I need to learn how to run long distances?

Question

I'm a great sprinter in track, and no one can throw me out on the baseball diamond. But i can't run long distance for beans. (i run around a 6:30 mile 14 min. 2 mile). i want to drop that a whooooole bunch. i'm still young if that has any effect. Also, i think i'm carrying too much on me (muscle not fat) . help?

Answer 1

Have you ever heard the quote:

"Practice does not make perfect, perfect practice makes perfect"

You can practice all you want and you may never achieve your goal. What you need to do is practice achieving your goal. I know that sounds a little weird, but stick with me for a minute. If your goal is to run the mile in 4:30, then run it in 4:30. The trick is that you obviosly can't do that just yet, so you have to work up to it.

All you are doing by running the mile at 6:40 is training your body to run at that pace. You have to practice at the 4:30 pace. Run 100 meters at 4:30 pace then jog for a while, run another 100 m, jog for a while, get the idea. Repeat 16 times and at the end of the workout you will have run a mile in 4:30. Your body is being trained to sustain the 4:30 pace. Gradually work up the distances of your intervals and shorten the rest intervals until you can do the whole mile at pace.

It's not going to be instantaneous and you can't do it everyday. Your body needs rest. Do this workout maybe twice a week and on the other days just run easy (like slower than 7:00 miles).

Answer 2

There is only one way to do it, and that is to put in the miles. Start at a comfortable pace and keep going until it becomes difficult, then stick with it, varying the distance a bit from day to day but slowly moving up.

I ran the London marathon when I was 42 years old. I had run at lot earlier (4-5 miles a day), but trained for the marathon for 5 months at 60 or 70 miles a week, 6 days a week (I found I needed a psychological break at least one day). On the day of the marathon, I ran 26 miles at a pace of 7:15 per mile. The key was to run regularly and simply put in the distance --- forget the speed --- the distance is the key and the speed will come later.

Answer 3

Start by running one mile (if you can't go a full mile do a half) run the mile everyday, or every other day if you get sore and increase it by 1/4 a mile every other run. Eventually you should run at least 5 days a week if you want to go for a LONG distance.

Answer 4

Hey ZAZA , its the same principal as working out you just have to push yourself harder to make yourself stronger , just stay consistant with your workouts and push yourself harder it will come , and its not your size trust me I am 40 years old 6'2 220lbs and have a large build (muscle ) and I can run a between a 5:50 and 6:00 min mile and thats just running 3 days a week for cardio purposes if I pushed myself everyday I'm sure I could get that time down too , just do it my friend !!

Answer 5

hey i'm a sprinter too, i don't know if you really want to run distance because it can hurt your sprinting. But if you do want to run distance start with like a 15 minute jog, and each day increase by 5 minutes. That's what I do, but I don't do more than 45 minutes. Helps me alot, but it has sort of made me a slower sprinter, I don't know why.

Answer 6

well, zaza stretch everyday and start out by running a mile everyday for a month then bump it up to 2 miles every day then 3 and so on soony our body will get toned and used to running and you can become an ok runner. some tips when running are never break stride and when in a race never boost speed to catch up to the runner in front of you keep a steady comfortable pace and dont dont worry about anything around you just look straight ahead and keep focused when you get tired just push yourself to keep going wether u r in 1st or last place keep a pace.
slowly bump your pace to a faster one as your body builds up.hope i helped give me an email @ [e-mail] for more tips!

Answer 7

Run the same appointed distance veryday and after a while the time will cut back. If your going to be racing on a track instead of cross country than practice on the track. Your time will drop with practice.

Answer 8

try to run 1 mile in 6:20 this week. next week, aim for 2 miles in 12:40. then, 3 miles in 17 minutes. get the patern? just keep on going like that.
eventually you may try to make your first mile 6 flat, then adjust all you other times.

good luck!

Answer 9

Run a high mileage workout. I know that elite national h.s. people in crosscountry run upwards of 70 miles a week! If you run 3 miles a day while maintaining your speed, you should be good.

Answer 10

You have to take a limited size of strides and you should have a rhythm f running.Make sure your hands swing a small distance and try making your leg muscles loose while running.