UKH

Last December I set myself loads of "New Year's resolutions*" which were really specific targets for this year. Some I achieved, some I didn't - overall I've really enjoyed working towards them and I'm going to do it again this year. The main one was running 1000km this year. I'm up to 950km so far (7km ahead - we're 94.3% of the way through year). 

Sticking to the 20km ish a week has been quite demanding as I couldn't let myself fall behind and had to fit it in around family, work and looking after self-isolating family. I can't imagine how people do double, triple or even more than this! I've really enjoyed going for night time, pitch-black, windy, rainy trail runs though with a headtorch, amongst many other types of run!

Next year - I've decided rather than focussing on distance I'm going to focus on SPEED! (Which I've never done before). This is all for fun, I'm not training for any races or anything. I will probably set myself a distance target of 500km running and 500km cycling because this year I've hardly got on my bike from trying to squeeze in runs.

Just wondered what people's thoughts on increasing speed are? I thought maybe the targets could be something like "improve 1km / 1 mile / 5km / 10km / half marathon PBs by X %" or something like that? If I did that I didn't know what kind of % to aim for though, and I recognise a HM is v. different to a 5km. I'll read into training plans like interval/tempo runs etc. too. I also recognise I can't "always get faster" because I assume there is a cycle to these things and I would surely burn-out or injure myself if I was always pushing.

I wanted to share this: 1) for selfish reasons (advice/pride) and: 2) because I really enjoyed it and the process made me learn and try new things (painting, woodwork etc.) and maybe others will be inspired to try new things too because of it.

Thanks for any thoughts. 

*PS: some of the other targets were:
- put up 5 new paintings / pictures on the walls of our house
- paint a painting
- build my toddler a climbing frame from wood
- run a marathon
- don't eat dessert every day (failed)
- drink less (really failed!)
- lose weight (failed)
- do 10 under / over arm pull-ups in one go (achieved / failed respectively)
- do 1000 press-ups in 1 day (failed! did 380 or something like that, but I barely did press-ups this year)
- lift weights every week (failed)
- go hiking every 6 weeks
- camp / hike in the Lake District / Snowdonia 5 times 
- cycle every week (failed)
 

In reply to elliot.baker:

I personally think you can’t improve much speed without increasing aerobic base which requires increased mileage. You can potentially get faster for shorter distances, perhaps up to 5K but even that is mainly aerobic activity and requires higher training volume.

Perhaps this is not what you want to hear, but changing habits and finding time could be a solution? Less TV or UKC (boo!), get into habit to run in the morning, etc. can make a change.

I’m child free so perhaps it’s easier for me to say that... but I just got into habit of running daily and had 8 or 9 days off running this year - half of them were just hiking days. It’s part of what I do now daily and it just feels part of routine. 

In reply to elliot.baker:

Good effort on your running this year! My goal was simply to do a run every week, which I have just about managed.

You should have a pretty decent aerobic base to increase your speed, the bad news is that speed training sessions are definitely less pleasant than long distance runs.

Improving your PB for such a wide range of distances is going to be challenging, but you could definitely try it. Have you got reasonable benchmarks for each distance?

It seems to me that your choice is between getting very fast over a short distance at the start of the year then increasing the length you can sustain a good pace for, or improving your pace over (say) a half marathon then focussing on ever decreasing distances. Or you could just consider the distances that are limited by anaerobic threshold (notably 10k and half marathon). Train to raise your anaerobic threshold and these times will come down, and you may get a better 5k PB as a bonus.

As you say it is hard to know what is achievable. You could make a goal to improve your PB every other month, so you need to do enough training to achieve this. You could even get a nice curve of the results!

Inevitably a training plan for improving anaerobic threshold would include a fair number of aerobic runs. If you are careful and flexible you should be able to improve consistently for a year without injuring yourself (as ever the standard advice is to seek medical advice before starting such a programme).

Love the other resolutions, might have to do something similar myself.

