how to run faster?

I've been wondering about this as well.  I've been running for almost a year and a half now, and have managed to build up the distance I can go from 2 blocks up to a 10k, but it seems like no matter what the distance I run at the same rediculously slow pace.  I'm starting to wonder if maybe it's a mental thing for me since I can actually judge distance based on my time because i've gotten so comfortable with my pace.  I just got a Garmin and I'm hoping that being aware of my pace while running can help me push myself to go faster, at least for shorter distances. 

My question now though is, is there specific speed stuff I should be focusing on while training?  I'm ridiculously slow, so there's plenty to shave off! lol  (PS don't look at my log for the last few weeks...i've been on kind of a running hiatus lately due to work but I'm normally much better about actually running regularly).

I just thought I'd 2nd a few others who say keep running. I was actually a sprinter in college so every time I ran ...I ran pretty much as fast as I could. I didn't enjoy running because I was always running hard! I kept running hard because i thought it would make me faster! I then did a ton of research and found that you really need to build an endurance base before ever doing any track/speed work.

If you have a heart rate monitor you can watch that. It is important to stay in Zones 1 and 2. I can't give you all the detail on this, but there are some unbelievable strings of post out there that will give you more than I could get out of any one book. To find more out ...check out this link (i hope it works) HR Zones: 220-Age - the TRUTH!

So do keep running, but make sure you are running in lower zones ..don't be like me and bust your bottom everyday then wonder why your 5k literally never changed by 10 seconds:-)

I hope I didn't add more confusion!

Good luck... 

Well, now we've got several quite distinct situations in play, here.  To OP:  one poster said the right thing -- focus on volume, not speedwork.  This does NOT, however, mean that you are 'ignoring speed'.  Increasing volume will (most likely) increase your speed as well.

Nor does it does mean 'run at the same pace every time you run'.  There are still distinctions between workouts to be made.  'Not doing speedwork' means, most of all, not doing particularly intense speedwork such as intervals.  It doesn't mean 'always run slowly'.  If every run is the same slow pace, you will train your body to run at only that pace, and this can be a difficult rut to get out of, as one other poster reports.  So, for example, you'll want to have some long, slowish, runs (possibly with walking breaks), some short very slow recovery runs, some medium length faster runs, etc.

Huh, wonder why you got injured. (Red font is sarcasm if you did not know).

Lose the weights, stop the intervals, and focus on your aerobic base until you are either are running 30 - 40 miles a week or are about 6 weeks away from an A race (and have been running consistently and comfortably with good volume).  Nothing that you listed there will make you a faster runner over the long term without the aerobic base to build from, especially the stretching and the lifting (which arguably do nothing at all for you, but we won't go there right now).  In fact, it is just a recipe for injury as you have found out.

Mini Hijack 

Daremo -

Question: Is that much volume essential to improvement in aerobic base/run speed? I wish I had the time for 30-40 miles/week (and 200+ miles on the bike, 20,000+ yrds in the pool.) but given work and family....  I have been focusing on aeobic training on the run for 8 months now with about 15-20 miels a week in volume.   

The answer would probably be helpful to other posters as well.  Thanks.

There's a reason why the top 5K runners do close to the same mileage as top marathoners.

My best 5k time in recent history came off a marathon training cycle where I hit almost 80 mpw.  I did nothing but tempo or progression runs for speedwork (no intervals).

I've said this before and I will continue to say it:

The majority of people on this site, and in general, never need to think about things like intervals or repeats.  You are much better served by just getting out there and running.  Run comfortably most of the time, occasionally run comfortably hard.  You will see improvements for a while, and when you stop, increase your mileage.  Aerobic development takes years to really pay off.  Read that again:  Years.  If you've been running for 6 months, or 18 months, you can still improve by running more, and not worrying about intervals.

One last thing to all this:

You need to run at least 3 times, and preferably 4 times a week, to gain improvements.  Every week.  If you can run 4-5 times, you'll be doing well.

Volume
Frequency
Consistency

Those are the three keys to endurance training.  It's not tempos or LT or stride length or any of that other crap.  Those three items are what it boils down to.  If you're missing one, then all the training in the world isn't gonna make that much difference. 

