Posted: 7/3/2009 4:34:20 PM EDT
| Im currently in the processe of enlisting in the army but I have one major problem. My run time is very bad and everything I do to help improve it dosent work. Right now im able to do 2 miles in about 21 minutes at a constant pace. Can anyone give me pointers on what I can do to help get it down to acceptable numbers. I hope to get my time to about 15 to 16 minutes before I ship to basic. |
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Quoted:
Longer distances and lots of sprints. Running 2 miles will never improve your 2 miles time. I am no fitness expert but have been running for about 15 years now. When my 3 mile time starts to slip, I do the above for a couple of months and it works. This. Don't do the same distances over and over at the same pace, it wont get you anywhere. Split it up and have 1 longer day, 1-2 shorter faster runs or even a mid distance tempo run(basically increase the speed in the 2nd half of the run) and maybe a hill day if you have access to them. How long do you have until basic? I'm assuming you haven't ran consistently so start off at 3 days a week at first. When I first started running my mind was a lot stronger than my body and I would end up going too far too fast and hurting myself. Don't make every run a death run and don't time yourself every week on your 2 mile, it will not benefit you. There are a lot of great running programs out there, my advice would be looking up one that suits your needs. -Even the Stew Smith programs may be a good idea for you since you are enlisting. |
| do you have access to an elliptical machine? if so continue with sprints and longer (3-4 mile runs) and on "off days" spend a little time on the elliptical (no impact = save the knees). i had a soldier who had trouble getting the run time down so in addition to "encouraging" him on the runs, i put him on the elliptical (fat boy PT program) and got his run time down a good bit. (from 17:30 - 14:45) |
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Quoted:
Longer distances and lots of sprints. Running 2 miles will never improve your 2 miles time. I am no fitness expert but have been running for about 15 years now. When my 3 mile time starts to slip, I do the above for a couple of months and it works. Listen to this guy. my personal example: My average 3 mile run time is 20:20 - 21:00 or so. I have 2 ways I can achieve this- 1. I can run 3-6 miles many times a week or 2. I can run 400 - 800m sprints a couple times a week and an occasional 3-6 mile run. Guess which I do. Sprints will help you more than most people realize. |
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Quoted:
Quoted:
Longer distances and lots of sprints. Running 2 miles will never improve your 2 miles time. I am no fitness expert but have been running for about 15 years now. When my 3 mile time starts to slip, I do the above for a couple of months and it works. Listen to this guy. my personal example: My average 3 mile run time is 20:20 - 21:00 or so. I have 2 ways I can achieve this- 1. I can run 3-6 miles many times a week or 2. I can run 400 - 800m sprints a couple times a week and an occasional 3-6 mile run. Guess which I do. Sprints will help you more than most people realize. If you use an appropriate pace and rest interval. Appropriate is not "all-out" for pace and "until completely recovered" for rest. Pace should be slightly faster than 5K pace and rest interval between 50% of interval time and 60 seconds for 400/90 seconds for longer. Better for most would be tempo (threshold) runs with 15-30 minutes at/about 10K(slower runners)-half marathon pace (faster runners). |
| as people have already said, do sprint. A good workout to do is 4 to 10 800 meter repeats (half mile) around 10 or so seconds faster than your race pace. For example, my pace is usually around a 5:50 mile for a 5k race and my pace for the 800 repeats is around 2:45. Rest as long as you ran. You want to keep your heart rate up but you don't want to run yourself into the ground. If you want to improve your time, you have to push yourself and improve your cardiovascular endurance. Running long distances will give you better endurance but won't necessarily make you faster. |