How to Become Speedy

Some people have asked me how I have become so fast, knowing that I started out, umm, not so fast. They had heard that my marathon times have improved dramatically since my first one, here they are:

San Diego Rock n Roll June 2001: 4:53:40 (11:12 pace)
ING NYC Marathon November 2004: 4:41:20 (10:44)
ING NYC Marathon November 2005: 3:57:34 (9:04)
San Diego Rock n Roll June 2006: 3:38:15 (8:19)
ING NYC Marathon November 2006: 3:26:17 (7:52)

So I thought I would share some tips based on what I think made me get faster.

1. Join a running team

The most dramatic improvement was between 2004 and 2005, and the change came about because I joined the New York Road Runners Foundation Team for Kids. I had joined to get into the marathon (I had lost the lottery), and I wasn't certain if I would go to all the practices, but once I started attending them I was hooked. If you're like me and have trouble motivating yourself, your teammates inspire you to roll out of bed in the morning or leave work on time in the evenings to show up for the group runs.

That is nothing new, the idea that training more will increase your running ability. In addition, you can take advantage of your team's diversity to increase your speed. With a running team, especially a big one like Team for Kids, you have all different runners of different abilities. You will have people slower than you, people the same speed as you, and most importantly, people a little bit faster than you. As the 2005 season progressed I kept my eye on people that were a little bit faster than me and as I got into better shape I challenged myself to try and keep up with them. I would pick people I admired from afar, people I knew had done several marathons with good times, and would aspire to join them for a run sometime and see if I could keep up with them. I would just join their group during one of the shorter weekday practices (it's not a good idea to try and make a move up in pace on one of the long weekend runs in excess of 10 miles I figured). I remember one key run when I ran with Mark & Spencer & Eugene & others in the 9:00 pace group, it was a Tuesday or Thursday night, and I think we did 5 miles at a bit below an 8 minute pace. I pushed myself harder than I had ever done before, but I managed to keep up, and I stayed at or close to their level (when I was healthy) for the rest of the training season.

2. Speed work

Interval training or speed work once a week is key to getting faster. Again it is always good to run with your teammates (see Step 1). This year the guys and I in the 8:00 pace group would always race each other during the speed workouts and I have no doubt that helped us all get faster by for the marathon. Scott, Spencer, Pete, Greg, Erik, Nathan, Rich, Jeffrey & I were there week in and week out at the Tuesday night speed workouts, racing one another up and down the park drive between 72nd and 102nd streets, and we all had similar impressive marathon times between 3:17 and 3:28 or so.

Speed work involves running fast for short distances, doing several repetitions during a workout. For example we would would often run fast from 90th street up to 102nd street (about 0.7 miles) and then jog around to cool off, yet keep moving, for 2 - 3 minutes, and then run back to 90th Street at a fast pace. We would repeat the back and forth between 3 to 5 times. Ideally you should run your last interval as quickly as the first one (I never did, I always tried to "win" the first couple and would be gassed at the end - don't imitate me in that regard).

3. Compete in Races

When most people talk about getting faster, they mean recording faster race times. And like any other activity you might engage in, if you want to improve at it, the best thing is to actually get out and do it. Practices on your own and with your teammates (see Step 1) are all well and good, but they are not races. The only way to get good at races is to actually sign up and do them. I run a lot of the smaller NYRR races that are held nearly every week and I think they are quite helpful toward increasing your speed. There is nothing like the presence of other competitors to motivate you to run faster.

Ultimately though, the beauty of running is you don't have to beat other people, you really only need to improve upon your own times. So your goal at each race should be to PR (set a personal record). An exception would be if you are doing the race as part of your training program for a bigger race, such as the 18 Mile Marathon Tune Up held by the NYRR 6 weeks before the marathon every year. Otherwise you should go in conscious of what your PR for that distance is and try and beat it. If you've never run that distance, figure what a good time goal is based on your paces for races of similar distances and give yourself a goal. Then come up with a plan on how to beat it. I like to give myself round numbers as goals, such as a 1:30 half (beat it in October), a 20 minute 5K (missed it by 6 seconds in November), and a 40 minute 10K (beat it in December). But again it all depends on your ability, so your goal may be a 5 hour marathon, or a one hour 10K, or a 2 hour half. Just set the bar a little bit out of your reach so you'll have to work for it.

I hope this helps. If anybody has any additional ideas, feel free to post a comment.