Scout7 - Not trying to be argumentative as I completely agree with everything you are saying.  But, most of us have never been nor will ever be world class 5K runners. Many of us (including myself) have goals of being healthy and improving much as possible without ruining our lives in the pursuit.  What you seem to be saying is those of us in that category might as well give up ever improving since life does not permit for 20-30 hours a week of training.  This would be very disheartening.

If that's the way you took it, then I apologize.

What I'm saying is that for someone who is doing this to stay healthy and have fun definitely doesn't need to worry about intervals.  I never said anything about 20-30 hours of training.

Keep in mind the framework of the thread: How do I get faster?

The best, most effective way to get faster is to work on running consistently, and increasing volume and frequency.

That's really all there is to it.  Again, I firmly believe that the average person doesn't need to do that much in the way of speedwork to see improvements.  It's much more about first learning to enjoy running, and then working on making it something you do consistently.

What jsklarz said, in spades.  I get really angry with super-jock expectations.  This is BEGINNER-Triathlete.com, after all.  It's not that I don't believe what Scout7's saying-  just the opposite - but what the hell's the point of doing swimming, running, and cycling several times a week if I want to ultimately be able to run a triathlon event, if I'm being told by experts that my only chance is to turn back the clock, go back to college and be the jock they were?

Forget this whole stupid thing.

I don't think anyone is saying that you can't improve without doing 20-30 hrs of training per week, but that you don't need to do intervals to improve.

I think it is also worth saying that  some people just like doing speedwork.  (I do, despite a well meaning but very misguided high school coach who almost destroyed my love of running...)  So long as you have enough of a base, and are careful, you can safely do speedwork, but whether it actually improves your speed...well, that's another issue.

Look, I never said anything about having to be a super jock, or spend most of your life training, or anything of the sort.

I think some people are taking what I said way out of context, or reading into it way too much.  So let me try this again:

If you want to improve at endurance athletics, it is much more about being consistent with your training over a period of time than it is about doing a specific workout.

What this means is that, while intervals and such can make you faster, the gains tend to be short-lived, and are unsustainable.

The best way to improve your performance is to work on being consistent, and increasing your frequency and volume.

If you can only run 2x a week, then hey, you work with what you got.  You just need to be aware that there are going to be limits imposed.  If you decide to only run 20 miles a week, there are going to be limits imposed.

I'm not a world-class anything.  I'm not even an AG anything.  I do what I do because I enjoy it.  I have devoted a fair amount of time to studying it, though. 

There are several reasons why I just run.  One of them is that I enjoy running more than anything else.  Another reason is that I can focus my time and efforts on one thing, gaining the benefits of specialization.

Time to fit it all in as always an issue.  I use the triathlon off-season (which runs Oct-Apr in northern Indiana) to work on my run (and swim to a degree).  In fact, as I taper down to my HIM (8/2), I'm laying the foundation for a November marathon.  Then, I'll work most of the winter preparing for a Spring 1/2-marathon. It's tremendously difficult to squeeze 4-5 runs per week while I'm also swimming & biking.  However, I can do this in the off season.

This approach worked for me last year where I brough my 1/2M time from 1:52 to a 1:36.  I did very little "speedwork."  In fact, I aimed for 3 tempo runs per month, progressively longer on each until I got to a 6mi tempo run 3 weeks out from my Spring 1/2-marathon.  Some of the tempo runs (2x/month)were straight-through, but also mixed in 1,600m repeats (1X/month) AT TEMPO pace; e.g. Z4 or "aerobic."  I was not running 40+ miles.  I was not doing 400's, 200's etc. at a faster pace.  Just consistent 25-30 miles per week with those tempo runs.  One week per month, I dropped back my mileage and only ran at a comfortable pace.

I run the majority of my miles at a 9:00-9:15 per mile pace.  I CAN run a 6:10 mile and a 7:22/mi half-marathon.  However, I've gotten that "speed" through lots of running at 9:00/mi and weekly tempo runs at 7:00-7:30/mi.

For the record, my bike hasn't gotten slower, but not much faster either.    That's what makes Triathlons so fulfilling.  If it were easy, it just wouldn't be as fun. 

