Hey brother Jglo, with a treadmill you NEED to add 2-3* of upslope to simulate as close as possible to a road run. Your best bet though is still outside on a dirt path as far as less impact is concerned, provided conditions such as weather and dirt/soil/snow?/ allow. One other important item of note. a big IF you can try NOT to run in the same shoes two days in a row. try to buy a second pair if cash allows. The reasoning is thus…the foam/eva/ rubber needs a chance to decompress after use even with lighter weight fluid runners, so bigger people like us REALLY need to let this happen as it can cut down on the injury possibility.
Hope this helps and keep up the good work…feel free to contact me if necessary, the killerDIRK.
Just had a crack at the 1.5 mile on treadmill with a touch of slope. Managed 10.33, not the fastest i know but i am 53 so pretty happy with that-just need to nail pull-ups now as that is a real week spot.
For me, the trick to improving my running times is to approach running/look at it in much the same way I’d would if I was trying to bump up my 5 rep max on bench press etc.
Ie: multiple sets/intervals at about 15-20% shy of max effort/best performance.
So, mile intervals (with 1-2 mins rest in between) at pace which is slightly faster than your current 1.5 mile pace should do the trick.
Once you can hit 2 or more 1 mile intervals at a pace which is about 10%+ faster than your current best 1.5 mile time, your pace over 1.5 miles will almost certainly have improved.
I’d say a lot of this just comes down to psychology really, I know I find this approach far less frustrating than they all out approach of ALWAYS running 1.5 miles etc & getting pissed off with myself when I don’t shave off another 4-5 seconds etc.
I’m not a coach or an elite or even very good runner, but I tested a 1.5 mile for my local PD fairly recently and also used to play DE. Over 3 months I shaved almost a minute from my time (10:35-9:38ish). I realize that this is not a killer time, but it was a decent improvement and IMO not too terrible for an old guy (32) at a BW of 220-225lbs (not all that big, I realize, but heavier than most of the guys who turned in better times than me). What worked for me was a program very similar to what spk outlines above. Fartlek style training with occasional 400m sprints and hills as a change of pace seemed to really do it. The longer slow run feels like a treat. I also wish I had gotten on the foam roller program sooner, as per killerDIRK’s suggestion. I could have definitely saved myself some pain, so do yourself a favor. I personally prefer training mostly faster than pace like this as opposed to banging out lots of at pace miles and trying to bump it up each time, but that’s just me.
[quote]phillipaustin7 wrote:
I’m an avid runner and I’ve been doing the tabata protocol and I’ve seen huge improvements on my 5k times.[/quote]
This is going to be your best bet for improved performance. What you do is sprint for 20 seconds and take 1 minute off, for a total of 15-20 minutes including your rest period. Go for 15 minutes first because the idea is you are going ALL OUT for the sprints and you will be shot by the end, increase the total time up to 20 minutes and once you reach that point decrease your rest period to 45 seconds, and repeat the process. Continue the process of working up to 20 total minutes and decreasing rest until you can do a 1:1.5 work to rest ratio. I have also included the abstract link to the protocol, of which I have looked into more detail, as well as other research supporting the case for high intensity training. Good luck.
[quote]doombunney wrote:
sounds like standard military.
1 1/2 mile should be quite easy in under 10 minutes.
if you cant run said distance in under 12 minutes you are seriously out of shape and fucked.
if this is for any SO contract you are even more fucked as a 8 minutes mile (what you would be running to make the 12) even on longer runs is pathetic.
sprint with a sled.[/quote]
Agreed. I was suprised with the 12 minute because you should be able to do that.
For help with improving I’d go with the sprints and maybe incorporate them up a hill. Big strong quads should help your sprint time improve. Just look at the size of Mr Bolts!
