While I was writing the recap for my race on Sunday, I was thinking about how much the concept of “fast” varies from person to person. I’m running slowly right now, compared to a few years ago, but for some people my pace may be fast. And for others my paces will seem REALLY slow.
Unfortunately- or fortunately, depending on who you are- genetics plays a large role in determining a fast runner. I remember back in elementary school, we had field day once a year. There were all sorts of races and I wanted to win one so badly. And I tried! I really tried, but just couldn’t compete with some of the other girls. I was envious of the girls who could run fast.
When I started running in high school, my natural “easy” pace was 1o minutes per mile. I never attempted to run competitively in high school- I just ran for fun. Same with college. But after college I became aware of this thing called “speed work” and started going to a track once a week.
Speed work consisted of running quarter mile repeats. Period! I had never heard of tempo runs or strides (were there such things in the 1990s?) and it never occurred to me to run 200, 800 or mile repeats. Nope- speed work meant 400s, over and over and over again.
Because I did it consistently, I had success with that. This was when I was living in New York City, and I raced a LOT, at least every other weekend. I hated 5Ks (too short and painful) and the half marathon, while definitely a thing, wasn’t the wildly popular race distance it is now. I liked the 10K races and marathons.
One of my crowning achievements was a sub-48 minute 10K. Me! A girl with very few fast twitch muscle fibers… I ran a sub-8 minute mile pace for a whole 10K. And my other big achievement was a sub-4 hour marathon. I worked hard for those PRs.
Fast forward many years… I had my kids… my body decided to fall apart with multiple injuries. Then, several years ago I managed to string together enough months of training to achieve some post-baby PRs. A 5K at an 8 minute mile pace, and a sub-2 hour half marathon. It was a big notch down from my previous PRs, but I still worked hard for them.
Fast forward several more years… ugh. What the heck happened? My foot fell apart and it seems that I’m running slower and slower. Now I’m struggling to hold a nine minute mile pace for a 5K. For a while I was getting really discouraged… but you know what? All this shows is that speed work WORKS. And that’s the beauty of running- no matter where we’re at, we can always get faster than we are right now.
I definitely don’t run as fast as a lot of people, and I don’t run as fast as I did a few years ago. But I can start where I am right now, do those 400 repeats (why not? they worked in the past!) and see how much improvement I can make. No pressure- just for the fun of it.
And now… here’s my playlist for the race on Sunday! I think you might call it… “eclectic” or, possibly, “dorky.” A few weeks ago, Nicole talked about the middle-aged-woman phenomenon of hearing a current pop song and saying “Oh yes- I know this from Peloton!” Ha ha… I’m definitely not up on what’s current. Clearly. And as you can see I’ve included one of the most bizarre songs ever, “Turning Japanese.” What in the world do the lyrics mean? Is it even politically correct? I suspect not. But, remember I was a teenager in the 80s, and every time I hear that song it makes me laugh.
I’m linking up with the Fab Five- Jenn, Darlene, Zenaida, Renee and Michelle for their Fit Five Friday!
Are you currently doing speed work? Are you still working towards PRs?
What would be on your “fast running” playlist?
23 Responses
I agree with you that one person’s fast is another person’s slow and vice versa. I also agree that doing speed works works. These past few months I am training completely differently with speedwork and seeing tremendous results. When I tried it in the past, I hated it and got injured. Finding the right plan for you and where you are is key.
Yes, I know you followed a plan with good results. It’s fun to work at it and see progress that way!
I’m slow by anybody’s metric. I’m fine with that.
Can we talk about music playlist creation? How do you do it? Are you looking for songs with a particular beat per minute? For songs you just love? I’ve just basically allowed Spotify to craft a playlist of 90s female country singers and I’m starting to realize that maybe that wasn’t the best move…
Ha ha… every time Spotify has a say in my playlist I’m unhappy with the results! I just choose songs that I like and I think will encourage fast running. I don’t pay attention to bpm, but it would be interesting to do a playlist with that in mind.
Your “slow” is my “fast”. My body just loves 12 minute miles except for that time back in 2020 when I magically got faster for a while and then I overdid it and my body snapped right back. Whether it makes me any faster or not, I love doing speed workouts and I’ve been having fun with them for the past few weeks.
Where will you do your speed work? On a track or on the road?
I do my speedwork on the road- unfortunately I don’t have a track that’s convenient. I did some this week, and it IS fun!
I’m slow and know it and that’s fine. At my best, I was running a 59:56 10K. I could likely get better than that…but I’m very short and definitely not a lithe running type. Lately I’ve just been…running, without any time goal and that has felt great. I’m around ~32 mins/5km which is about the slowest I’ve been in a decade. But, again, I’m mostly just curious about my time, not trying to improve it.