I started running in March of 2006 and began adding these tempo runs this past winter, after about 18 months of consistent running.  My logs are accurate back to March of '06.

Next year, my goal is a 3:15:59 marathon.  So, I will do little to no swimming and biking.  I will be a runner in 2009 and qualify for Boston.  No way could I be a triathlete and do this... well at least on the above timing. 

Edited to add:

The most I've ever squeezed into a week is 10-11 hours of training.  That happens only when peaking for my HIM, which is now.  Ugh!!!

Also, I now am going to a coached track session on Wednesday nights.  It's fun and the commraderie is great.  We all warm-up together, so some running drills, stretch and then a short track session.  Note, that even with this work-out, 80%+ of my weekly running are at an "easy" pace.

This is important for less experienced runners to hear.   I think people find it hard to believe that one can mostly train 'slow' but still run 'fast'.  Our local hero (wins just about every local race) lives in my neighborhood.  I see him training a lot at around 8:30/mile, and only occasionally faster.  He runs about 5:20/mile in the 1/2M.

Here's my story (similar, if slower).  About 5 years ago I decided to try for marathon PR.  I did all sorts of speedwork (following what I now think was a very ill-advised 'plan'), and ended up running a mediocre marathon at best.   The following year, I trained 'just for fun', running easy (around 8:30-9:00/mile) on most days, with about 3 speed sessions (normally intervals, which I enjoy) per month, and cutting mileage by around 40% every 4th week.  I would occasionally run a little faster or a little slower, or add a faster mile in at the end of a session, but that's it.  Mostly, I ran slowly.  That year I ran 2:50, which was a PR by 8 minutes.

Yes guys this is beginnertriathlete.com, but within that context someone is asking "How to run faster?" Beginner or not, the correct answer to that is exactly what Scout7 has posted: Volume, Frequency, and Consistency. It's the same on the run, on the bike and (I can only assume) on the swim. Lifting weights won't get you there, stretching won't get you there, changing your diet won't get you there, listening to heavy metal music won't get you there.

And we're not talking "20-30 hours a week." A good example of what Scout and Daremo are talking about is running 5 miles, 4 days a week, and adding a 10-miler on the weekend. That's running 5 days, 30 miles, and really shouldn't take you much more than 5 hours. A lot of folks here (many of the faster ones, I might add, do a lot more than that.

This kind of volume is more than a "beginner triathlete" would need to finish a triathlon. But again the question posed is "How to run faster?" If you have a better answer we'd love to shoot it down hear it.

I disagree.  Heavy metal music scares me.  I think I'd run faster.  I'm off for a run right now.  Maybe I'll test that theory... 

Just because it is beginnertriathlete.. doesn't mean you have to have low expectations on yourself .. a beginner can be fast and put in hours.. I agree with all of the above said by the likes of scout7, daremo etc.. but I would disagree with bear on one point.. changing diet won't get you there.. but I think it is huge to help you get faster if you are overweight.. a common number thrown out is that 1lb is worth 2 seconds/mile.. so if you need to drop 40-50 lbs changing diet will have a profound impact on increasing speed 

I'll throw my story out there, too. I never run more than 3x a week. Mileage is at around 15-20 miles per week. That's 1 long run and 2 shorter runs. Typically, the long run is close to 11 min/mile. One of the shorter runs is around 10 min/mile and one is slightly under that. When I started this tri stuff 3 years ago, I could barely finish the 5k, and sometimes had to do some walking. I trained for and completed a half mary this spring. My most recent tri had me doing the 5k at 8:19/mile. I never do "speed work." I do end some of the long runs with about a mile of faster tempo type stuff, and the pace varies a lot depending on how I feel and who I'm running with. But, in 2 years, I've dropped race speeds by 2 min/mile. Now, I'm still not smoking fast or anything. But, I've come a long way. Most importantly, I don't end up feeling like I'm gonna die on the run anymore.

Running slowly will make you faster. Note, though, that I didn't see any of these gains until this past year (year 3), when I started adding in a long run. So, when they say it takes years, they're not kidding.