Runningmama wrote:
I've been running 3 years. I'm up to about 25-30 mpw with my long run around 12 miles and one workout a week on track or running hills. I'm a middle aged female and my 10k time is about 46 minutes. The women winning my age group are throwing down 42-43 minutes. Based on my mileage, should I be adding harder workouts or just up the easy miles until I hit 40-50 mpw? Do I need a longer long run?
If you're running 12 miles you don't need a longer run. You need to run 6.25 miles faster. So at some stage you need to do the sort of intervals that allow you to deal with the pain of running faster.
MAny peopel think the fitter they get the more comfortable and easier it will be. Just the opposite. The fitter and more prepared you are, the deeper into the pain cave you can descend. Success is all in the head. You need to have a strong mind to run faster.
Look at your splits. Where are you losing it? INvestigate where you can improve. Are you even paced the whole race? Are you coming in hard, are you going out hard and blowing up. Its not just a matter of increasing miles. You need to find out how you can run faster.
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