When you first start of running, your aim is to get to the end of the run in one piece.  Once you have got a few races under your belt, you will want to run for personal bests.  But how can you train to run faster?  The simple answer is speed sessions.

Please Note - These sessions really aren’t much fun and you should limit these runs to once or twice a week as they will wear you out.  I recently knocked 4 minute off my PB for a half marathon by using some of these methods.  Although be careful not too push yourself too quickly as this can cause injury.

Why does it work?

 The following techniques increase your speed in runs to beat your personal bests. 

It doesn’t JUST make you faster; it helps you to be fitter because:-

1        Increases the range of movements in your joints improving muscle growth.

2        Makes you more comfortable at all speeds

3        Ultimately makes you run harder for longer as you have been used to the faster speeds even though in shorter intervals.

4        Improve running technique

5        I also heard a rumour these sessions will help you to lose weight – I’m not sure this is true.

How do you do it??

The best way is to start with Fartleks (Swedish for “speed play”) short bursts of faster running indispersed with short periods of recovery.  Lampposts or trees are good markers for this.  It’s worth mentioning these are structured and are really only a starting point for speed work.

Activity – Try a 4/6 sets of 3 minute runs with 2 minute recovery.

As this becomes easier you can build up to Interval running.  These are longer periods of faster running and then slightly shorter recovery time.  The important part is to allow your body to recover before you start the speed run.  If you feel you’re tired slow down on the speed runs do not lengthen the recover time. 

Activity – Try a 4/6 sets of 3 minute runs with 2 minute recovery. 

The more experienced runners can try Threshold runs this is where you run at a pace out of your comfort zone for a short period – this is a pace where you should not be able to chat to a friend. Maybe a few words but not a sentence.   If you’re advanced (not like me) and have a heart rate monitor this should be at 85%.  You still add periods of recovery but the faster periods are a bit harder.  An activity would be running 8 minutes fast- with 2 minutes recovery.  This should be done 2-4 times each.

The Science bit – threshold running is where you run on the lactate or anaerobic threshold.  Working at an intensity that equates to the lactate threshold will gradually push it upwards so that you can produce energy at a higher intensity of lactate acid in your body.  It also gets your body accustomed to running at a rate with lactic acid in your muscles and clearing it more efficiently. 

In other words - If you run at the faster rate your body will get used to the pain from the lactate acid and mean you can run faster for longer and beat your PB.

Where to start?Try Fatleks to start with and then build up to Threshold running.  They really do work and will make a difference to your PB’s.

Activity – Try a 4/6 sets of 3 minute runs with 2 minute recovery.

SOURCE - Sam Murphy - Marathons and Half Marathon and Runners World magazine

I have the marathon in 15 weeks and training has commenced - to be honest Im crapping myself.  My last half marathon did not go according to plan, all training ready to go kit packed and it cancelled due to snow.  Very frustrating but not much you can do.  I had also tried to complete a test to see if I trained 3 times a week instead of 5 if it made a difference - I suppose we will never know.

My training plan is from Sam Murphys Marathons and Half marathons its good as it breaks down the training plans to experienced and first time runners.  Then also buy perfect world, real world and bare mininium.  It means if you want an easier week for injury etc, you can swap between plans! It works for me!!

I wont lie though I’m very scared - marathon training is boring, time consuming and painful.  But the feeling of achievements makes you forget all of that and running through the finish line and even better beating your time is an amazing feeling.  Is anyone else running the London Marathon?

Putting one foot in front of the other at a faster rate than walking for up to 26 miles - does not sound like the most exciting thing in the world!! Keeping motivated can be hard when boredom kicks in!! There’s ways you can get yourself motivated to run and keep inspiration along the way.  Here are ten tips which helped me….

1. Before you start work out ”Why am I doing this?” - We all have our reasons for running, such as losing weight, beating a personal goal, proving a friend wrong or a bet.  Don’t ever forget that reason, that needs to be in the forefront of your mind at all times. 

2. Buy new albums regularly- Music always keeps me motivated, when I know I have new album to listen to I am excited when I go out running.  Legalsounds.co.uk is good for this and at about £1 an album it’s great!

3. Find new routes - Don’t just keep running the same routes.  Use route mapping sites to find new routes and places to run. 

4. Find milestones on the route - Don’t think about the finish line break up the run into small segments and concentrate on the next milestone not the end.

5. Set yourself goals - Just going out and running with no purpose or goal is just a bit silly in my opinion.  Goals can be wanting to beat a time or even not stop when I’m running.  I found booking in a race works well so you have something to work towards.

6. Run with a friend - this isn’t always possible, but can help you to keep going.  You can egg eachother on and get a bit of competition going on. 

7. Find a running club - If you have a regular meet up point and a few people to go with it gives u that extra push!

8. Fundraise for a charity - This gives you more motivation to keep going it you have the EXTRA push of helping other people with the money you raise.  Obviously its also great for the charity.

9. Find somewhere new to run - Go to friends for the weekend and run there or just drive to somewhere near by which you know has good routes.

10. Run in your lunch break - A half hour run in your lunchtime breaks up your day & kills work stress too!!

I hope these help you to keep motivated when running.

Everytime I’m in training for a race, I spend 3 months running every minute I can building up my distance and improving my speed!  By the end I’m so bored of running I want to run off a cliff!!! I also always feel like I peak too soon.  Training 4/5 times a week can take it out of you!!

I am going to try only training for one month to see what difference this makes to my time and performance.  In 4 weeks time I will be doing the Norwich Half marathon. 

This is the shortest distance I have ever had to train for a Half Marathon - will it effect my time?  Will I not complete the run?

Watch this space - to hear my updates.

When I first started running I was plagued with stitches.  On every run after twenty minutes it would start without fail.  A shooting pain down the right of my body, other runners said “just run through it”, but the pain was so bad. With all the research in sport development - there seams to be no clear explanation to why this occurs.  But I have a few tips which helped me out.   

-         Don’t eat or drink anything for an hour before a run

-         Take big breaths in an out, also known as belly breathing

-         Concentrating on breathing in & out every two strides

-         Pinch yourself on the opposite side

-         Build your core muscles with the plank

-         Stretch before a run and make sure you warm up

As you build your training they get better and building your core muscles really help. Some experts say you should stop and stretch out – I don’t find this helps. 

After two years I still get stitches but they are never as bad as the first 6 months.

Please let me know your thoughts or let me know anything that works well for you.