I’ve been listening to a random Spotify 170 bpm playlist and enjoying that! I really need to download a new one, though, as I’m getting burned out on some of the songs.
I’ve never tried a bpm playlist but I should! That would be fun. It’s also fun to run without any time goal, I agree. It just feels good to get out there.
Pace is so relatively.
I wish I had started (endurance) running sooner. Even though I got a PE degree in college, I “hated” running and during my first track & field exam chose a 200m spring as my running discipline (because I wanted to get it over with). I failed miserabley. The second time around, I chose the 800m distance and did much better (but still didn’t love running). Looking back, I wish I had embraced longer distances.
When I picked up running as a sport about 8 years ago, I felt I was slow and I had to work hard to improve my pace. I am pretty happy with what I have accomplished (ran a sub-2 half in 2020 for the first time) but I am still “slow” compared to others.
But the good thing is: running doesn’t have to be about the pace, running is about moving your body and having fun. I try to remind myself of that every day (especially right now, when I threw out my back and can’t go for my run this weekend… ).
*relative (without the y) LOL
Oh noooo! I hope your back feels better soon- what a bummer. Yes, in the end it really isn’t about pace- that’s a good point. We can all still enjoy running and get the benefits of it, no matter how fast we run.
That is a very eclectic playlist! I have a big playlist called Nicole Runday, and I organize it alphabetically by song, and then start on whatever letter I ended on the last run. That way I don’t have the same song twice in probably a month (it’s a big playlist). Somehow my playlist is always perfect when I need it, recently I was feeling tired in the last km and Crazy Train came on, so I pictured myself as Julian Edelman running on the field. Very motivating. Or going up a hill and Don’t Stop Believing or Joy and Pain comes on.
I am happy with my pace and I don’t get too worked up about the numbers as my route is extremely hilly and it’s often windy, which can really affect my timing, fast or slow depending on what way the wind is blowing. That said, the other day my Garmin told me I ran my fastest mile EVER, and it was five seconds faster than my previous fastest mile, so that was kind of fun to know.
Yes, now that I have a brand new Garmin it keeps telling me I’ve set a new PR. Okay, I’ll take it!
The other thing I didn’t mention was, when I lived in NYC I ran up and down hills ALL THE TIME, and I think that also contributed to my faster paces. They say hills are speedwork in disguise- maybe that’s why you just ran your faster mile.
That playlist is definitely all over place, LOL!
Yes, I am far slower than you, always have been (always will be). But I like to train. I guess I like to at least try to improve!
The only thing certain in life is change, after all.
Yes- it’s fun to try and improve. We can always get faster than our previous selves, regardless of what pace others are running.
Quite the eclectic playlist for sure lol.
It’s been a long time since I’ve done any form of speedwork. I know that I’m far slower than I used to be but it might be fun to what I could do with some focused training.
Good luck with your speedwork!
Thank you Michelle! I’m looking at it the same way- it will be fun to do some speedwork and see what happens.
That is one hell of a fun playlist. I might be mad at you later when Moves Like Jagger is inevitably in my head.
“no matter where we’re at, we can always get faster than we are right now.”
Yes. It’s about being the best you now.
Ha ha… Moves like Jagger is good! It’ll pep you up.
That is a very fun playlist!!! I love seeing playlists others put together. I never listen to music anymore while running – it’s always podcasts! And I don’t listen to music while racing but I also barely race anymore and have ran with a friend the last several races. But I remember the fun of putting a marathon play list together for the times I knew I’d be mostly running without friends.
Pace is so relative and like you said, your definition of ‘fast’ really changes depending on your stage in life. My crowning achievement was a 1:52 1/2 marathon. I was so proud of myself as getting sub-2 was hard. But that was pre-kids and pre-hip surgery. Now 10 minute miles can be challenging for me! My runs are all what my pre-kid self would call ‘junk miles’ meaning I’m just out there logging miles but there isn’t a purpose like hills, tempo, speed, etc. I’m just not in the state of mind/life for that kind of running but am happy to be out there stringing 4-6 miles together even if my pace would depress my pre-kid self!
Your pre-kid/pre-injury paces sound a lot like mine, and our post-everything paces also sound similar! I agree that you’re not in a good phase of your life for worrying about how fast you’re running- you’ve got enough on your plate. Someday when your kids are older, if you want to, you could work on speed later on when your kids are older. Or not! You might just still be happy to get out there and run just for the fun of it.
I don’t tend to listen to music while I’m running, but I love all your song choices. They would definitely put some pep in my step.
Thanks Jenn! I don’t usually listen to music while running, so when I do i really appreciate it.