I would like to be able to run 2 miles in 17 minutes or less. I know I am a long ways off from that, given that it takes me about 10 minutes to run one mile now, but:

What sort of running program should I be looking at? Currently, I've been alternating from day to day running one mile (treadmill) with spending 45 minutes on the elliptical trainer. How should I change the routine to really work on the 2 mile time?

ANY advice or pointers would be appreciated!

Thanks.

there are running workouts everwhere try www.runnersworld.com

You should get yourself up to two mile workouts  before you try to do speed work. A common rule of thumb is to increase by no more than 10% a week. When training for a 3 mile time, I usually alternate interval training (sprint 400yds, jog 400, for 3 mi) with endurance runs of 4 miles.

At Ft. Campbell, my company was up to 6 minute miles x 10 miles per day. We never took a day off and only the rare instance did we run less than 5 miles, and that was a battalion run on Fridays - sometimes. We would pass other companies out on PT and one time we passed a whole Battalion and my CO was chewed for it. We almost had to run in place, these guys were that slow.

It was not by chance that nearly everyone in my company maxed out the run portion on yearly PT tests. I did something like 12:05 on my fastest test.

You gotta work up to it. I would increase the distance as you go, but not more than 10% or so per week. But shoot for 4 miles. If you work at it, it will come.

BTW, we killed a new CSM (Command Sgt Mjr) who transferred to our batt. He was overweight, out of shape and didn't run more than 2 miles in a long time. He had an MI (heart attack) and before anybody knew, he was dead. He finished the run with us, walked into his office and died. In a sick way, we were kind of proud of it for a while.

20 years later, I tried out for a Police officer job in AZ. I haven't run in 20 years and I did 1.5 miles in 13:05. Not too bad for a 40 some year old who hasn't run since Reagan was president, the first time.

First things first, can you run two miles non stop? That is your first goal. Just to let you know running on a treadmill is easier than running on the ground. Working up to running two miles should be pretty easy if you are healthy and on the young side.

My first question to anyone who wants to start running, What kind of shoes do you have? If you want to run you go out and get running shoes, Not the nicest looking ones, ones that fit and work good with your feet.

Start running out side, perferably not on Pavement, if you have a nice track or park to run in start there.

Also where do you plan on testing your self to run two miles in under 17 minutes? By the way your not that far away from it if you are doing 10 minute miles, You are shooting for 8:30 miles. Right around 7 miles an hour.

So get out side and run. Run until you tired and walk one minute then get back at it again until your tired and walk again. Let us know how this went and we give you some tips. You want to work your way to 3-4 miles at a comfortable pace.

First, thanks to all for the pointers so far!

Quoted: First things first, can you run two miles non stop? That is your first goal. Just to let you know running on a treadmill is easier than running on the ground. Working up to running two miles should be pretty easy if you are healthy and on the young side.

I ran 2.25 miles on the treadmill. At the about 2 mile mark (figures that I was zoning out when I hit 2 miles), it was about 23 minutes. The time sort of bummed me out, but I was happy that I was able to keep my feet moving at anything faster than a walk for that distance.

My first question to anyone who wants to start running, What kind of shoes do you have? If you want to run you go out and get running shoes, Not the nicest looking ones, ones that fit and work good with your feet.

I have amazingly bad crosstrainers that are probably considered biological weapons by now. A trip to the store is in order.

Start running out side, perferably not on Pavement, if you have a nice track or park to run in start there.

All of my running, so far, has been on the treadmill. Tomorrow I am going to give the streets a try, since I am not quite sure where the nearest track is. Now I just have to find a good CCW holster for running.

Also where do you plan on testing your self to run two miles in under 17 minutes? By the way your not that far away from it if you are doing 10 minute miles, You are shooting for 8:30 miles. Right around 7 miles an hour.

I don't really have a time in mind. My overall goal is to meet the Army fitness standards here. Not that I am necessarily enlisting or not, but I figure those are good fitness standards to try to meet for someone getting back into exercising .  I am making good progress on the other exercises and with my weight, but running is something foreign to me.

