Getting Faster

I must come off as some sort of crank with the number of times I talk about speed work.  Like I’m obsessed with speed.  Like the only thing that is important, the only goal, the only reward is to get faster.

I’m not.  I think racing and speed are just one of the myriad of things in running that can be rewarding.  Running is a rich tapestry of benefits and certainly you can get many if not most of those benefits without speed.

What I’m saying is that I don’t want you to just assume speed is beyond your reach.  Like you’re looking over the fence and seeing a wonderland that you are forbidden from.  I’m saying speed is within your reach and is a worthy thing to play at.  It’s a wonderful learning experience.  It’s a clean and direct manifestation of the mind-body connection in your sport.  You just have to find the keys to open the gate.

I would hate for you to go to your grave assuming you can’t do things that you are certainly capable of doing.  Why not try?  What’s the worst that can happen?  It hurts?  You pull something?  Doesn’t sound like much risk to me.

How do you get faster?  It is relatively simple.  And I’m not just talking about the marathon.  Speed is applicable at any distance.  I have a social media friend who spent one summer practicing speed and took 4 minutes off his 5K finish time.

It’s just like karate, or a foreign language, it’s a learned skill.  You won’t ever be as good as a native speaker or a gifted athlete but you can get that 70-80% improvement that will be a revelation to you.

How do you get faster?  Easy.  You practice being fast.

1. The first step is to stop open up your mind to the possibility that you can run fast. Fast here is a relative term.  Like most of our barriers to improvement our brains are the biggest challenge.  Most people who’ve never run competitively just assume they are slow.  Open yourself up to the possibility that you are fast.  Don’t fight yourself.
2. Next we get to define, for you, what is fast? In my example above my friend took 4 minutes off his 5k.  That’s more than a minute per mile of average pace.  That’s a good goal at any distance.  I’d argue that it’s harder to do that in a 5K than in a marathon.  Pick a distance you like and set your goal to take a minute off your pace.  How’s that?  Open your mid up to the possibility that you can do that.
3. Next we are going to practice. All this means is over the course of 3 months you are going to practice running fast once or twice a week.  How do you do that?  Where do you do that?  It’s simple.  Find a track or a flat bit of road.  Measure out 200 meters, 400 meters, 800 meters, 1200 meters and 1600 meters.  Once or twice a week over the course of 12 weeks go out there and run at 1:30 faster than your current PR pace for that distance.
4. As you are practicing you will discover some things new to you.
   1. It’s hard. You won’t be able to hold that pace initially until your body figures it out.  By the 3^rd week it will feel easier.  Start with the shorter distances 200’s and 400’s and move up to 800’s.  You can stop at 800’s unless your target is a ½ marathon or longer – for the longer races you may want to do 1200’s or 1600’s at a slightly slower pace.
   2. Your form will change to accommodate the speed. You will naturally move forward onto to forefoot and take more rapid strides with high knee lift.  Your body will figure out how to run fast efficiently.  (and you get to keep that learned efficiency forever)
   3. Your body will change to accommodate the speed. Your legs will develop denser fast twitch muscles.  You heart and lungs will adjust their thresholds.  The human body is an amazingly adaptable machine.  It will figure it out and optimize for the activity it is being asked to perform.
   4. Your mind will change. Through this practice you will begin to become familiar with the effort level and discomfort level of speed.  It will cease to be scary.  It will instead become a strength for you.

That’s it.  You want more details? Ok in the first couple weeks start with 2 miles worth of speed work and gently progress up to 5 miles worth 2 weeks before your target race.

If you have also defined yourself as a slow runner, if you have never practiced being fast, I guarantee you are in for a revelation.  You may not take a minute per mile off our PR pace but you will learn things about yourself and build new capabilities that will add to the richness of your appreciation for our sport.