8 miles in <50mins

Hi all,

I'd like some thoughts setting out a weekly programme for block of training to get my 8 mile time down to around 50mins.

I am currently running it in around an hour on a good day, but that's a PB effort and not something I can breeze through -- it's certainly not a gentle jog, for me at least. I have plenty of miles under my belt and am not new to running.

I am unsure, based on what I am reading and hearing, whether I should be just banging out as many easy, aerobic runs at <70%HR as possible, or whether I need to incorporate some anaerobic, power/speed sessions ar >80%HR. I already cross train (weights).

Your thoughts are appreciated.

Ok well that's a fair jump, you've got to lose more than a minute per mile so don't expect that to happen overnight.

To do it you'll need a mix of longer aerobic training and shorter threshold training. Try and push the length of your long run up to around the 2 hour mark if you're not doing that already.

For threshold training you'll need to start at your current threshold pace which will be around 7:30/mile and run for 20mins as evenly as possible. Your goal should be to slowly reduce the time you can sustain a 20 minute steady run for, perhaps try dropping it a few seconds every third week.

Once you start getting close to 6:30 tempo pace you should be in with a shot of running sub 50.

I forgot to add that anaerobic or short interval training isn't going to be specifically beneficial to this goal, it's primarily about increasing your aerobic capacity (with longer runs) and lowering your aerobic threshold (via threshold training).

Hi Ross,

Thanks for your response!

So when you say; "Your goal should be to slowly reduce the time you can sustain a 20 minute steady run for" you are referring, I think, to the pace, and not the total time? Sorry if that sounds a bit thick.I.e. I would run for 20 mins at 7:30/mile, then next session try 7:25/mile, and so on, but always keeping the total work at 20 mins.

So maybe I could build a programme around 2 long easy runs (very aerobic) a week, with 1-2 of these threshold sessions also?

Thanks again.

Also, what is 'lowering my aerobic threshold'?

I've Googled this but come up short. From what I understand (this is probably wrong) everything is aerobic until it becomes anaerobic.

Same old being a ble to run 8 miles in 50 minutes would mean you being able to run a 10k (6 miles) well under 40. Do you appreciate how hard that is?

 6.20 pace or 3:55/3:58 min per km for 8 miles is hard and I would suggest that you had best concentrate on being able to just stay on your feet get your endurance up, then your stamina then your speed. Race some 5kms so you can really see what a 4 minute km feels like let alone a 3:55 one. You wont get your time down by trying to run the same distance over and over again all you will do it plateau. You have to change distances run,  and paces and trick the body in to being able to run faster by running faster for distances shorter than 8 miles.

I have a friend who is always running 5k on a treadmill in a gym and I have given up telling her she wont get significantly any faster. Maybe a minute faster one week but its not consistant. She has basically plateaued.

This is something that beginners and non-runners often dont get as its anti-intuiative that you get better at running by running but you dont get faster over any  distance by running that distance at race pace in training.

Basically when you train you run, when you race you race. Get the two mixed up and its just pain and injury and frustration.

Yes you're spot on with the pacing idea.

Your threshold is literally the point at which your body can sustain itself aerobically. It's normally a bit slower than your 5k pace, since 5k races are normally a little bit anaerobic.

If you do your threshold session correctly I'd stick to just one a week and do a couple of slow long runs you can add a slow 15 mins warm up and cool down to your threshold session to make it a full quality workout and other than that there's no harm in adding a few strides (fast sprints) at the end of your longer runs just to keep your legs used to some speed but the bulk of the work is in lowering the speed you can run aerobically at.

Hi Stephen,

Thanks for your input.

Like I said, I'm hardly an accomplished runner. Knocking minutes off a 60 minute run is clearly going to be hard work (harder still to maintain that pace for another 2 miles). However, I'm not afriad of hard work, and likewise, these targets are hardly unassailable.

That being the case;

Respectfully, I was kind of after something a little more specific than "stay on your feet get your endurance up, then your stamina, then your speed." How can I implement that advice?

Are you saying run 10 miles, 15 miles?

Thanks in advance.

Ross,

That's brillant. Specific and easily digested advice that I can implement this very week.

Thanks and regards,

S.O.D.

Well for the first year or so of running all I did was run. Literally just that. I ran until I could run for 30 minutes 4-5 days a week with out injury or fatigue. Only then did I think of running a specific distance. When I could run 25 miles a week over 4-5 days a week I bought a proper watch to check my pace. I increased my time running and the pace i ran at and the distance run bit by bit.

10% each month interms of distance. The pace i worked out using on line calculators. The time it took was in the lap of the gods.

There are plenty of formulas for getting to a specific running goal but they are worth nothing absolutley nada if you cant just run day in day out  for 5 -6 days a week. If you cant do that when the fast stuff happens you will break.

When you can run a good 30 miles a week every week then and only then would I think your strong enough to take on stamina and speed work.

This took me about 3 years

Its not called endurance running for nothing.

Its a long game your trying to play