Running

[Xanupox]

After basically sitting on my ass for 13 years doing my damn best to avoid the Air Force "Sitness" test... yes that is sitness, we used to test on a stationary bicycle for our fitness test.

I am now forced to run 1.5 miles in less than 12 minutes. That was not too hard when I was 19 years old, but now at 32 it seems its a bit of a strugle for me.

Does anyone here run a lot? Any suggestions on decreasing run times through proper techniques or other means?

I have been running / spinning / elipticalling for the last 3 months and have gotten my time down to around 13:45 but I've hit the wall.

I just need more speed but when I kick it up a notch, then I get winded way too fast and have to slow down and walk. Hurrah for fitness!!! not.

[Drasta]

stop smoking

[noel]

After basically sitting on my ass for 13 years doing my damn best to avoid the Air Force "Sitness" test... yes that is sitness, we used to test on a stationary bicycle for our fitness test.

I am now forced to run 1.5 miles in less than 12 minutes. That was not too hard when I was 19 years old, but now at 32 it seems its a bit of a strugle for me.

Does anyone here run a lot? Any suggestions on decreasing run times through proper techniques or other means?

I have been running / spinning / elipticalling for the last 3 months and have gotten my time down to around 13:45 but I've hit the wall.

I just need more speed but when I kick it up a notch, then I get winded way too fast and have to slow down and walk. Hurrah for fitness!!! not.

Assuming you can jog the entire 1.5 miles, grab yourself a heart rate monitor. Run double the distance staying at a heart rate which is aerobic for you. Mix in 1 and two minute 'sprint' intervals during the jog, no more than 3 in a given 3 mile run. Always return to your aerobic heart rate afterward, even if it means walking for a bit and then returning to jogging. Start out with a single 1 minute interval, and work up to adding 2-3. Once you can do that with some ease, make the intervals 2 minutes long.

There are lots of books on how to train for running, so I'll leave it to you to pick one and I'll leave it to you to figure out what your aerobic heart rate is.

[Zaelath]

After basically sitting on my ass for 13 years doing my damn best to avoid the Air Force "Sitness" test... yes that is sitness, we used to test on a stationary bicycle for our fitness test.

I am now forced to run 1.5 miles in less than 12 minutes. That was not too hard when I was 19 years old, but now at 32 it seems its a bit of a strugle for me.

Does anyone here run a lot? Any suggestions on decreasing run times through proper techniques or other means?

I have been running / spinning / elipticalling for the last 3 months and have gotten my time down to around 13:45 but I've hit the wall.

I just need more speed but when I kick it up a notch, then I get winded way too fast and have to slow down and walk. Hurrah for fitness!!! not.

Assuming you can jog the entire 1.5 miles, grab yourself a heart rate monitor. Run double the distance staying at a heart rate which is aerobic for you. Mix in 1 and two minute 'sprint' intervals during the jog, no more than 3 in a given 3 mile run. Always return to your aerobic heart rate afterward, even if it means walking for a bit and then returning to jogging. Start out with a single 1 minute interval, and work up to adding 2-3. Once you can do that with some ease, make the intervals 2 minutes long.

There are lots of books on how to train for running, so I'll leave it to you to pick one and I'll leave it to you to figure out what your aerobic heart rate is.

I think you want to have a bit more information on interval training before you attempt it from a paragraph on a forum.. it's not to be taken lightly.

[kyoukan]

burn off those extra calories by beating up krurk with a gang of your air force buddies.

[Animale]

To train for a 1.5 mile run (at any decent speed), you need to be doing a "long run" of at least 3-4 miles once a week. Don't go out and do this right away, find whatever your longest run is of the week (I do my long runs on either Saturday or Sunday) and add ~10% a week mileage to that until you hit 4 miles for your long run. If you are currently doing a long run of that length, then increase the mileage by 10% a week and up it to ~ 6 miles. The long run shouldn't be at a fast pace, just be sure to be jogging the whole way (if you can't jog the whole way, then the run is too long, cut back the mileage). After your long run, take a day off from running/exercising strenuously.

