When you discovered running, you might have initially found it tough and then got into the swing of it relatively quickly. “When you first start running you’re going to see very big quick improvements,” says running coach George Anderson (runningbygeorge.com). “But when you get closer to your potential, you have to work harder and find those small gains just to stand still.” Whether it’s not getting any faster, running out of steam or getting injured, we look at some common running dilemmas and what to do about them…
NOT GETTING ANY FASTER
Your training needs to be more demanding. You can’t always run at the same pace or cover the same familiar route. “To improve, your training plan has to be progressive,” says Professor John Brewer, Head of the School of Sport, Health and Applied Science at St Mary’s University (stmarys.ac.uk). “You have to set yourself a slightly harder challenge. The easiest way to do that is to increase intensity and incorporate speed endurance work into your plan. That might be interval sessions, or it might be hill running; something where you are taking your body out of your comfort zone and you will adapt.
“Make sure you’re doing all the right things in relation to threshold runs, hill runs and a good mix of slow, steady runs and race pace training,” adds Anderson.
One threshold run per week and a hill run every one or two weeks will be fine. Do a long steady run once a week.