Coopah How To: Improve Your Pace

Introduction

Everyone runs for different reason; for their mental health, to challenge themselves, general health and fitness, but there is also another big reason why there are people who lace up their shoes every day and get out there – because they want to get faster.

Perhaps you have signed up to a Spring marathon and want to achieve a certain time, perhaps you are even aiming for a PB (personal best), or perhaps you just really want to beat your parkrun rival (yes, we all have them, even if they don’t know it) at your local event – whatever your reason, if you want to get faster, you need to put the work in.

Now, spoiler alert – there is no ‘secret’ to getting faster, and there isn’t one quick fix you can do to improve your pace. Like everything with running, it’s a combination of consistency, hard work and a little bit of patience too, but there certainly are things that will help you on your journey to faster times, which I am going to share with you today.

RUN FAST, RUN SLOW

Sounds simple right? In really basic terms I have just described a form of speed training called intervals. And it really is as simple as that. During your run you will run faster for a period of time, followed by a period of rest and recovery.

Now one thing I have heard time and time again is runners thinking they are too slow for interval training, well I am here to tell you today that is not the case. Every single runner can benefit from this style of training, and if you stick with it, it won’t be long before you start to see the benefits.

To begin with, it doesn’t matter what pace you run. Instead, just focus on your effort levels and just aim to push yourself more during the faster intervals, and use the recovery period to get your heart rate back down so you are then ready to run hard again.

You also don’t need to over complicate it – if you are new to this style of training just start of with a really simple workout, a Coopah favourite is a workout called ‘The Antwerp: 8 x 1 minute on, 1 minute off’ where you simply run hard for 1 minute, followed by 1 minute recovery.

Now another misconception that runners have is that they don’t need to do speed work if they are training for a marathon, which again is false. Intervals are a great way to not only help you get faster, but also help to build your overall aerobic endurance (key for marathon training), improves running economy, builds strength and also helps you to stay mentally strong and get you used to pushing yourself when things get tough.

How Coopah Can Help: Every single Coopah plan will have a form of interval training each week, where you will have easy to follow workouts that you can either send directly to your watch, or follow live in the app. We will give you pace targets to aim for if you are running outside, speed targets if you are training on the treadmill and you can also switch to effort based if you find that works better for you. All of the workouts will be designed with your end goal in mind, so you know that every run is getting you one step closer to your goal.

Download the app and use the code ‘STARTNOW’ to claim your exclusive 3 month offer.

PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT

I know it may sound obvious, but if you are aiming for a specific time for your Spring marathon, then you need to practice running at that pace during your training. But what this doesn’t mean is that you need to go out and do all of your training runs at race pace (or faster) in fact, its quite the opposite.

Let’s take marathon training long runs for example, the last thing you want to be doing is going out and running all of your long runs at your marathon pace, all this will do is exhaust you, along with increase your risk of injury, but what you do want to do is start to incorporate blocks of ‘marathon pace’ into your longer runs so you can get used to running at that pace, especially on tired legs.

It’s always best to start with shorter blocks of marathon pace, and then as the weeks go on and your fitness improves, you can start to increase this with the aim that by event day you have the confidence you can sustain that pace for a long time.

For example, you could break up your long run as followed;

30 minutes @ easy pace

30 minutes @ goal marathon pace

30 minutes @ easy pace

Not only is this a great way to improve your pacing and overall fitness, it also helps to break up your long runs and keep you motivated after pounding the pavements week after week.

How Coopah Can Help: With Coopah, you can have the confidence that your plan is tailored towards your goal, so if you are working towards a specific time, you will have workouts geared towards this that gradually build in volume and intensity throughout your training plan.

Download the app and use the code ‘STARTNOW’ to claim your exclusive 3 month offer.

THE SECRET INGREDIENT

Okay so I know I said there is no secret to getting faster, and I stand by that as there is not one thing that will automatically make you run faster – but an area that a lot of runners tend to neglect, is strength training, and if you are skipping on this, you really are missing the secret ingredient that helps to improve your pace.

Not only can strength training help to improve your overall strength – it can also increase your power and speed (key to running faster), decrease your risk of injury (meaning you can stay consistent with your training) and can also help to improve your running economy (better coordination and core strength which helps you to maintain form when you are tired).

And similar to interval training, it doesn’t need to be over complicated. You don’t need to be spending hours in the gym each week and lifting heavy weights every day to notice a difference, in fact even incorporating some simple body weight exercises to your training is a great way to get started.

Here are some key exercises you can look to add into your training;

Squats – builds leg strength and power

• Stand with feet hip-width apart, toes slightly turned out
• Lower your hips back and down as if sitting in a chair
• Keep your chest up and knees tracking over your toes
• Go as low as comfortable (aim for thighs parallel to the ground)
• Push through your heels to return to standing

Once you have nailed the basics, you can look to progress this exercise;

🔥 Add weights (hold dumbbells or a barbell)

🔥 Do jump squats for explosive power

🔥 Try single-leg squats (pistol squats) for balance and control

Glute Bridges – strengthens glutes and core

• Lie on your back with knees bent and feet flat on the floor, hip-width apart
• Press your heels into the floor and lift your hips until your body forms a straight line from shoulders to knees
• Squeeze your glutes at the top, then slowly lower back down

And here are some ideas on how to progress this exercise;

🔥 Hold a dumbbell or barbell on your hips

🔥 Try single-leg glute bridges for extra glute activation

🔥 Add a resistance band around your knees for stability work

Lunges (Improves leg strength, stability & balance)

• Step forward with one leg, lowering your back knee towards the ground
• Keep your front knee aligned over your ankle
• Push back to standing and repeat on the other leg

How to take lunges to the next level;

🔥 Hold dumbbells in each hand

🔥 Do jump lunges for explosive power

🔥 Try walking lunges to challenge balance and endurance

How Coopah Can Help: All of the Coopah training plans have strength and conditioning workouts included, that can be done either at home or at the gym. Whether you are a complete beginner, or just looking to add more structure to your training. And don’t forget you also have 24/7 support from our team of coaches if you have any concerns or aren’t sure where to start.

Download the app and use the code ‘STARTNOW’ to claim your exclusive 3 month offer.

So there you have it, whilst there isn’t one quick fix to improving your pace and getting faster, there are plenty of things you can do over time to improve. But most importantly the key thing to remember is that progress in running ultimately takes these three things – consistency, patience and hard work.

Progress isn’t going to happen overnight, so just stick with it, trust the process and reap the rewards on race day.

Coach Jordan x