Do at least 3 other runs during the week of 1-3 miles at whatever speed you wish. To get faster, its nice to do interval training and the like as Noel suggested. However, until you have the cardio base for doing things like that, they don't really do tons of good for medium distance races. In order to get the base, you need to be able to complete the "long" runs.

If you find that your legs hurt from this, you can supplement with swimming/eliptical/biking for a couple of the less long runs.

Another good workout for getting faster is to do 200 or 400 meter repeats. Find a track or other similar area and do 6 x 200 (or 3 x 400) meters at a pace that leaves you a bit winded but not overly tired (for the first one). Try to maintain that pace for the duration - when your time drastically slows down between repeats - stop, even if you haven't done six, because after that exhaustion point you aren't doing yourself any good. You can rest inbetween repeats as long as you wish, although putting them closer together is better its probably best for the first couple times you do this workout to rest until you feel comfortable before starting the next repeat. An easy way to do this is on a track is to walk 50 meters after you finish the 200, slowly jog 100 meters, then walk the remaining 50 meters to the start line for your next 200 meter repeat.

Another tip is that at the end of whatever runs you do, rest a bit then do a couple stride outs of ~ 100 meters at a quick pace (just a bit slower thanl out sprinting). For some reason this really helped me develop good technique for running faster, which is what you want.

Good luck! 12 minutes for 1.5 miles is a very doable goal. If you can successfully do the long run then you are well on your way to developing the rest of the speed... you need a good base to begin to get faster.

Animale

[Winnow]

1.5 in 12 minutes can't be that hard. You might be hurt'in for certain after the run but suck it up and tough it out.

a six minute mile is doable. You're looking at 8 minute miles.

you might be able to do that walking at a brisk pace.

According to the World Book Encyclopedia, an expert walker can walk one mile in 6.5 minutes.

[Kwonryu DragonFist]

burn off those extra calories by beating up krurk with a gang of your air force buddies.

: D

[Krurk]

.

[noel]

I think you want to have a bit more information on interval training before you attempt it from a paragraph on a forum.. it's not to be taken lightly.

You're 100% correct. Which is why I suggested he do more research if he's serious. That's a major if though considering I knew girls who could walk a mile in 8 minutes in-high school. I really don't think what he's trying to do is that hard. He's either trolling, or really having trouble doing which to Darwin and I means he probably deserves to have his heart explode inside his chest. Animale's post was an excellent guide.

Here's some more: http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/index.shtml

Here's a couch to 5k running plan:
http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml

Too bad you can't have all of CT show up at your test so you can steamroll it or find some other way to cheat. That seems to be the only way you can actually accomplish anything.

PS. No I am not making that up about girls in high-school.

[Chidoro]

First off I'd like to say, if you've never been forced to bring yourself back from a serious injury or just being generally out of shape because of normal time constraints that occur as someone gets older, an eight minute mile pace is a pretty decent, but obtainable time. In addition, shit just hurts for no reason aside from age for a lot of people so folks that think it's easy should just wait until they age and can't explain why this or that hurts. However, a 12:00 1.5 is certainly doable as the body really starts to gasp, for most people, around 15 minutes of real aerobic activity(strangely though, I remember the ROTC being req'd to do a 16:00 2 mile as opposed to a distance 25% less at a similar pace).

Anyway, what you need to do is understand what it feels like to run at an eight minute mile pace. If you can't feel what it's like to run at that pace, you'll never be able to set it.

Seriously, e-mail me with your time frame and your current exercise regiment, and I'll do my best to draw up a plan for you. I've been running competitively the majority of my life (all 35 years of it, some of them as a smoker believe it or not) and have been privy to all sorts of training methods. Truthfully, the biggest issue I've faced in the last 3 or 4 years is my goal to remain healthy.

Edit: the Couch to 5k program is an excellent one for the beginner and definitely worth looking into.