In reply to elliot.baker:

I couldn't see how old you are from your profile. If you're 'mature' I'd be very careful about doing speedwork if you've just got a year of steady running behind you.

I always break something whenever I 'train' to run faster (I'm approaching 55). This year I was fortunate in that working from home in the good weather allowed me to effectively start from scratch after a few years of persistent injury.

I'm up to 669m (1070km) this year and have deliberately avoided any sort of speedwork. However in the last month or so my speed has started to increase, probably due to increased aerobic fitness.

If you're feeling good with no injuries or persistent 'niggles' then start building in some speedwork, but be prepared to ease off if you start having issues.

In reply to elliot.baker:

@PPP

wow 375 runs in 345 days that's amazing! One of my targets for next year is to cut down on my random daily beer every night so this might help me getting up in the morning to do a run. Maybe further is the solution to faster! TBH I am hoping I will smash the 500km target and do 1000 or more again. 

I also found that hiking days / weekends really set me back in my running. But I love hiking so what can you do.

@Tlouth7 yeah I should be able to find my PBs from the mapmyrun export feature, it makes a convenient spreadsheet I can filter for each different run. Maybe I could target 10km first since it's in the middle, then after a month target 5km then focus on the half later in the year.

I know running faster is agonising!! Especially in the cold. Makes me cough loads after.

@Ridge I'm 33 and have occassionally had injuries or niggles in the past which have had me off running for a few months at a time. This year I have been fortunate. I will definitely focus on easing off if I start to hurt myself. Sometimes I strap up my toes and stuff like that if they start to hurt.

I think I'll still "reward" myself with my favourite local trail run which is about 11km and really hilly and the terrain is varied and uneven so you can't do it super fast. I'll always have that. For the speed stuff I'll probs be going up and down the flat A6 road, especially for PB attempts.

Thanks all!

In reply to elliot.baker:

As one of your resolutions is running a marathon, aerobic base is really important and will also help with speed. I would suggest running at least three times a week, a long run at the weekend, or whenever it suits you to fit it in, this could start at 6 or 7 miles, but build up by adding a mile a week, a run of 6 miles or so faster than your long run; lastly some speed work, initially this could just be a 5k, if not at full effort, not far off. Your starting point may be 25k a week, but this will quickly build, but should be manageable time wise.

In reply to elliot.baker: No local parkrun?  Given your background I'd avoid trying to improve something like 1/2 marathon speed as you'll be a bit hit or miss.  But you are doing enough to race 5K regularly and be consistent.

To PPP: you certainly can train speed on low mileages and for some people that works well.  But I'd always prefer it as the icing on the cake of aerobic endurance .  Unless you're doing 400m...

In reply to wbo2:

There is (was!) a local park run that I did a few times. I think I was finishing about 50 out of 5-700 which I was quite pleased with, and I think that's probably where my current 5k pb was made.

I'll definitely be going back to them when they start up again!

In reply to elliot.baker:

Overall I’ve done fewer miles this year (during the summer I climbed more) but have set PBs at 5k, 10k and HM. The HM was definitively off higher, consistent mileage in the first part of the year. I wouldn’t get near to it now as I can tell I’m not as fit. However, I’ve done more faster paced efforts and some speed sessions this autumn and was surprised to run a 10k PB recently off relatively low mileage the past 6 months. As someone with no natural speed I guess there’s been plenty of room for improvement just doing basic speed work and trying to improve my turnover and running economy. I also think the speed work gives you more strength, which in turn allows you to maintain your pace over longer distances. Interestingly, whilst I didn’t feel as aerobically fit on a recent longer run, I seemed to suffer less muscle fatigue.

