WANT TO GET FASTER? BY JOHN DAVIS Runners love to read secret methods about how to run faster. We search for an easy way to set new PRs like the Greeks sought for Atlan=s. So what’s the key-‐ for running, not finding Atlan=s? Super-‐light minimalist shoes? A special super-‐vitamin? Maybe a magical workout or killer hill that reduces our 5K PR with every lap? Well, I’ve collected some data, put it together with eight years of running experience, and given my two cents. Here’s my story. AKer five years of hard training, I hit a plateau, as I’m sure most runners experience at some point. In all of 2010 I cut off only a few seconds from my 5K PR. At the Downtown Melbourne 5K in 2011, I ran sixteen minutes and 54 seconds, which was only two seconds beRer than my previous 16:56 set in January 2010. For another year I couldn't break 16:54. Then at the 2012 Downtown Melbourne race, I hit a breakthrough of 16:47. Here’s the 5K streak that I've been on for the last five months: 16:54-‐ 4/2/2011, Downtown Melbourne 16:47-‐ 3/31/2012, Downtown Melbourne 16:43-‐ 5/12/2012, Run for the Gecko Hawaiian Luau (hot) 16:39-‐ 6/9/2012, Brevard County Showdown Championship (hot, humid!) 16:24-‐ 7/4/2012, Firecracker (literally the hoRest day of the year so far!) 16:15-‐ 8/11/2012, I Run for Pizza Football Kickoff (how many turns again? Oh yeah, and hot!)
That’s a lot of fives: Five 5K PRs in five months. And based on recent workouts, I can run faster. I’ve never had a streak of five PRs in my eight years of running -‐ not even when I began this sport running a 5K in the 25s. I did not taper for any of the PR races and the temperatures have been mostly hot. So the magic ques=on: what have I been doing differently? The simple answer: one word -‐ Mileage.
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Why are you surprised? For some reason, this appears to spark controversy in the running community. I think people want to hear that there is an easier way, a faster shoe, or a secret workout. Nope. It’s pure hard work and =me. And I honestly don’t think this is applicable to only me. Olympians at almost every distance from 800m to the marathon run very high mileage -‐ typically more than 100 miles per week. When I read their comments, they say it gets easier when their mileage increases. Why would it be different for West Melbourne’s regular runners like us? It’s John Davis nailed his fiKh 5K PR in not. That doesn't mean I just as many months go out and run miles. Every at the I Run for run I do has a purpose and a Pizza “Football goal pace. I s=ck to that. I K i c ko ff ” 5 K i n Viera on Aug. 11. also ramped up slowly over an eight-‐year period. Dras=cally increasing mileage over a short period of =me will get my weekly mileage bumped but here's the weird thing you injured -‐ guaranteed. up in the 60s. (you’ll love this part) -‐ the fast =mes felt SO EASY! My In 2011, my average weekly Then I started a "Mileage workouts were faster then mileage was in the 50s. I was Challenge" with the Brevard ever, and it felt like I wasn’t consistent, but the numbers Heat, the high school cross-‐ trying as hard to hit my goal were low. Star=ng in February country team that I coach. I =mes. I decided to increase 2012, I decided to do long set a goal of 900 miles over a mileage again. For the last 13 runs with my running buddy, 1 3 -‐ w e e k p e r i o d , w h i c h weeks, my weekly average has Shane Streufert, who was averaged to about 70 miles been 79 miles, and my =mes marathon training. Suddenly per week. I no=ced my keep coming down both in workouts were gekng faster, workouts and on race day. [2]
OK, I love graphs, so here is one with my Mileage and 5K =mes lined up together. Thanks to my Garmin GPS and Athlinks, this is six years (and about 13,000 miles) worth of data since 2007. The blue points are weekly mileage, and the red is an averaging trend line.
The below graph shows my 5K race =mes over the same =me period.
West Melbourne’s John Davis nails his 5th
Downtown Melbourne 5K 2011
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I like the end of the above graph best. But look at the trends. Over the years, my improvements typically come aKer or during a period of consistently high mileage -‐ especially this last summer.
However, the coach who has directed my training over the years is Coach Doug Butler, who also coaches cross-‐ country and track at Holy Trinity Episcopal Academy. Coach Butler’s athletes have been following this high-‐ For some reason there seems mileage philosophy for about to be opposi=on to the high 12 years. mileage philosophy. The logical argument to this data How has that worked out for I’ve collected is that it is a them? They’ve earned 15 sample size of one person. State Championship Titles Solid argument. (yes, that’s fiKeen!) plus an addi=onal dozen Runners Up. That’s not just a few kids –
that’s a dominance that has lasted for 12 years over hundreds of high school athletes. Big enough sample size for the doubters? OK, so here’s the boRom line: if your goal is to become a faster runner, the most effec=ve way to accomplish that is to put the “smart” mileage in. Run your workouts and easy runs at the right pace, and run the mileage that your body can handle. The result? I bet you get faster. Try it.
The Holy Trinity posse shows off their bling rings aKer winning the 2012 State Championships. From leK to right are Alex Hoffman, Cole Oliver, Marques Burgman, Emon Nasajpour, Alex Butler, Daniel Moore, Alex Brown, Daniel Welch and Tristan KaRenberg. Kneeling is Coach Doug Butler. [4]
THE FASTER FORMULA Ok, before running your way to glory -‐ or an injury -‐ as you ramp up the mileage, re-‐read the portion of the article’s last paragraph that reads “Run your workouts and easy runs at the right pace, and run the mileage that your body can handle.”
RUN TYPE 5k Race
PACE
AMOUNT OF MILES
PR Pace
Race Day only
Easy Run
PR Pace + 1:30 to 2:00
Roughly 60% of weekly miles
Long Run
Same as Easy Run
<20% of weekly miles
Tempo Run
PR Pace + :20 to :40
1 workout per week (<10% of total weekly mileage)
Speedwork
Depends on interval
1 workout per week (<10% of total weekly mileage)
yourself some time to build your base mileage before adding any tempo or speedwork. When you do start, let your body adjust to the additional stress of tempo runs before adding the faster or As his chart shows, Davis believes If you’re newer to running or second day of speedwork. that at least 80% of your weekly coming back from an injury, give
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mileage should be run at a pace Many – especially newer athletes that is 1:30 to 2:00 slower than – believe that every training run your 5K PR. If that PR was should be a personal best in order months ago, retest yourself and to improve. work from there.