[masteen]

"So do you still run?"

"Only when chased."

[Sendarie]

I know what you mean. Going on 11 years active duty here myself. As if the 32inch waste size regardless of age/height isnt bad enough this run....

In any case I started of when it became mandatory (the day off like most others) running an 18.27minute 1.5 mile run. I'm down to 11.03 and got a composite score of 92 (excellent) on the whole deal.

I smoke, drink, party etc...(see frequent trips to Vegas and Panama City) but still make it.

PM me if you want my little plan. It works for me every year. Doing it the cheap way takes 30-45 minutes 4 days a week starting at least 6-8 weeks before the test.

[Shanter]

I'm about to start a speed program with an ex-track runner. Once I get into the program and learn the routine I can tell you what he has me doing, if that is what you are looking for.

[Janx]

burn off those extra calories by beating up krurk with a gang of your air force buddies.

Ok that made me laugh ^^

[Xouqoa]

burn off those extra calories by beating up krurk with a gang of your air force buddies.

<img src="http://images.zap2it.com/20040315/oxyge ... 40_001.jpg" height="110" width="132"><img src="http://www.snap.com/images/logo.gif" height="110" width="265">

[Spang]

eat a loaf of sweet bread the night before.

seriously.

[Deward]

I'm surprised the standards are the same at 19 as they are 32. In the army, the older you get, the more time you get.

As someone else stated, you have to run more than the 1.5 miles to prepare for it. The army requires a two mile run so I would run 2.5 to 3 miles every other day. For you I would run 2 miles every other day till it stops hurtign and then run every day until about 5 days before the test. If you get bored of running long distance then go to the local high school football field and do sprints. 4-100yd, 2-200yd, 1-400yd sprints with a 1-2 minute break between each sprint. I guarantee doing this once a week will increase your wind capacity like crazy in a short amount of time (assuming you are otherwise healthy). Plus it breaks the monotony of just running all the time. I consider all sorts of exercise to be torture but I mix things up with different activities like fencing.

One thing to remember, and I am sure people will agree, the only way to get better at running is to actually run. Biking, etc. will not make you a better runner.

[*~*stragi*~*]

i ran the mile in 7 minutes back in highschool and i'm slow as hell..you have to be in pretty sad shape not to be able to do 1.5 in 12 minutes.

[Kilmoll the Sexy]

Stragi, you could not run a mile and a half right now if there were free donuts and an actual chick willing to bang you at the end of it. I am willing to bet that at least half of the people on this board could not run a mile and a half in ANY given time frame if they went out right now and tried it.


A high school kid and a 30+ year old man are like copmparing you to Lance Armstrong, Noel. When I was in high school I had a 34" vertical and could dunk on regulation rims. I sure as hell can't do that now and probably could not get that back no matter how hard I trained. He asked a serious question on getting a decent method from people who train and you hammer him for it. It wasn't Xzion asking for the 5 minute or less aerobic exercise.

[Kilmoll the Sexy]

Why not?

Shouldn't you be out crusading against evil steamrolling guilds and helping the little guys.....or did you give that up when you found out you sucked at it?

[Sirensa]

I would keel over and die if I tried to run 1/2 mile, much less 1.5 miles!

[noel]

Stragi, you could not run a mile and a half right now if there were free donuts and an actual chick willing to bang you at the end of it. I am willing to bet that at least half of the people on this board could not run a mile and a half in ANY given time frame if they went out right now and tried it.


A high school kid and a 30+ year old man are like copmparing you to Lance Armstrong, Noel. When I was in high school I had a 34" vertical and could dunk on regulation rims. I sure as hell can't do that now and probably could not get that back no matter how hard I trained. He asked a serious question on getting a decent method from people who train and you hammer him for it. It wasn't Xzion asking for the 5 minute or less aerobic exercise.

What the fuck are you talking about? You're telling me a high-school girl walks faster than a grown man? Shut the fuck up.

