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February 18th, 2007

The Need For Speed

Yesterday I only needed to run 1.6 miles to make 35 miles for the week.  Since the distance was so short, I decided to see what pace I can run it at and maintain.  I started out at about a 7:15 min/mile, but that was obviously too fast  I had to walk after about 0.25 miles.  I continued to experiment and I found that a 8:30-9:00 felt like a pace I could maintain for a 10K race and even that might be pushing it.

I was rather disappointed.  After almost 6 months of pure base building and aerobic running, I was really hoping I could run an 8:00 min/mile pace for 10K, but it doesn’t seem as though that’s something that’s going to happen anytime soon.  In order to qualify for Boston, I need to run a full marathon at a 7:37 min/mile pace!!!

I need to do some research as I’m not sure what I should do next.  Should I continue doing pure aerobic running for the next several months?  Should I start to introduce some speed work?  I’m hoping to start my marathon training program for my December marathon at around the end of June.  That give me 4 months to try something different.  I’m leaning towards continuing to build my mileage and see if I can get up to 50 miles/week and maybe that aerobic base will allow me to run a bit faster.

The other disappointment with my trying to run faster is that my right knee was hurting!  When running slow, it hurts a bit, but is manageable and even stops hurting later in my runs, but at the faster pace, I was limping when I was done.

Posted by derek in Training

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 18th, 2007 at 9:11 am and is filed under Training. You can follow any responses to this entry through the comments RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

4 Responses to “The Need For Speed”

  1. George(gripperm) says:

    being a new runner I cannot give you any advice but I can tell you that I am here for you and will be encouraging you now matter what plan you follow

  2. Andrew says:

    I wouldn’t be too worried about your pace, it’s just a sign that you need more speed work. I would include some 1000m intervals into your training once a week. This is where you run 1000m at slightly faster than your 5km race pace with a 60 second rest. Add a 15 minute warm up before and a 15 minute cool down after.
    With your knee, I would definitely get that checked out, always remember to listen to your body. If there’s pain, there’s pain for a reason. Does the pain start immediately or does it build gradually?

  3. derek says:

    I did see 2 specialists about my knee, but they were a waste of time (and money). The pain “seems” to be getting better over the last 4-5 weeks as it seems to hurt less and less.

    On my normal training runs, my knee starts to hurt after about 3 miles, but then stops within a couple miles so if I’m running 5 miles or more, by the time I get to the end of my run, my knee feels fine.

    I’ll follow your advice on the intervals once my knee will allow me to do that.

  4. Daddyo says:

    HIlls Hills Hills - one solid hill workout per week, another day of speed intervals and you’ll see the change!

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