What single thing led to your biggest improvement?

l lost 30lbs on a low carb diet and joined a running group. They pushed me to run through pain I couldn't by myself. 21 min 5k to 17min 5k.

Adding tempos at marathon pace and progressive runs to my summer mileage.

rowingg wrote:

In your training what was the single thing that lead to your largest improvement? Maybe it was core work, mileage, slower/faster long runs.

I've had one single thing lead to a big improvement multiple times in my running life. Each time was a slightly different thing.

First, realizing that the key that was holding me back was lack of consistency. I would get "serious" for an upcoming race, train for 3 months or so, and then stop training long enough to lose all my fitness. Similar to a season of cross country training in school, and then doing other sports until the following year.

Then, a few years later, I met a somewhat serious running group that opened my eyes to a whole new level of performance I was unaware of before. Running with them, learning from them, and being pushed by them contributed to a big jump.

A few years after that, discovering Daniels training, and then the Lydiard base training contributed to another huge jump in fitness.

If I had to boil it down to a single factor, I guess you could say progressive increases in training loads (volume & intensity) applied intelligently (usually, but not always intelligently) over a long-term period of several years.

Or, maybe even beyond that, you could say: making up my mind that I wanted to excel at running. That led to discovering Daniels, Lydiard, the training group, and the dedication it took to run more miles & more challenging workouts, and think more long-term.

Doubles.

Miles and miles and miles and more miles.

I think the research bears that out. If there is a silver bullet to improvement it's an increase in mileage.

Hill repeats

EPO

obviousss wrote:

l lost 30lbs on a low carb diet and joined a running group. They pushed me to run through pain I couldn't by myself. 21 min 5k to 17min 5k.

This was mine. I joined a group and I did much more than I would have done on my own. The weight loss of 10 lbs followed. I dropped a minute and half off my 5k time. I'm still not blazing, but for a 40 year old I'm respectable.

I improved 3 minutes on my 8k in one year by increasing mileage.

Learning how to run with a very efficient, relaxed stride. Was able to extend my 10k race pace to 15 mile tempos in less than 2 months

Brev wrote:

Learning how to run with a very efficient, relaxed stride. Was able to extend my 10k race pace to 15 mile tempos in less than 2 months

So what have you done to learn such an efficient stride in such a short period of time?

an alarm clock

hills. As in running them. Every day, during my runs. All runs over hilly terrain, except track intervals. Tempos over hills. Fartleks over hills. This was in college, out in the mountains.

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rowingg wrote:

In your training what was the single thing that lead to your largest improvement? Maybe it was core work, mileage, slower/faster long runs.

Bumping mileage up from 45mpt to 80mpw over the winter.

Thanks guys.

Bump. Let's hear it.

My biggest improvement and PRs came when I ran the most mileage for 6 months. Therefore, the single most thing was MORE mileage for me.

Running every run like it's the last run I'll ever run again. Not necessarily intensity, but just the mindset. So much appreciation now and never going to take it for granted.

Seems to be mileage is the key answer. How much mileage? 80? 100? 120?