Leg speed

High School Running

2 years ago 10/20/2021 8:43pm EDT

I’m an okay runner, 16:30’s for the 5k. I always finish races and I am not tired when I cross the line, but during the race my legs just won’t go faster. My breathing is fine, and legs don’t burn, but they just won’t go faster. In practice, when I do a 3 mile tempo, my heart rate is between 130-140 and it feels easy. When doing 5k pace workouts, my heart rate recovers super quick during the break and rarely gets high.

Does anyone have any advice for improving my times? I feel like I should be able to race better.

2 years ago 10/21/2021 3:01pm EDT

re: bumpity bump

16:30s is a respectable time for the 5k in high school. Are you winning all of your races and running alone? Or are you finishing somewhere in the pack and just not able to compete? If you want to change things up then maybe go into a race with a different strategy that you have in the past. If before you were just running 5:20 pace the whole race maybe try going out a little bit harder and try to hold on. If you are already going out a little too hard, maybe try to go out a little easier and try to progress and have a much faster second half. Depending on your level of competition, I would just try practicing winning races that you can win, or at least putting yourself in position to go for the win. A lot of times the excitement of possibly winning a race and competing against someone can get you to dig deeper than you previously thought you could. When it comes to kicking at the end of races, you need to feel out the sweet spot for yourself, but in races 5k or longer, most of the "speed" or change of pace just comes from embracing the pain and holding together strong form.

2 years ago 10/21/2021 4:01pm EDT

re: Midwest Miler

this is a useful post, but i dont think this was the OP's point. he is saying that he wants his legs to get faster/able to pick it up.

@bumpity bump: consider your iron levels and eat some bananas. This helps if you are iron deficient it sometimes effects your nervous system. run some hills as well, as this helps with muscle fiber activation and allows you to gain more power. run these hills weekly if you need, and take proper rest, of course.

another reason this might be happening is that you need more speed work. you have been running a lot of high mileage/tempos and have not touched on speed work yet. you have a lot of improvement left this season.

2 years ago 10/21/2021 5:19pm EDT

re: SomeHSer

Thanks so much for the tips from both of you.

For the first poster, I’m never in the lead. I do go out too fast though. I’ll try going out slower.

For the second poster, my iron is fine, so I know it’s not that. I’m also never fatigued or tired from workouts. Even when doing 5x1200 at faster than 5k pace, I’m not sore or tired.

Since we started racing in September, we dropped the tempos and are only doing races and 5k pace workouts. I’ll talk to the coach about adding more tempos, as maybe that will help

Thanks

2 years ago 10/21/2021 5:27pm EDT

re: bumpity bump

Doing high cadence/RPM work on the stationary bike and elliptical helped me a bit, but YMMV. For some reason it was more doable on those pieces of equipment, and carried over a noticeable bit into my running turnover.

I should add that I did those drills at higher resistance, too. Good luck.

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Leg speed

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