How to run a faster race…
The spring weather is here and with that comes fun road races - many in your local neighborhood! If you are an avid road racer or even an occasional road racer then now is a good time to ramp up your training and start training to break last years race record! The first thing you need to know…if you are looking to break your old time then you need to practice running faster. If you’re not running intervals then you are missing out on getting faster and instead, as you get older your race results will continue to decline. We don’t want that now do we?
The first thing you need to do is add in 1 speed interval session a week. You can either find a local track or keep tabs of the time on your sports watch to track your intervals. Depending on what type of race you are running is how you will determine the length of the intervals you should be running. Here is an example of what one of your interval running days will look like if you were training for a 10k Race:
You will want to warm up for 1 mile nice and easy. Next you will want to find a long hill that takes you about 2-3 minutes to climb. You are going to run up it 5-8 times and jog back down nice and easy in between. When you are finished cool down for 1 mile. The hills will increase your stamina and pain tolerance - not to mention when you are running downhill or flat in the race it will seem like a breeze if you have done some hill training.
Another example interval would be warming up for 1 mile and then running 1/2 mile intervals - 6 times. If you have a track nearby then this would be 2 laps around the track and you would do this a total of 6 times. In between each interval you can jog lightly to catch your breath or rest for a few minutes before repeating your next interval. If you don’t have a track and want to do these on the road then just use your sports watch and approximate about how long it takes you to do a 1/2 mile at 10k pace and then run that amount of time for each interval. Running 1/2 mile intervals will teach you speed and consistency.
Intervals will train your mind to keep running even when it becomes painfully difficult on that 6th interval - and, if it’s too painful and you are burnt out then you know you went out too fast in the other intervals. This will give you more knowledge over your body and teach you how to run a more strategized and mental race so that you don’t putter out before you reach the finish line - like you see so many poor souls do. If you do intervals and train your mind and body - then you won’t be one of those poor souls! Instead you will be finishing feeling strong and with a new Personal Record! Get to know your body and what it’s truly capable of - push your speed limits with intervals!