Tag: pace

Training for Speed Matters – Part 1

I like to ask runners I’m coaching to run 200m to give me an idea of their speed. I say to them “You don’t need to get the starting blocks out. You don’t need to go 100% all-out and risk injury. Just do a good warm-up, have a little break and then go run hard for 200m and see what your time is.”

The most recent lady who did this trial recorded a time of 45secs. This is not a terrible time by any means but what it does show is that at best, she will run 400m in 1min30, 800m in 3mins and a mile in six. Her parkrun time will be just under 19mins, a 10K in 38mins, half marathon 1hr20 and marathon 2hr40. Those latter numbers sound pretty damn amazing to anyone who isn’t already a decent runner.

But, and there is a huge but, when you run 200metres flat out – you’re going flat out. Your arms and legs are pumping like crazy. After twenty seconds you begin to hyperventilate and then it all starts to hurt and you’d prefer to stop. When you finished you’re gasping for breath. You’ll probably be bent over double for the next couple of minutes trying to get your breath back.  And that’s the problem – this is your absolute best and it’s only over 200m. It’s not going to transfer as you run longer distances.

It’s more realistic that if you run 45secs for 200m you’re probably looking at 25mins for parkrun, 52mins for 10K, 1hr55 for half marathon and 4hrs for the marathon. Again, these may be times you find impressive.

If we look at world-class runners, even Paula Radcliffe – the former world record holder for the women’s marathon – can break 30s for 200m. And she is a runner who is best suited to long distances. To give you perspective on Paula’s speed, here is a look at her Personal Bests:

DistancePersonal Best timeMile paceKm pacePace per 200m
400m58.9s3:572:2729.5s
800m2:084:122:3732s
Mile4:254:252:4533s
5,000m14:294:402:5435s
10,000m30:014:493:0036s
1/2 Marathon1:05:405:013:0737s
Marathon2:15:255:103:1238s

Even when she runs a marathon, she is covering 200m quicker than all but a few recreational runners and it’s relatively effortless for her at that pace until perhaps the final miles when her fuel stores are depleted and her muscles aching.

Paula started out as a track runner. It was only as she approached thirty years old that she moved up in distance from races like the 5,000 and 10,000m to half and full marathons. While this is often true of recreational runners who begin with Couch25K and then try longer distances, the notable difference is that Paula had been training for the better part of twenty years before she moved up to the longest distances.

I wrote briefly about how her children have taken up running at the ages of 8 and 12 and could already run a kilometre in under 4mins. Her approach hasn’t been to have the kids running mile after mile in training but to run as fast as they can over shorter distances.

The consequence of being fast over a short distance is it allows you to be quick over longer ones. If you’re slow over short distances then all you can ever be is slow over long distances – that’s basic mathematics.

Build speed then build the endurance to cover the race distance you’re aiming for.

Short sprint – Ordinary speed

In True Speed I wrote about the high speeds at which elite runners run their races; speeds which ordinary runners can barely hit in a sprint. Today we’re going to look at what ordinary speed looks like. Outside of an elite race, most runners are running somewhere between six and ten miles per hour. Even the guys and gals up the front winning the prizes in your local race aren’t running much faster than this. Sometimes it’s even true for elites too, when Gwen Jorgensen was winning her Olympic Gold for triathlon, her 10K was ‘only’ around 11mph, so there’s no shame in not being super fast; only an attempt to better understand what’s going on.

Let’s begin with parkrun. In the table below I’ve listed the times between sixteen and thirty minutes as all but a few parkruns are run in that range. Of course quicker times are available, Andrew Baddeley holds the world record time of 13:48 while Lauren Reid ran 15:45 earlier this year to set a new women’s record.

Parkrun timeMphKm/hMin/mileMin/km
1611.718.85min093min12
1711.017.65min283min24
1810.416.75min473min36
199.815.86min073min48
209.315.06min264min00
218.914.36min454min12
228.513.67min044min24
238.113.07min234min36
247.812.57min434min48
257.512.08min025min00
267.211.58min225min12
276.911.18min415min24
286.710.79min005min36
296.410.39min195min48
306.210.09min396min00

If you want to train to get faster, it’s a useful table for understanding what speeds and paces you’ll need to be running. Once any initial burst of training sees your times levelling off, you have to start training smart.

You do intervals at paces a little quicker than you’re currently running while keeping the majority of your running at paces for a parkrun that’s 2½ – 3½ minutes slower. That’s 2½ minutes for the runners near sixteen and 3½ for those at thirty  If you’re currently running 22-mins at 7min/mile, you’ll want to be training no faster than the pace of a 25-min parkrun (three minutes slower). Even more of your training should be at the pace of a parkrun that’s five minutes slower than you’re currently running.

But we’re not only parkrunners so let’s have a look at what speeds we’re running for different race distances. The vast majority of runners are barely hitting 8mph in any of their races; most are even slower. The top end are the elite values to give you an idea of where there’s capacity for improvement.

4 mph5678910111213
parkrun46min3937min1931min0626min4023min2020min4518min4016min5815min3314min21
10K1hr331hr151hr0253min1946min3941min2937min1933min5631min0628min42
1/2M3hr162hr272hr111hr521hr381hr271hr191hr121hr061hr00
Marathon6hr335hr154hr223hr453hr162hr552hr372hr232hr112hr01

Of course reaching the highest speeds takes lots of dedicated training but certainly isn’t impossible if you understand what you need to do. Most people can run at 10mph (or 6min/mile pace) if only for twenty or thirty metres. If you can do this, then it’s probable with good endurance training you can improve to run times you wouldn’t have considered possible.

Most runners I see are good at unlocking their natural talent but then spend their training time reinforcing it without notable improvement. They seem happy if they’re knocking a minute or two off their marathon after months of hard training. My 10K went from 48 minutes to sub-40 when I got my training right. My early half marathons all came in at 1hr50 but when I took up running seriously I got them closer to 1hr30. I still believe there is significant room for improvement in all my races when I’m done with 800m training. I won’t settle for less, will you?