Run 2 miles repeatedly until you get your time down?  Did ya think of that?

Quoted: Run 2 miles repeatedly until you get your time down?  Did ya think of that?

Of course I thought of that. But not being a runner or knowledgeable about the strange and arcane ways of the runners, I was looking for pointers on how they thought I should get my time down. The ol 'tie a steak to my shirt and taunt a pit bull' trick seems like my best bet.  

I dodn;t realize the Army PT was that much lower than the USMC.

Quoted: Quoted: Run 2 miles repeatedly until you get your time down?  Did ya think of that? Of course I thought of that. But not being a runner or knowledgeable about the strange and arcane ways of the runners, I was looking for pointers on how they thought I should get my time down. The ol 'tie a steak to my shirt and taunt a pit bull' trick seems like my best bet.

Hehe, yeah, or do like I did in AFROTC and run with your superiors in the cadet corps. Very motivating, in that I wanted to be able to keep up as much as possible. ETA: yes I know you're not military as stated above, just making an example.

I don't know if there's any good shortcuts for improving your time.  2 mi in 17 min isn't that fast in all honesty, I think you'll find if you just push yourself to finish that 2 mi (and sprint to the end of it, go out with a bang if you can, I always ran on a track) over and over and over again you'll be below 17:00 before you know it, as long as you keep up with it.

So it sounds like you just need to work on you base and you do that by getting in the mileage. No speed work just easy miles.

Ok once you go out and get shoes and you have a 2 and a 3 mile course marked out I would reccomend a 4 day program.

Monday off, Tuesday 2 miles, Wednesday 2 Miles, Thursday 2miles, Friday off, Saturday 3 miles, Off Sunday.

Try that for 2 weeks. You will be amazed on how you will feel, There is no easy way around it, if you want to get faster you have to get the miles in.

Week 3-4
Monday off, Tuesday 2, Wednesday 3 miles, Thursday 2 miles, Friday off, Saturday 4 miles, Off Sunday.

On your days off get some cross training in, riding you bike, sports or even walking. But slowly you build up and you time will come down. When it comes to shoes try going to a running shop you might pay a little more for the shoes but you should end up with a decent pair. Build up slow so you dont injure yourself.  Eventually if you do it enough you will learn what to do. If you do that and you need more advice let me know. But make sure you get the mileage in. If you get tired walk one minute and get back to it.

Quoted: ... Monday off, Tuesday 2 miles, Wednesday 2 Miles, Thursday 2miles, Friday off, Saturday 3 miles, Off Sunday. ...

Sounds better than my steak/pit bull plan!

That sounds like a good schedule for me. I now know I can do the 2 mile runs, but the trick will be that 3 mile on Saturday. Until I try it, I'll never know how I'll handle it, but I am guessing it isn't going to be easy

Thanks again for the help!

One of things about running is learning the pace. Once you learn how to pace your self covering more distance is not the problem.  But I think your 3 mile run will be easier than you think. just take it slow and concentrate on finishing the distance.

run, outside, every other day, apply yourself

over time your ET will decrease.  Be careful and warm up first.

The only thing I will add is, make sure you keep your heart rate up for a good twenty minutes or longer each session.  There are formulas to calculate yur odeal training heart rate, and fancy monitors to record it.  Personally, unless you are an old fart (defined as anyone older than me), I'd  say just run at a good steady pace and suck it up.

Once you are consistently running two miles no problem, me sure to keep running for twenty minutes at least, anyway.  If you are frustrated with improving your time at that point, intervar training (alternate jogging pace with harder runs) can help a lot.  A 1/4 mile track will allow you to do 1/4 mile fast, 1/4 slow, etc. for 2-3 miles - that's good training - as long as you don't go TOO slow.

As for the question someone asked earlier about the Marine Corps vs Army Standards.  The maximum and minimum scores are quite similar, once adjusted for difference in length of the run.  The problem is that the two services define "standard" differently.  In the Army, "standard" is the minimum required to stay in the service.  In the Marine Corps, "standard" is the maximum score for any event.  So a Marine can fall short of the "standard" and pass, a Soldier cannot.  