I'm in better shape now than I was in high-school and I was in good fucking shape back then. If you're looking for sympathy for Xan because he let himself go, look somewhere else.

For the record, I answered his question several times, and gave him good information. Xanupox was an asshole for the 4 years that I played EQ, and while I might not have been able to properly crack back at him in game, I have no qualms about pointing out that in REAL LIFE he's a fucking loser.

I don't know why the fuck you need to crack on Stragi. The point he was making is totally valid. You can practically jog a mile in 7 minutes. 12 minutes for a mile and a half? It's fucking cake. No sympathy, no gifts, no tolerance.

[masteen]

My mom, who is 55, WALKS a 9 minute mile. She isn't exactly the pinnacle of fitness, either.

Cowboy the fuck up and put out, you fucking slack bastard.

[Chidoro]

I call bullshit on that time Mast, unless she's hustling, she isn't walking it in 9 minutes, not a fucking chance. Walk around a track today and do it in 2:15. See what you need to do to get around there at that pace.

And Noel, what's this crap about some high school powerwalking girl, it's an anomoly, certainly not the standard. A 7 minute mile isn't a jog either. Most people have to train to reach that level. I know we're all glad you've been dedicated enough to excercise over 2 hours every morning in a climate which allows you to do it all year round.

And age plays a HUGE factor. If I try and run more than three days in a row, many different body parts start barking at me to knock it off. Even at 26, I was still able to 1. rebound from time off very rapidly and 2. maintain the 60-80 mile per week rigorous training schedule I had in college.

People who run consistently and train as a means to stay in shape usually have 8 minute miles as their goal, the end. All of the 5k runs I've been to just this year alone shows clusters of runners around the 25 minute mark, and they're fit individuals who obviously train consistently. Times are usually bunched at the 20 minute mark(older racers usually), the 22 minute mark (your 7 minute "jog" pace), 25 minutes, and 28 minutes. And they're all running, not 55 year old leisure walking.

Your advice was good but you're delusional about what times are considered simple to attain.

[noel]

I call bullshit on that time Mast, unless she's hustling, she isn't walking it in 9 minutes, not a fucking chance. Walk around a track today and do it in 2:15. See what you need to do to get around there at that pace.

And Noel, what's this crap about some high school powerwalking girl, it's an anomoly, certainly not the standard. A 7 minute mile isn't a jog either. Most people have to train to reach that level. I know we're all glad you've been dedicated enough to excercise over 2 hours every morning in a climate which allows you to do it all year round.

And age plays a HUGE factor. If I try and run more than three days in a row, many different body parts start barking at me to knock it off. Even at 26, I was still able to 1. rebound from time off very rapidly and 2. maintain the 60-80 mile per week rigorous training schedule I had in college.

People who run consistently and train as a means to stay in shape usually have 8 minute miles as their goal, the end. All of the 5k runs I've been to just this year alone shows clusters of runners around the 25 minute mark, and they're fit individuals who obviously train consistently. Times are usually bunched at the 20 minute mark(older racers usually), the 22 minute mark (your 7 minute "jog" pace), 25 minutes, and 28 minutes. And they're all running, not 55 year old leisure walking.

Your advice was good but you're delusional about what times are considered simple to attain.

Dude, I frequently train with 50-60 year old guys who, after cycling for 40-50 miles in a group with myself and others, hop off the bike and start their run. They're training for triathalons, and that's just how they roll.

You are 100% wrong about older = weaker or whatever... It takes longer to recover as you're older, you don't necessarily have the explosive power you once had, but endurance is not something that goes away as you get older. Just because you've never seen it, doesn't mean it's not true. Sorry, I just train with too many people who are 10-20-30 years older than I am (31) to not knowingly laugh when a 30 year old starts complaining about how hard it is to stay in shape. It's hard because you think it's hard. It's hard because you (not you specifically) don't do it, and it's hard because you're not disciplined enough to do everything that goes along with it.

I'm certain that I've heard that the average age of the winners of the Ironman triathalon is ~30.

