A blog post by the crazy-fast Skinny Runner resonated with me over the weekend.
Her post basically said in order to run faster, you have to train faster.
She went on to say, “It is that simple and it’s that hard. Your body has to get used to running at the pace you want to race at.”
While this obviously makes sense, I almost always run at a comfortable pace and rarely push myself to run faster even though I know I could run harder.
After clocking in a sub-two hour half marathon on Saturday, I started to wonder what my time might look like if I actually pushed myself to run faster during my training. I wonder what time my body is capable of achieving if I incorporate speed work into my training plans and run long runs at a faster pace?
Today when I took Sadie out for a five-mile run, I made a simple goal of keeping all of my miles under nine minutes.
It wasn’t crazy fast, but since my usual five mile pace has me finishing in 47 – 48 minutes, it was definitely faster than usual. Maybe some speed work is in my future?
New Running Shoes
This morning’s run also allowed me to bust out my new running shoes!
I ordered these from the hotel room right after our half marathon when I found them on a fantastic sale through Running Warehouse ($65 when they’re originally $100). I’ve been a huge fan of Mizuno Wave Riders since I ran my first half marathon in 2007 and continue to buy them every time my latest pair of running shoes bite the dust.
Unfortunately as some of you warned me before, reviews about the version of the shoe I ordered are mixed (Mizuno changed them a bit), so I was nervous going into today’s run.
Luckily the shoes felt fine! My feet did feel a little funky, but they always do when I first break in a new pair of shoes. The big test for these shoes will come on Saturday when I head out for a long run.
Lunch
After working through the morning, I was more than ready for lunch.
Leftovers!
I made myself a wrap using leftover sloppy joes from last night’s dinner and served it along with roasted cauliflower dipped in Chavrie goat cheese.
Back to work!
My sister is coming in town tonight!!!
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I feel the same way, I run at a good pace but don’t push myself because I prefer to let my body find its confortable pace so that I can run longer and breathe correctly. And I like your new shoes!
I am the SAME exact way. I’ll go for a run on the treadmill and walk off feeling fine, just because those numbers are staring at me and I don’t want to feel “uncomfortable” if I up the speed. I sometimes fear challenging myself! A nice workout to do outside is “sprint the straightaways, jog the curves” on a track. You’d be amazed at how fast running a mile around the track becomes when you do this, and you even get recovery time for half of it :D.
I totally understand what you mean about training in your comfort zone. I have to make a conscious effort to “pick it up”. Although there is something to be said for speedwork, and I don’t even think you have to do much. My first half marathon was 2:02 and my second one 4 months later was 1:50 and I barely did any speedwork-I simply chose a few runs a week to run at closer to “race pace”- so just a little bit less comfortable- and when I actually ran my second half marathon I felt way better. Like I could actually speed up when I wanted, rather than just getting through. I definitely think you will notice a difference if you even speed it up a tiny bit during training. Sometimes you can do that without realizing just by having a great playlist. 🙂 Good luck and enjoy your running journey!