Quoted: I dodn;t realize the Army PT was that much lower than the USMC.

It's not, it's completely different.

2 minutes of pushups, instead of doing chin-ups.  2 minutes of sit-ups, instead of doing crunches.  2mile run, instead of a three mile.

Now, the 18:00 3 mile is a lot faster than a 13:00 2 mile.  For that, there's a little comparison.  But push-ups to chin-ups, is a hard comparison.  Full sit-ups, to half sit-ups (USMC/USN "crunches"), aren't a good comparison either.

BTW, where would one find a similar chart for the USMC PFT standard?

Quoted: Quoted: I dodn;t realize the Army PT was that much lower than the USMC. It's not, it's completely different. 2 minutes of pushups, instead of doing chin-ups.  2 minutes of sit-ups, instead of doing crunches.  2mile run, instead of a three mile. Now, the 18:00 3 mile is a lot faster than a 13:00 2 mile.  For that, there's a little comparison.  But push-ups to chin-ups, is a hard comparison.  Full sit-ups, to half sit-ups (USMC/USN "crunches"), aren't a good comparison either. BTW, where would one find a similar chart for the USMC PFT standard?

There is no chart.

300 is a perfect score. 225 is the passing score.  270 is the average for OCS admission

5 points for every pullup 20 is perfect maxing at 100 points
1 point for every crunch 100 is perect for a max of 100 points
3 mile run ...deduct 1 point from 100 for every 10 seconds off of 18


I was comparing the run times.  13minutes for 2 miles is pretty far off of 18 for 3.  

Quoted: There is no chart. 300 is a perfect score. 225 is the passing score.  270 is the average for OCS admission 5 points for every pullup 20 is perfect maxing at 100 points 1 point for every crunch 100 is perect for a max of 100 points 3 mile run ...deduct 1 point from 100 for every 10 seconds off of 18 I was comparing the run times.  13minutes for 2 miles is pretty far off of 18 for 3.

Passing is actually around 180 or so, but it's a third class, and a good way to get a sgt. down your throat. 225 is for a first class PFT.

So is there a minimum per event, or does the total just have to equal 180 or 225 or whatever?

And yes, the Army's run time is significantly slower than the Marines'.  A 13:00 2-mile would translate into about a 20:00 3-mile.

Quoted: Quoted: There is no chart. 300 is a perfect score. 225 is the passing score.  270 is the average for OCS admission 5 points for every pullup 20 is perfect maxing at 100 points 1 point for every crunch 100 is perect for a max of 100 points 3 mile run ...deduct 1 point from 100 for every 10 seconds off of 18 I was comparing the run times.  13minutes for 2 miles is pretty far off of 18 for 3.   Passing is actually around 180 or so, but it's a third class, and a good way to get a sgt. down your throat. 225 is for a first class PFT.

not for OCS or PLC

Something that I got fairly recently that's been helping a lot is a Polar heart rate monitor.  I try to keep my heart rate between 160 and 175 for 30-50 minutes, 3 times a week.  It turns out that I usually find out that I should have taped something on my feet or that my shoes aren't *quite* well-enough broken in before I hit 50 minutes though.  I'm in exceedingly sorry shape, but I have seen significant improvements just from two weeks of training with it (on a treadmill).  It was pretty expensive, but should last a good long while and the return on investment in terms of feedback on my training has already been exceptionally motivating.

Another benchmarking device if you're in to running outside (a better choice long-term, particularly if you have access to fitness trails or other impact-mitigating surfaces) would be something like a Garmin Forerunner.  If you get the 301, it has a heart rate monitor that looks very similar to the Polar unit that I have built in.  The handy thing about a running GPS (I don't know if anyone else makes them, but I presume that there are other brands) is that you can tell how fast you're going both "instantaneously" and your average speed, how far you've gone, and when you've gone a lap (whatever distance you define as a lap).  I've got a friend at work who I think uses the 201, and he's very happy with it, but he's looking to add a heart rate monitor to his set up.