Hi, I am a 21 year old female. I love running but my talent for it is certainly questionable. When I first started running about two years ago, I was a little out of shape because I hadn’t worked out at all in six months. I grew up with gymnastics and had a steady BMI of 20 all throughout but I became sedentary and my BMI popped up to about 23, it was at this time I decided to start running. I love how female milers look and I figured it was the perfect distance to focus on as it requires both anaerobic and aerobic.
I decided to go down to the local track and to two time trails, a 200m and a 3200m time trial. I use the 200TT to assess my anaerobic and the 3200TT to assess my aerobic.
At a BMI of 23 (age 19) my times were:
200: 38
3200: 17:02
Over the last two years I have done a mix of mileage and sprint training. There is a 50m hill I like to sprint up once a week to build power in my legs, I like to do this at around 200m pace about 6 times but the rest of my running is mileage and 3200m pace intervals. Occasionally I will do some fast 400s in there.
I think my gymnastics background may have activated more fast twitch muscles but I am in no way a talented or standout athlete. I’m just an average person who loves to stay fit.
I have lost all excess weight and then some and now at a BMI of 19.6 (age 21) my times are:
200: 32.8 rolling
3200: 12:31
I want to get under 30 and under 12, the problem with this is hitting 15 mph for any period of time is really hard for me and 6:00 mile pace for me is equally as hard. Does anyone have any tips for me to improve this and make these paces easier for my body?