Slowly Getting Faster

Posted on Posted in Fitness

 

BBR
I ran the Boulder Half Marathon on Sunday. It remains one of the prettiest courses that I have ever run (2012 slideshow). It was a perfect fall day. The temperature at the start of the race was perhaps 50 rising to the mid 60s by the time I finished. The sun was bright. The leaves on the trees were all reds and bright yellows. The route passes by many farms and horse pastures.

It’s funny, I’ve been consistently running since the fall of 2004, but still feel like a novice. I ran my first event, a half marathon, in May of 2005. I completed it in 2:08:24, middle of the pack for my age and gender.

This year I have been focusing on incrementally improving my speed. I’ve run three half-marathons in 2012, each one, slightly faster.

It’s funny, even this small improvement moves me from the bottom half to the top third (34 of 103) for my age/gender.

My 10k times are similarly infinitesimally improving:

  • 0:59:48 – March 14, 2010 Boulder, CO
  • 0:58:25 – March 31, 2012 Tallahassee, FL
  • 0:56:07 – April 28, 2012 Tallahassee, FL

I’d like to get my half marathon time under 2 hours. I have been steadily improving the pace at which I can run a single mile or two, but keeping that up for 13.1 miles is not something I have been able to sustain – yet.

Any advice for improving my speed/stamina more quickly?

2 Comments on “Slowly Getting Faster”

  1. It’s nice to see those improvements.

    Check out http://runwithjill.blogspot.com/ Jill’s a blogger from Colorado and has been a running coach. She ran with me at my last half marathon. She would be the one to ask about getting faster.

    I haven’t been training as I should, but I do know that several forms of interval training (fartleks, for example) will help. From my own experience I do better when I participate in our track club workouts on an actual track. We’ll run 800m at a moderate to fast pace followed by a 400m cool down x 3, 4, 5 + depending on how much time we have at the track. If time allows, we’ll do group sprints on the football field. If I do this once a week with the club, my times do improve. I need to get back at it. My times aren’t that great right now.