Does anyone know how can I improve my running skill? I have run 3 1/2 marathons and a quite numbers of 10k .?

Question

I have been running for quite sometime now but I don't seems to improve or get more agile..Any suggestions?

Answer 1

There are a number of factors that effect speed.  First I am not going to spend any time on the speech about building your base.  But you may want to evaluate your weekly distance.  A recent article in the Canadian Running magazine suggest that if you want to be more competitive in a ½ event you need to be doing somewhere around 50km (30miles) per week minimum.  

To finish a half event you only need to run 25Km per week this will get you across the finish line, but well behind the pack.  I personally run about 50Km per week during racing season for ½’s and 10’s but will ramp up to 70 – 80 km per week if doing a marathon.

So having a good base is number one.  I would even consider that you should be over running up to about 25km 1 – 2 x before the week of the race.  This is done at your LSD pace which should be run 1 – 1.5 minutes slower then your race pace.  As you know the LSD run is the run that prepares your body for that long run.

Typically running programs are divided up into 1/3’s the first third is building your base.  The next is strength; you should be doing hill training starting at about 4 reps and over the next 6 weeks build up to 9 reps. Hills should be approx. 600 meters in length and a 6 – 8% grade.   You should be using a temp pace for this, which is 30 seconds slower then your race pace.

Before running your hills, you should be doing 1 – 2km warm-up and another 1 – 2km cool down afterwards.  Then in the final 1/3 of your schedule you will use the dreaded interval training.  Unlike the previous poster, I would do intervals of no less then 1200 – 1600 meters and aiming for very close to race pace.  

Recovery should be about the same length of time you spend doing the interval.  So if you do an 8-minute mile, jog or brisk walk for 8 minutes.  Again you can build this up over a few weeks.  Starting off with 3 and working your way up to 6.

At Minimum you should be running 1 LSD run, 1 Temp run, 1 strength (hill/interval) a week.  The other runs are really recovery type runs and should be at a steady pace, that is comfortable but you are able to hold a conversation at.

There are a number of good online resources such as Runners World Online or Cool Running.  Looking for a more elite program I would consider Jeff Galloway or Hal Higdon’s web site for advance training programs.

You may even want to consider Heart Rate training if you want to purchase a monitor, this will help you hit your target goals using your heart rate as an indicator of how fast or slow you should be going.  

Harry

Answer 2

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Great question!  It sounds like you are ready to go up another level in competition!

What separates runners in the front of the pack from those in the middle and the back is in a word:  interval workouts.

Interval workouts consist of essentially running a specific distance or time at your target pace, or slightly faster than your target pace, for your target race.

For example, suppose you were stuck on 9 minute mile times for a half marathon.  You'd like to run 8:30 miles.  Right now you can run a single mile at 8 minutes fairly comfortably.  So, a reasonable interval workout, once a week for you, would look like this.

(After warming up a bit)

-run 5 minutes at a 8:00 per mile pace (this is a repetition)

-jog, not walk, for 5 minutes (the 5 minutes in this case is the interval BETWEEN the repetitions)

-repeat above until you've done this four times.  Technically, we'd call this an interval workout consisting of 4 5-minute repeats at 30 seconds below mile target pace, with 5-minute intervals, jogging to recover

Second week, it would reasonable to add a fifth repeat.  Third, a sixth.

This is but the start of a training program that can separate you from the rest, and take you to another level of fitness and competition.

Suppplement the interval workouts with a once-a-week speed or hill workout.

So, for example, a typical weekly workout would start like this:

Mo:  90 minute running with an interval workout in the middle

Tu:  60 minutes easy running

We:  90 minutes running, including 6x 300 to 400 meter hills (grass or roads), going from 80% effort to 100% effort

Th:  30 minutes easy running

Fr:  90 minutes steady (not slow) running.  As you progress, you'll want to run increasingly greater portions of this workout near your target pace for your race.

Sa:  60 minutes easy running

Su:  rest, which can include 30-60 minutes walking, bicycling, ellipticals, swimming.

For more info on interval workouts, start reading Runner's World magazine.  Each issue typically has something about interval training, and at least one idea you can glean that can help you in your training.

Regards,

Running_Dad

P.s., More can be said, but this is basic next step for you.