Lately I have been
getting people asking me the question “Tiara, how do you run so fast? or Tiara teach me to run fast like you” and I like
to tell them I put one foot in front of the other.
I have not always
been a fast runner. Remember my marathon that took me 4:35:27 to complete, I
wasn’t a fast run, however it was my first marathon.
I remember when I
was in elementary and I lived in this little town and everyone was super
athletic oriented, we were learning track and field in elementary. I did the
400m sprint and came in well ahead of everyone it was a shining moment for me and I remember people telling my parents that I was a rabbit.
I have always been
an endurance athlete, even when I swam my favorite distance was the 1,500 meter
but I loved anything over 400 meters and I did well at them.
I decided to blog
about this since I get asked this question more than anything else. I do a lot
of speed work – this includes intervals, track workouts and tempo runs.
When I do intervals
I use the Nike Boom app it is seriously amazing. You set how long you want your
run to be and how long you want your interval to be. When I started getting
wanting to get faster I would set it at 30 seconds. At first I did intervals on
the treadmill and I would set the treadmill to a comfortable run pace for me - that
is now 8.5 and I would run at this for 1:30 than for 30 seconds I will go up to
11 on the treadmill. That is what I did to start. Now when I try working on my
speed I do it by song. I turn on my headphones and I get on the treadmill for 1
song run comfortable and for a song I run 11 this has really helped me get out
of my comfort zone and start running at those faster paces.
Track workouts are
also great for increasing speed. I have found a track and to start I would do
400 meter sprint and a 400 meter recovery, so two times around the track, than
I would do 800 meter sprints and 400 meter recovery, now I am working on doing
a mile sprints and 600 meter recovery. You should be running these
uncomfortable for your sprint. When I am done my sprint I am huffing and
puffing and want to fall over my abs hurt and sometimes I want to vomit. I grab my water take a few sips do a recovery and
I go again. These are amazing and will really help you increase your speed if
you do them right.
When I
was training for Nike Women’s Marathon tempo runs were my enemy I hated them!! Now they are more
like a frenemie. I know how good they are for me but they still make me work. I
usually like to run tempos on 4 miles and above run. Always start with a mile
warm up and a mile cool down, so if you are planning on doing 4 mile tempo than
you are really running 6 miles. Tempos should be ran uncomfortable. A good test
to tell if you are running them hard enough is to try and sing the song you are
listening to. If you can only get a few words in each sentence out than you are
running the tempo correctly, but if you can sing the whole song no problem than
you need to push yourself harder. You don’t want to run these at a sprint but
you want to run them at an uncomfortable pace. These will really help your body
feel what it is like to run faster and eventually they will get easier, when
they do you need to push harder.
These are what I do
to help myself get faster. I have a goal to run the Nike Women’s marathon at a
sub 6 mile. We will see if that happens but that is what my goal is.
I also believe the
key to running faster is to listen to your body and know when to slow down and
when to go faster. The problem with running faster is that you have the
potential to get injured. I have a great physio and massage therapist that I relay
on to keep me injury free. My massage therapist massages out all the knots in
my muscles using a fascia technique and the physio uses his magic such as laser therapy, ultra sound and
electronic therapy to keep my leg muscles in tip top shape and out of injury. For
me the first sign of something wrong I call my physio and get right into his
office because if my body is signaling it is not right than I do not want to
push it and risk injury.
My physio has also
said to me that my speed could also be genetic, this is true but I think my
next marathon will tell the truth of this.
Genetics or not if you don’t put in
the work you will not get faster. The desire to prepare always beats out talent when talent refuses to prepare.
Ignite~Perspire~Inspire
No comments:
Post a Comment