What’s the Fastest Way to Improve?
What’s the fastest way to improve your race times? Like most things in life, there are no shortcuts. If you try to improve quickly, you run a higher risk of injury.
The most time-efficient way to improve your race times is interval training. Most people hate to run intervals. I know I do. They are very intense workouts that often leave you gasping for air and sometimes make you want to throw up.
If you do interval workouts correctly, you can dramatically improve your VO2max, which explains 70% or more of the variation in race times (depending on the length of your race).
If you haven’t done intervals before, or if you haven’t done them for a while, you should ease into them gently. Start by running some strides, short sprints of 100 meters or so. Then work up to running 400 meter repeats. Gradually increase the length of your intervals until the duration of your interval is between three and five minutes. For most people, this will correspond to a distance of 800 to 1200 meters.
Recovery times between intervals should be slightly less than the time that it took you to run the interval. For a 1000 meter interval run in 4:00, a 3:00 recovery time with a slow jog might be appropriate. As you gain more experience running these longer intervals, you should gradually increase the number of repetitions until you are able to accumulate between 20 and 30 minutes of running time at interval pace. You should only do one of these workouts each week and warm up with a few strides beforehand.
You should run your intervals at 3K-5K pace. Make sure that you select a pace that you can maintain for the total number of repetitions you want to complete, so that you don’t have to “bail out” and cut the workout short.
You will need a track or a well-measured course to run the intervals on. Sometimes, it can be difficult to get to a track. I use a GPS device, programmed for the interval distance and rest time, and run a loop in a quiet neighborhood near my house.
When you do interval workouts, you should be careful not to overdo it. If you feel like you are straining to finish the interval, don’t be afraid to slow down. If anything starts to hurt (beside your lungs), you should ease off. Rest, adjust your pace, and try again next week or when you are pain-free.
Good luck. I think you will be surprised by the results you will see in your race times.
One of my friends and fellow Albany (NY) Times Union running bloggers, Colleen Morrissey Wheatley, took over 3 minutes off her 5K time after completing a 6 week interval program. You can read more about her experience here.
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