For the record, regarding my personal training. It rained here all winter. If it's simply drizzling, or scattered showers, I normally ride anyway. This winter however had my ass planted firmly on a trainer since a lot of the roads had what would be considered minor flooding by most people. I've ridden in rain, snow, hail, whatfucking ever. It doesn't matter to me other than I have to wear more shit to keep warm, and be more careful with my food/hydration needs. So yeah, it's nice weather here for the most part, but I'd be riding regardless.

Additionally, I ride 4+ days a week. Normally it's like Sat-Sun, Tue, Thur. The rest of the days I focus on recovery. Not just, I relax, or I don't do anything, I actually work at recovering. I get a massage some weeks, I make sure I'm getting enough sleep, eating enough protein, etc. It's not just a get on the bike a few days and get in shape technique, it's part of my lifestyle. If I ride at all on the other days, they're easy recovery rides where my heart rate stays below 120.

As an aside, any criticism of Xan is leftover hate from him being an asshole to almost everyone I knew for four plus years. I think everyone should exercise as much as they're able.

[masteen]

I call bullshit on that time Mast, unless she's hustling, she isn't walking it in 9 minutes, not a fucking chance. Walk around a track today and do it in 2:15. See what you need to do to get around there at that pace.

I didn't say she walks 9 minute miles at the fucking mall. Her daily exercise consists of walking a 1.5 mile stretch of beach (3 mile circuit). Her total exercise time, including driving to the beach is just over a half hour.

[Chidoro]

I know what you meant Mast, it doesn't matter. You yourself, go walk around a track at a pace of 2:15 and discern for yourself whether you think that's the pace she's setting. I seriously doubt it. You realize that if she takes three more minutes to walk her circuit, it's now a 10 minute mile pace? Would you be able to even tell the difference in her time away at the beach? I'm not even sure why you'd think I'd mistaken her excerise pace as a stroll through the fucking mall but whatever.

Noel, you basically just solidified the point, you have a few people who are extraordinary in their exercise regiment in that they can maintain it w/out getting injured. I am not standing around a bunch of unhealthy individuals with unhealthy lifestyles on race days and even they are working towards time goals you seem to pass off as easy. I see the 40-49 age category as at least as competitive as the 30-39 first hand and even moreso with the women. That is not the same thing as thinking it's easy to try to get into shape to the level Xan needs. And to be perfectly honest, not everyone is as naturally gifted to run at times you think are easy.

And I wasn't referring to rain as annual poor weather issues. While you might give it a go because of your over the top dedication, there was noone at the park biking and almost noone running with during most of Jan and Feb when the morning temperature was under 10 and it just plain hurt to breath.

[noel]

Heh... I love riding on days when no one else will. Mid winter here, it gets down to say the high 20s at 5AM when I start my weekday rides. I've gone on rides before where it was 28 when I left and 33 when I got back. While that's not the 10s by a long stretch (is the formula that it's exponentially shittier to exercise the lower the temp goes? sure seems that way), you see almost no one else out riding at that time (you do see quite a few runners).

All I'm saying is that once you get into a groove, get into a training regimen, and get a decent plan for how to train, once you get rolling, it's not. that. hard. The hard part, in my estimation, is actually getting into that groove, that regimen, and maintaining that discipline.

[Chidoro]

I agree 100% with regards to maintaining while understanding your limitations. You're preaching to the choir on that one. The point is that the goal for that time isn't simple to attain, regiment or not, especially if you're starting at that age.

I love running and it was hard to limit what I do to train because my body just says no. I gave myself two choices in March, get a sub 38 10k or a sub 1:30 half-marathon by the end of October. I decided on the latter because the distance doesn't stress my body so much as the speed which seemed odd to me but what I've noticed for myself. And it's sad to think I was running sub 38's at 15 but I was 45:00 in April at my first run this year.

And yeah, sub 10 sucks. 25 is acutally enjoyable after 5 minutes or so, under 10 just plain hurts w/out a scarf