Cyclists with a "Running" Problem

[Stretch]

neon.jpg

 

Now the motorists will see me a mile away.....

I have the same [emoji23]

[Jewbacca]

Some insight please.  In order to increase your speed, what would you say will make the biggest change (apart from all of the above)

 

1. More running or

2. regular interval, tempo running or

3. strength training or

4. stretching

 

Reason I am asking is, although it sounds stupid, it really is difficult for me at this stage to squeeze in that extra 30-45mins of training.  I've got about an hour a day to try and be a better runner, or accepts it is what it is at the moment.

Speed comes from running at speed... So track sessions, Sprint repeats and 'fartlekking' will be your answer.

 

Try running 500m at a high pace on repeat with 500m easy pace in between. 

 

A structured 1 hour a week will benefit you far more in terms of speed than just running more.

 

Essentially you learn to run faster but using the same effort. The only way to do that is to run faster

[Stretch]

Some insight please. In order to increase your speed, what would you say will make the biggest change (apart from all of the above)

 

1. More running or

2. regular interval, tempo running or

3. strength training or

4. stretching

 

Reason I am asking is, although it sounds stupid, it really is difficult for me at this stage to squeeze in that extra 30-45mins of training. I've got about an hour a day to try and be a better runner, or accepts it is what it is at the moment.

Speed work is the biggest influencer on your marathon time

[Pulse]

why can't you (or don't want to) do high millage in the zero drop?

 

Sorry, let me rephrase.  The zero drop shoes I was referring to are NB Minimus and Minimus Trail, so it does not provide much cushioning (so zero-drop, minimalist would be a better description).  I'm fine with them for up to about 12-15km, but can't do much longer in them.  I also prefer to have multiple shoes that I cycle in a week.

 

I have no issue with zero-drop shoes for long runs, and would probably prefer it, but something with a bit of cusioning.

[Jewbacca]

Sorry, let me rephrase.  The zero drop shoes I was referring to are NB Minimus and Minimus Trail, so it does not provide much cushioning (so zero-drop, minimalist would be a better description).  I'm fine with them for up to about 12-15km, but can't do much longer in them.  I also prefer to have multiple shoes that I cycle in a week.

 

I have no issue with zero-drop shoes for long runs, and would probably prefer it, but something with a bit of cusioning.

Buy some Altra Escalante or Torin 3.5... I have the 3.5 knit shoes and they are great. Padded zero drop with super comfy upper. 

 

thesavage.biz are your on line option for Altra, otherwise go try some on. The Torin 2.5 and Torin 3 are on special currently.

 

(I am in no way associated with thesavage.biz but have only had good service from them).

[Jaws677]

Just out of interest sake, do they still have a mat at the 42km mark at Irene or only at the finish?

No . Last year I saw guys sitting next to the road at 42km in the race they run with everything they had to get a good 42km time only the get there with no timing mat in sight Edited April 4, 2019 by Jaws677

[Chris_]

Some insight please.  In order to increase your speed, what would you say will make the biggest change (apart from all of the above)

 

1. More running or

2. regular interval, tempo running or

3. strength training or

4. stretching

 

Reason I am asking is, although it sounds stupid, it really is difficult for me at this stage to squeeze in that extra 30-45mins of training.  I've got about an hour a day to try and be a better runner, or accepts it is what it is at the moment.

 

All of the above. 

 

Then you get injured.

 

Then you come join us at no. 4.

[SeaBee]

Some insight please.  In order to increase your speed, what would you say will make the biggest change (apart from all of the above)

 

1. More running or

2. regular interval, tempo running or

3. strength training or

4. stretching

 

Reason I am asking is, although it sounds stupid, it really is difficult for me at this stage to squeeze in that extra 30-45mins of training.  I've got about an hour a day to try and be a better runner, or accepts it is what it is at the moment.

One question is "what it is at the moment" - and what is your aim? If you're wanting to improve your marathon time, you will likely get a vastly different answer than hardly being able to complete a 5k run and wanting to improve on that. 

 

More running will help for option 2 just to get adapted to running and settled. But after that, to run fast, you have to run fast and again adapt your muscles, posture, etc. to that. Strength and stretching (IMHO) is supportive and helps in keeping your body more "balanced" and hopefully injury free. 

[soslow]

They are very light speed work shoes?  not for high mileage?

 

I have the predecessor, the Asics Hyper Tri 3 which i use for track and interval/speed work.  

They are incredibly light. I use them for the time trials and up to 10km runs.

[amr63]

Some insight please. In order to increase your speed, what would you say will make the biggest change (apart from all of the above)

 

1. More running or

2. regular interval, tempo running or

3. strength training or

4. stretching

 

Reason I am asking is, although it sounds stupid, it really is difficult for me at this stage to squeeze in that extra 30-45mins of training. I've got about an hour a day to try and be a better runner, or accepts it is what it is at the moment.

