dropping run time

[Enishi1983]

when i was in nrotc, my best time for the prt, and don't laugh, was 10:53; 7 sec before failure. i don't know what to do!!! i've been running 4 times a week, like a madman, but i just can't drop the time!!! also, i sometimes give up when running b/c i don't have anything to boost my morale.

my questions are:

1. what running exercises do you guys do in order to drop your time, and

2. what do you guys think about when running? i can't concentrate on running when i run, b/c i always think that i won't make it, i don't know why.

 

[farkle84]

well i dont know about the navy run time, but what i did to improve my run time for the Marines time was to run longer distances. dont worry about time. i ran five miles, then the next time i would run three, then five. after about two weeks i would time myself in the three mile to see what my time was. it worked for me. good luck

 

[Enishi1983]

see, i went to see my high school track and field coach (who runs as many marathons as he can find0, and he gave me this advice:

1week-20 min straight
2-25 min
3-30 min
4-35 min

then he said "now, if you can run for 35 min straight, it's time to build speed."

5week-20 min, starting with 5 slow, then 5 fast, repeat til 20 min is up
6-25 min, switch off every 5 min
7-30 min, 5 min switch off
8-35 min, 5 min switch off

i must say, i thought it would be easy running for 20 min straight after an hour of weight training, but HELL~~~~~ no. the thing, i must admit, is freakin' hard! and to top that, there's my friend going "oh come on, you can beat me, you can go faster," which is starting to become very annoying, b/c i can't!!! being a long jump, high jump, and a 50m dasher, my indoor track coach never let me run long distances (b/c he feared losing, which i would've done.)

ps-my my, are you really a usmc officer? of is it a rank that this forum has for you? sorry, i just signed up at like 0345 or so this morning, and i don't know how this board works. btw, what does that SNA mean???

 

[Pete]

The workout your track coach gave you look pretty good, so I'll give you tips on motivation and what I found help make things a little easier -- because I was in a similar place when I started taking the PRT, I couldn't run and I hated running with a passion. (1) Find someone to run with who runs a similar or slightly faster pace, I found that this helped bring out a little competitive spirit and I'd push myself a little harder, and if I set up a time to run with them it made it harder for me to find an excuse to not go running. Also, when you stop for water or a breather it gives you someone to talk to. (2) Find different routes to run to vary up what you look at while you run. (3) Concentrate on keeping your breathing while running... I found this helps to keep my focus of the pain in my legs and it also reduces cramps, because your breathing properly vice gulping for air throughout the run. And (4) Be patient, don't expect dramatic improvements in a week, it takes a little time.

While I am still not a great runner and these are only methods I happen to find worked for me (not expert runner advice), I eventually brought my PRT times from 10:15 averages to 9:00 averages.

P.S. SNA is a student naval aviator (or stud for short) - a designation for anyone who is between commissioning and when they earn their wings at the end of flight school.

 

[wildflyin69]

Enishi is right about varying your running speed. Your muscles will perform according to how they are trained. If you want your muscles to move fast, you have to train them to do so. You run like a madman 4 days a week, but you're only doing distance, then the only improvement you will see is in your endurance for distance at that same pace or maybe slightly faster. you have to start doing some light sprint work-outs so you can move those legs faster (don't stop with distance though!). if you're already in good shape, then you should see the improvement fairly quickly.

"Push the stick foward, the houses get bigger; pull back, the houses get smaller... unless you keep pulling back, then they get bigger again."

 

[stevew]

I seem to be having the same problem only it's with my pushups. No matter how frequently I do them I still can't move past around 55. I used to be able to do 60 with no problem but for some reason it just wont go. Anyone seen this or have any suggestions on this one?


-Steve

 

[jaerose]

Start doing all-out sets where you do as many as you can to failure, then immediately drop down to your knees and do knee-pushups until failure. Rest-repeat. That will help your muscles adapt to the lactic acid so you'll be able to do more where you would normally have to quit.

JR

 

[slabicro]

I spoke to an ex Navy Seal officer and he told me to try this Routine. First off go buy a lap watch. This routine only takes 12 minutes a day. You fisrt start to run at 70% of your sprint speed maintain it for 2 min. then on the 3rd minute run as fast as you can for 1 minute. You repeat this 3 more times totaling 12 minutes. You set the watch to go off every 2 minutes then every minute. This routine will be impossibe for the first week, but it should drop at least 1 minute off your PRT time. I took the PRT last year with my recruiter and maxed out on pu's and su's but my run was 11:46 which sucked! So I asked to retake it, and followed this routine for 3 weeks and my time dropped to 10:26.

 

[jaerose]

Slabicro,

Do you rest at all in between the 3 minute sets? Also, how many times a week do you do this routine?

JR

 

[Enishi1983]

oh, for building push ups, i do this:
MWF, i weight train, and it's like an all-out one:
bench=BFS=4 sets
10x(weight)
8x(weight)
6x(weight)
MAX (as many as you can)x(weight)
you must be increasing the weight by at least 5 lbs, so choose wisely when choosing the weight to lift. i do 75%, 80%, 90%, then 110% of my weight for the sets.

then it's onto dips. do 3 sets of 20 if you can. when i left nrotc after winter, and didn't exercise, it was hell to do any dips at all. but i managed to pull off at least 3 sets of 10 everytime. just keep building that up, and you'll be doing easy dips in no time. i just started doing dips again (about 2 weeks now), and i do 20, 20, 15 (my max dips back in nrotc was 55.)

then it's curls, do 3 sets of whatever style:
hammer or regular curl, it doesn't matter.

now, it's to the lat section. do 3 sets of any exercise that pertains to lats, and give it all you've got.

after you're done, it's run time-do whatever exercise you do.

after you're done with all this, rest. the next exercise is b4 you go to sleep; this time, 6 sets of any push ups. i do 30, 40, 30, 40, 40, 50 of push ups.

 

[Hartman]

Cutting alcohol out of my diet really seemed to help me for some reason.

 

[Wunrunner]

I was scanning through this post and thought id add some advice...mainly becasue i have two interests in my life, anything that flies, and running. Anyways...if you're looking to really drop your run time i recommend doing farleks (sweedish for speed-play) and tempo runs..for the fartleks use the pyramind system starting from 1 min to 4 mins and then back down to 1 min, you will run 1 min hard, then one min easy and like wise going up and back down. Tempo runs are where you take your goal pace for the distance you want to run and run several seconds faster per mile than that pace...it basically forces you to learn how to run when you're feeling uncomfortable. You could follow a plan like fartleks on monday, easy distance on tuesday, tempo run wednesday, easy run thusday, fartleks again on friday, then do a long run on saturday...long runs are also very important, id say to do at least 5 miles if you're trying to run your 1.5 mile for the PRT....Finally, make sure you always make it hard for yourself, never train and feel comfortable...that is # 1 of the 7 deadly sins of running.

 

[Enishi1983]

wow, it's been over a almost a month, and ppl are still giving advices .

so
1 min-hard
2 "-hard
3 "-hard
4 "-hard
3 "-hard
2 "-hard
1 "-hard for pyramids?

 

[Wunrunner]

yeah, you will go...

1 min hard 1 min easy, 2 mins hard 2 mins easy, 3 mins hard 3 mins easy, 4 mins hard 3 mins easy, 3 mins hard 3 mins easy, 2 mins hard 2 mins easy, 1 min hard 1 min easy

 

[chelu55]

Wunrunner,
What are the other 6 deadly sin of running?