunlocked.com/couchto5...

[ButterCookie in reply to Instructor57]

Thank you! That was very useful. Especially the runnersworld article linked to the post. It gave me some insight into how slow and fast I should be running. Have a great weekend!

[Instructor57 Graduate in reply to ButterCookie]

Yes, it's s very informative post, glad you found it usefull 👍

[John_W Graduate Ambassador]

Very generally ...

For anyone to improve their pace (for any distance over 800 metres), there's generally only 2 ways to go about it.

(1) increase your running time (the duration of your runs) and/or frequency (how often)

AND/OR ...

(2) vary your running paces (ie. switch things up a bit) - so include intervals/fartleks, hills, etc.

- there are other things, but they aren't so important right now. There's a load of detail possible in the 2 things above, especially to with pace. But that can wait for another post/reply.

[ButterCookie in reply to John_W]

Thank you, I plan on doing exactly that. I'm primarily focusing on improving the duration and then on changing up speeds. Really enjoying fartlek!

[nowster Graduate]

My own suggestion is to increase your "long run" distance gradually and not worry about speed at this point.

Only one run a week should be "long". And you don't necessarily need to increase the frequency to five runs a week.

Give yourself an extra rest day after a significant run.

From personal experience, speed will naturally improve with regular longer runs. It takes a while to kick in.

What actually improves is not the peak speed but what speed you can do over a longer period of time.

If you want to train as a sprinter, just do short fast runs. If you want to improve your overall speed, longer slower runs is the way to do it.

My pace on 2 Jan last year for an 8km run was 7'29"/km average. On Tuesday this week my pace over a 10km run was 5'23"/km average. Back then 8km was my longest run. Nowadays my longest run is 21km.

[ButterCookie in reply to nowster]

Wow that's incredible! Thank you for the stats, they really put things into perspective for me. I'm looking forward to running for longer!