That depends how much you have been running recently: the biggest influence on running faster is frequency (not speed nor individual run duration). So first build up to running at a steady aerobic pace every day for the 1hr a day you have available for 3-6 weeks; then, the next thing is to do some (1-3) of those runs at a faster pace (at the top end of your aerobic ability i.e. tempo or aerobic threshold pace), and, if you can find the time, run one or two of the other runs each week for longer duration how much longer depends on what distance you want to race. Take an easy run day between long or fast runs.

 

When you’ve done that for 3-6 weeks you need to decide what your target race distance is and replace one or two of the tempo runs a week with intervals at that pace, as well as at faster than that pace and slower than that pace.

 

hope this helps.

Edited April 4, 2019 by amr63

[scuzzy]

One question is "what it is at the moment" - and what is your aim? If you're wanting to improve your marathon time, you will likely get a vastly different answer than hardly being able to complete a 5k run and wanting to improve on that. 

 

More running will help for option 2 just to get adapted to running and settled. But after that, to run fast, you have to run fast and again adapt your muscles, posture, etc. to that. Strength and stretching (IMHO) is supportive and helps in keeping your body more "balanced" and hopefully injury free. 

 

Yeah, I've omitted that, I can do sub 5 mins/k relatively comfortably for 10-15km, lets say 4:55 in race condition, but would love to get to do a half marathon in sub 1:40, but that is easier said than done.

 

I've also got my training set on doing more speed work, and then try and do at least 1 kind set of strength training after a run, and possibly do some stretching at night when the kids are in bed, not the best, but the only way to get a good stretch in on a regular basis.

 

I guess something is better than nothing at all.

[scuzzy]

That depends how much you have been running recently: the biggest influence on running faster is frequency (not speed nor individual run duration). So first build up to running at a steady aerobic pace every day for the 1hr a day you have available for 3-6 weeks; then, the next thing is to do some (1-3) of those runs at a faster pace (at the top end of your aerobic ability i.e. tempo or aerobic threshold pace), and, if you can find the time, run one or two of the other runs each week for longer duration how much longer depends on what distance you want to race. Take an easy run day between long or fast runs.

 

When you’ve done that for 3-6 weeks you need to decide what your target race distance is and replace one or two of the tempo runs a week with intervals at that pace, as well as at faster than that pace and slower than that pace.

 

hope this helps.

 

Cool, thanks, makes perfect sense!

[Jaws677]

This was posted on one of the running groups thought it was pretty funny.

Edited April 4, 2019 by Jaws677

[Jaws677]

And how cool is Smacpix Free race pics !!!

Really going to upset that other crowd

Unbelievable that they do it for free and the other crowd charges a fortune

[amr63]

Yeah, I've omitted that, I can do sub 5 mins/k relatively comfortably for 10-15km, lets say 4:55 in race condition, but would love to get to do a half marathon in sub 1:40, but that is easier said than done.

 

I've also got my training set on doing more speed work, and then try and do at least 1 kind set of strength training after a run, and possibly do some stretching at night when the kids are in bed, not the best, but the only way to get a good stretch in on a regular basis.

 

I guess something is better than nothing at all.

 

OK, if you can currently run for about an hour at 4:55/km 'relatively comfortably' that will be close to your tempo pace. So you first build up your existing runs to run every day at 5:30-6:00/km for the hour (or less if that include getting ready) that you have available, adding extra days before you add extra distance.

 

When you're up to running for the max time you have available each week you do that for another 3-6 weeks, then start to do 1-3 of those runs each week as tempo runs by running 20-40mins at tempo pace (4:55/km) after a warmup. For half-marathon you will need to add a distance run, starting at 1hr10 and adding 10mins each week until you're running for 1:40-1:45 at an easy pace. After 3-6 weeks of this tempo phase you're ready to replace 1 or 2 tempo workouts a week with intervals at 10k-pace (10sec/k faster than tempo) & 5k-pace (20sec/k faster than tempo). 3-6weeks of that and you'll be ready to blast your half-marathon.

 

Strength training & stretching help to prevent overuse injuries, which is important because it is the consistency of training that will result in optimum improvement, not the intensity of any one workout. So you may need to make recovery runs a bit shorter to fit in stretching & strength training, even take a day off each week if necessary.

 

Finally, 7 hours a week is plenty of time to make significant improvement if you spend it wisely.

[dave303e]

I am on the pace mission at the moment, lost a fair bit of foot speed and tempo pace with too much endurance running. Coach has me doing hill reps and fartlegs and speedwork for days. A lot of high tempo shorter runs as well with only 1 lsd a week(I was doing 2 and sometimes 3). It hurts, it sucks, I have thrown up on various field and hills far to many times in the last few weeks.

 

That being said I went under 18mins for 5km on a treadmill for the first time in many months last week so it is working.