You Need Time
The number one most impactful piece of training advice I could give you is that you need more total time spent running to get the adaptations you’re looking for.
Now, I know that sounds really obvious, but let me explain. I think about training and getting better at running differently than most. It’s common to think of running fitness as acquisition, like a bank account. You make deposits, and the more you make, the faster you’ll become. But often, in actuality, it’s more important about the frequency of those deposits than their quality. When we’re trying to get better at running, we’re literally trying to change our DNA. We want the muscle fibers and blood vessels from the version of yourself that’s better at running. We have to create a lot of stimuli and time spent training, so our bodies create that. We’re trying to safely, over time, manipulate our bodies into better running versions of themselves. And the human body will let us do that!! It’s wild. It will adapt to so many things. But it likes to adapt slowly, and it needs a lot of consistency.
So what does this look like practically? Well 4 days a week running is usually better than 3, and 5 is usually better than 4. Give your body more chances to adapt and become a runner.
Slow down on those easy runs and make sure you’re going for the entire time or maybe even add 5 minutes when things are feeling good. Give yourself the chance to adapt, week after week, year after year. Be patient and unrelenting with your consistency.
It will not always benefit you to do something faster. You need time. The old analogy about baseball is so true. You need to hit a bunch of singles and doubles, week after week. You don’t need the random triple and then miss three days.
Stack the days.
