I like trail running for many reasons: I get to see many miles of terrain, I feel triumphant when passing a hiker, and obstacles are part of the experience. When I run on pavement, there’s just the steady thump of my feet on the ground. On the trail, there are roots, rocks, incline, decline, slippery rocks, dirt so soft it echoes, and banana slugs I don’t want to squish. But when I got back to my car the day of my 22-mile journey, I felt dismayed as I looked at my watch. Those 22 miles had taken almost eight hours. That’s a pace of more than 21 minutes a mile. Don’t get me wrong — I already knew I was a slow runner. Even on pavement, where the terrain lends itself to faster speeds, my easy pace is anywhere from a 13-minute to a 15-minute mile. Because I’m slow, I run by myself. Social runs often don’t list their paces, and what runners consider a “slow” pace can be anything from a 12-minute mile (a pace I reserve for my speediest pavement days) to an 8-minute mile (a woman can dream). Sure, I’d love somebody to chat with. But they’d be out of eyesight before I hit “record” on my smartwatch.
Why Some People Are Naturally Slower Runners Than Others
Still, I love running. It takes the edge off my stress. It gives me a reason to get outside almost daily, even in the often-rainy Pacific Northwest winters. Everyday annoyances (like vet appointments or work deadlines) just don’t seem as hard after I’ve spent an hour on my feet. And I don’t let myself get down about my speed most of the time. I’m a runner because I run, however long it takes me. The real reason I was obsessing over my pace as I lifted my tired legs back into the car: I’d signed up for a 50-kilometer run (about 31 miles) that was a month away. I had 10 hours to run it — generous by 50K standards. But if that day’s run was any indication, I wouldn’t make it. Shouldn’t the hours I had put into running have made me faster by now? Why were other runners — even ones who’d just rolled off the couch — faster than me? “You didn’t pick your parents as well as they did,” says Janet Hamilton, CSCS, a registered clinical exercise physiologist and coach at RunningStrong, an Atlanta-based professional running coaching organization. Genetics play a huge role in how fast a potential runner will get, from the shape of their body to how they process oxygen. “Some people are just genetically gifted to play basketball because they’re so tall,” Hamilton says. The same applies to distance runners — the fastest are typically smaller, lightweight, and muscular in the right places, she explains. While training can certainly help your muscles take in oxygen more efficiently (called your VO2 max), even that seems to be a bit of a gift. Top male athletes may have a VO2 max of about 55, according to the fitness tracker company Garmin. Kilian Jornet Burgada, one of the best endurance runners alive (who ran up Mount Everest in 26 hours) has a VO2 max of 89.5, The New York Times Magazine previously reported. Elite athletes work hard, Hamilton says — but they’re also born with the odds stacked in their favor. But if genetics give us a ceiling, does that mean I’ll be chasing race cutoffs forever? Not exactly. “It’s possible for you to get faster,” Hamilton says. RELATED: The Weird Things Running Does to Your Body
What Training Has to Do With Running Speed
First and foremost: To run faster, you have to train smarter, Hamilton says. Most runners have two big issues: They don’t run enough weekly miles, and when they do run, they run too fast. A classic example is someone who runs 10 miles around their neighborhood every week. Each time they go out, they try to run faster than they did on their previous run. But if your goal is to get faster, most of your miles should actually be quite easy, Hamilton says. This means you purposefully won’t be setting a personal record every time you head out. Instead, you should be running slowly enough to have a conversation (even if it’s just with yourself). Many miles of easy running builds important structures in your body like mitochondria and blood vessels, and improves your blood volume, strengthens your heart and muscle fibers, and teaches your body’s enzymes how to break down fuel and your brain how to move more efficiently, she explains. A base ability to run more miles at a slower pace also leaves you less likely to get injured when you run faster. RELATED: How Much Exercise Is Enough to Meet My Fitness Goals? “When you don’t train at easy effort, you don’t build the infrastructure that you need to support aerobic effort,” Hamilton says. But you’ll need to run more than 10 miles a week to see any significant changes. And yes, to get faster, you have to run faster — sometimes. Generally, trainers recommend increasing the intensity of your training — called speedwork — for only around 7 percent of your total weekly. If you’re only running 10 miles a week, it’s tough for a running coach to recommend much in the way of speedwork because it’ll be too much for the base you have, Hamilton says. “But if you’ve got 30 miles a week of training, now I’ve got some wiggle room where we can play.” Hamilton recommends runners hit a minimum of about 25 miles per week before incorporating speedwork to get faster. Can you train to improve both speed and endurance? Yes, Hamilton says, but you’ll have to balance your long runs, easy runs, and speed workouts carefully, so you’re not taking on too much too quickly (a top example of overtraining, which can increase injury risk). RELATED: Are You Exercising Too Much? You’ll want to make sure you’re not doing your speed workouts too quickly. The point of a speed workout isn’t always to go at your fastest possible pace, Hamilton says. “What I’m trying to do is to teach you how to feel different race paces,” she says about the purpose of assigning speed workouts to her coaching clients. And stick to one speedwork day a week. You’ll practice that for a few weeks until your body gets comfortable at that new speed, and then you’ll up the intensity a moderate amount on your next weekly speed day. And for your other days and long runs, do most of them at an easy, conversational pace. And finally, a little bit of strength training can go a long way in improving speed. “Simple bodyweight exercises are my go-to,” Hamilton says. “We do squats, lunges, bridges, the running man, planks, push-ups, and pull-ups.” Her only rule is not to do strength work on speed days or on long run days, since those days are already tough enough on the body. There’s good news if you’ll be trying these recommendations for the first time, too. Beginners actually see the biggest gains. In her experience, newer runners can get about 10 or 20 percent faster with training, versus experienced athletes, who shouldn’t expect more than 2 to 4 percent off their pace. RELATED: How to Let Your Muscles Heal and Why
There’s More to Progress Than Speed
To be clear, speed isn’t the only thing that makes this kind of training worthwhile. It will improve your cardiorespiratory fitness, too, which is an important indicator of health. One way to tell is to pay attention to your heart rate. Early in training, you might run a 12-minute mile with a heart rate of 170 beats per minute. But after a few months of building your foundation, your heart rate while running that same mile at that same pace could be 150 beats per minute. That’s also a huge win, Hamilton says. Looking back at my training, I could spot all these signs of progress despite the time on the clock. In six months, I’d gone from running 15 miles a week to 48 miles a week. My heart rate was calmer on my neighborhood runs. And I’d more than doubled my long run from when I started training. I’d gotten better, even if I hadn’t necessarily gotten quicker. Did I make it to the end of the 50K finish line in time? As it turned out, I didn’t even make it to the starting line. My knee and hip started giving me trouble three weeks before the race, and I had to skip the event. But I want to run a 50K someday. So what should I do? “Focus on staying injury-free and training consistently. That’s the best way to get faster,” Hamilton tells her clients. Pick a reasonable goal for improvement. Honor the goal of each workout — run easy days at a truly easy pace, even if you feel good, she says. As for me, the pressure of the race made it important to pay attention to my pace, but I’m back to running for the joy of it. I’m sure I’ll train for something big again, and maybe next time I’ll make it to the starting line. For now, I’m leaving my watch at home. RELATED: How to Start Working Out and Actually Stick to It
