How to Improve Your Running Speed and Endurance
Begin your workout., Run at a moderate pace for fifteen minutes., Begin the interval training., Repeat this process four times., Cool down., Push yourself., Measure your improvement.
Step-by-Step Guide
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Step 1: Begin your workout.
Warm up by walking or slowly jogging for five minutes.
This should wake up your muscles and help stretch out your legs to prepare for the interval training.
Interval training teaches your body to use oxygen more efficiently, improving both your running speed and your overall endurance., Run at a pace that isn’t too difficult but keeps your heartrate up.
Aim for 70-80% of your fastest running speed.
Don’t push yourself too hard.
This part of the workout isn’t supposed to wear you out.
Instead, you’re trying to get your heart rate up so your body starts absorbing oxygen more efficiently. , This is the part of the exercise that improves your endurance and builds muscle.
Run for one minute at your maximum speed, working hard to bring up your heart rate and exhaust your muscles.
Then walk for two minutes, letting your muscles cool down.Push yourself as hard as you can during the one minute of running.
Interval training doesn’t work properly if you don’t totally exhaust your muscles.
This is called “going into the anaerobic zone,” or exercising the point where you’re literally gasping for breath.Try to time yourself so that you run for exactly a minute and rest for exactly two minutes.
It can be helpful to use a timer app on your phone or to purchase a stopwatch. , This should come out to about twelve minutes of exercise.
It doesn’t seem like a long time, but by the end of the twelve minutes, you should be utterly exhausted.
If not, you weren’t pushing yourself hard enough during the minutes of running.
Repetition is important because it forces your system to absorb oxygen more efficiently.
Over time, this raises the maximum amount of oxygen you can have in your blood.
The more oxygen you have, the harder and faster you’ll be able to run!, Walk for another five minutes, keeping your pace brisk enough to work out your muscles but slow enough to lower your heartrate.
By this point, you should be surprisingly exhausted for such a short workout.
If not, you need to raise your heartrate more during the interval training. , Try to do interval training at least once a week.
However, make sure you don't do this exercise more than twice in a ten day period or you may hurt yourself.After a few weeks of interval training, make the exercise harder for yourself by shortening the cooldown time during the interval training to one minute instead of two.
When doing your regular running workout, add five minutes to the normal time you run every week.
This will slowly increase your workout and help you gradually improve.
If five minutes is too much, start by adding one minute to your regular workout every week. , Time yourself when you do your regular running workout and record your times in a journal so that you have physical proof of your success.
Another good way to measure improvement is to run as fast as you can for as long as you can and record the distance and time.
After a few weeks of interval training, you will be able to run faster for farther distances than you could previously.
If you're training to run a race such as a 5k, take a break from your regular workout once every few weeks and run the full 5k.
Keep a journal to record your run times.
You will start seeing a big improvement after a few weeks of interval training.There are many useful apps for phones that help you track your distance and time.
If you don't want to run with your phone, consider purchasing a stopwatch to time yourself and running on a track to accurately measure your distance. -
Step 2: Run at a moderate pace for fifteen minutes.
-
Step 3: Begin the interval training.
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Step 4: Repeat this process four times.
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Step 5: Cool down.
-
Step 6: Push yourself.
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Step 7: Measure your improvement.
Detailed Guide
Warm up by walking or slowly jogging for five minutes.
This should wake up your muscles and help stretch out your legs to prepare for the interval training.
Interval training teaches your body to use oxygen more efficiently, improving both your running speed and your overall endurance., Run at a pace that isn’t too difficult but keeps your heartrate up.
Aim for 70-80% of your fastest running speed.
Don’t push yourself too hard.
This part of the workout isn’t supposed to wear you out.
Instead, you’re trying to get your heart rate up so your body starts absorbing oxygen more efficiently. , This is the part of the exercise that improves your endurance and builds muscle.
Run for one minute at your maximum speed, working hard to bring up your heart rate and exhaust your muscles.
Then walk for two minutes, letting your muscles cool down.Push yourself as hard as you can during the one minute of running.
Interval training doesn’t work properly if you don’t totally exhaust your muscles.
This is called “going into the anaerobic zone,” or exercising the point where you’re literally gasping for breath.Try to time yourself so that you run for exactly a minute and rest for exactly two minutes.
It can be helpful to use a timer app on your phone or to purchase a stopwatch. , This should come out to about twelve minutes of exercise.
It doesn’t seem like a long time, but by the end of the twelve minutes, you should be utterly exhausted.
If not, you weren’t pushing yourself hard enough during the minutes of running.
Repetition is important because it forces your system to absorb oxygen more efficiently.
Over time, this raises the maximum amount of oxygen you can have in your blood.
The more oxygen you have, the harder and faster you’ll be able to run!, Walk for another five minutes, keeping your pace brisk enough to work out your muscles but slow enough to lower your heartrate.
By this point, you should be surprisingly exhausted for such a short workout.
If not, you need to raise your heartrate more during the interval training. , Try to do interval training at least once a week.
However, make sure you don't do this exercise more than twice in a ten day period or you may hurt yourself.After a few weeks of interval training, make the exercise harder for yourself by shortening the cooldown time during the interval training to one minute instead of two.
When doing your regular running workout, add five minutes to the normal time you run every week.
This will slowly increase your workout and help you gradually improve.
If five minutes is too much, start by adding one minute to your regular workout every week. , Time yourself when you do your regular running workout and record your times in a journal so that you have physical proof of your success.
Another good way to measure improvement is to run as fast as you can for as long as you can and record the distance and time.
After a few weeks of interval training, you will be able to run faster for farther distances than you could previously.
If you're training to run a race such as a 5k, take a break from your regular workout once every few weeks and run the full 5k.
Keep a journal to record your run times.
You will start seeing a big improvement after a few weeks of interval training.There are many useful apps for phones that help you track your distance and time.
If you don't want to run with your phone, consider purchasing a stopwatch to time yourself and running on a track to accurately measure your distance.
About the Author
Pamela Thomas
Enthusiastic about teaching cooking techniques through clear, step-by-step guides.
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