In reply to elliot.baker:

I've spent the last 10 years doing 5k parkruns, usually with MrsPete, and little other running because of hip arthritis - trying to preserve natural function as long as possible. Never ran 5k when I was a runner, far too short,  but I enjoyed the process of trying to get faster over this strange distance. My PB came after a couple of months and I have seldom approached it since. Just running fast once a week is definitely not enough at my age but it was about all I could justify. Had my first hip replacement 6 years ago, got back to a decent speed after a year and had a good consistent spell in 2016 (over 70% age-grade most weeks) which equated well to my best marathons and halves from 30 years previously - but the other hip still prevented proper training mileage, and I usually limped away from the finish line. Other hip replaced 3 1/2 years ago, was running after 6 weeks and a decent pace within the year but I have had various niggles and limpy spells with this leg, which is now a bit longer than it used to be..

Anyway, I bike (outdoors and indoors) when I can't run or walk well and this helps stay fit but this year was supposed to be focussing on the Joss Naylor challenge so long slow distance was going to be my main training.  Covid lockdowns ruined that,  you  can't do it unsupported/unaccompanied so I started doing more miles on the road, including a virtual 1-hour challenge race which broke me for a couple of weeks (running fast downhill on hard surfaces is stupid at my age) but once I could run again I changed to shuffling along slowly but more frequently - this worked. I did 5k or more every day in October, only one of which was walked (parktoberfest, they called it) and that spell has helped a lot in getting back to faster running. I have been attempting County standards for the last few weeks, over distances of 1 mile, 5k, 5 miles, 6 miles and 10 miles (I had a 7 mile standard from May's hour challenge) and it has been a very interesting experience. Lots of changes in locations of pain! Managed to get to 65-69 cat Silver standard at the age of 69.9, now the target is to recover a bit and attempt a couple of Gold 70 cat standards after my birthday...

So far this year, 1440k run - 3700k bike - 800k walk. The strangest thing after many years of having a max walking pace of 6.5 kph I have suddenly started being able to walk at over 7 kph (5k in 42 mins my recent PB) - very happy to have got this new lease of lifel

In reply to Ridge:

Good point about older folks and speed work. I have got round this by putting a fast mile in at the end or the middle of a longer run and this seems helpful (e.g. 6 miles slower (9:30/ mile) and 1 mile (7:30/ mile). Longer times doing fast intervals but less often make me a bit too sore. 

In reply to elliot.baker:

I'm hardly qualified to pontificate on running, so this may be a dumb question but..

Have you ever had any coaching?  Either professional or through a club.
(Not sure where you're based, but these guys come highly recommended in Sheff: https://www.accelerateperformance.co.uk/ )

Everything mentioned in the thread so far is to do with fitness, but if your technique isn't already flawless I wonder if there might be some gains to be made there, with a side benefit that it might help to prevent some possible future injury.

In reply to deepsoup:

Join a club before paying for a coach. Plenty of untapped experience available in local clubs, and the chance to make a new circle of friends to help get you out.

In reply to Nic Barber:

Plenty of qualified coaches as well, often more qualified and experiences than “professionals”. 

In reply to Nic Barber:

I'm sure you're right, but not everyone is a joining-a-club kind of person.

The company I linked to are attached to a very good local running shop and also run kinda sorta club sessions - group coaching at set times with a bunch of regulars and anyone else who fancies turning up. They're very good & those sessions are cheap, friendly and accessible. (But probably not for the OP depending on whereabouts in Derbyshire he's based. They're on the North side of Sheffield, in Attercliffe.)

In reply to deepsoup:

Don't worry I know all about accelerate, having spent 8 of the last 12 years in Sheffield, and know and like Stu and Deb. 

I find running store-linked groups not really my thing. I quite like the history, heavy sarcasm, hard work, chat and get-on-with-it of running club mates (when I'm not training on my own). But others really enjoy and thrive on more commercial groups which can be a bit more accessible and welcoming as well as having good training and maybe less pressure. 

There's often the paradox of cost - for some paying for a more professional group can make people feel as if they're getting more and more likely to keep attending. Running clubs can be a bit intimidating (depends on the club) but a more collegiate atmosphere, turning up and training/racing with/for your team-mates.