15 Tips for Increasing Speed Part 2

6. Add weight training. If you've never done any weight training, you might be very surprised at how much it can improve your running speed. AND don't ignore your arms. They are the levers that help you propel the legs forward. If you are already doing weight training, consider making some changes in your workout; be sure you are doing the right exercises, and be sure you are performing them correctly. Be sure you are doing the best exercises for runners.

7. Core. Improving core strength helps you to be lighter on your feet. It will help you avoid sinking into the ground with each stride; rather you'll feel more like you're gliding over it, which is, of course, faster. Study photos of yourself when at the end of a race. You'll see that you look like your torso drops closer to the ground with each stride than it did in photos early in a race. Strengthening your core and all other muscles will help this.

8. Lose weight. Many runners can afford to lose a few pounds. Even 5 pounds will make a difference in your running speed and comfort. To investigate this, put 10 lbs of weight in a backpack and go for a run. Nothing will convince you more effectively.

9. Try some plyometric exercises. Be very careful here because these can easily get you injured and will always get you sore, at least at first. Make sure you do each exercise correctly and do them on a hard training day. Basically, plyometric exercises are explosive exercises which can certainly increase your running speed. Google plyometric exercises and runners. You'll find plenty of videos on YouTube, but be very careful, and don't do this if you are not already in peak condition. Even then, start with only one or two reps of only a couple of different ones each week, and build from there.

10. Run off road on rugged terrain at least once a week. Running through sand, hopping over roots and adjusting to varying uneven ground will require much more mental concentration, but it will also strengthen your ankles and require more balance and increase overall agility. As a result, when you run on pavement it will seem easier, and you will be stronger, enabling you to run faster. An added benefit is that it is less stressful in other ways due to the fact that it is soft surface. Therefore, it is easier on a runner's body in that way.



Running in the Woods

One day it's Labor Day, the next it's Thanksgiving - - - now another year has passed. When I was a child, time passed so slowly; now that I have the wisdom to appreciate it, well, you know.

This feeling makes me especially appreciative of the one place where time seems to slow down. When I am in the woods, running off road on a trail, I can forget the busy streets, the sound of cars and voices, my hectic schedule, that 'to do' list; I become more mellow with every mile.

I am always moved by the beauty of the woods, but I am saddened that so many people don't appreciate it; their eyes don't seem to catch it. They are too anxious to find the end of the trail and get back to their list. But like so much that matters in life, this run is about the trip not the end.

My eyes spy a delicate vine wound delicately around a spindly tree, each tendril exactly parallel to the next as if wound precisely by some deft hand, then on a gnarly tree root rising out of vivid foliage only to disappear into another patch a few feet away. A shiny, worn root reaches across the trail, looking so much like a slippery black racer that I have to do a double take. No, it's not a snake, not this time, just a root. But isn't nature amazing, camouflaging snakes to look so much like roots?

I spot a tiny, striking butterfly visiting an equally tiny flower. My iPhone/camera is out in a flash, but the butterfly has already moved on. I won't record him today. As I gaze at the leaves a few feet away, I am impressed that some of the leaves are dotted with mottled brown spots, in a pleasing collection of colors that look remarkably like that butterfly. I'd like to decorate a room in those colors. There's probably a paint card at Lowe's with that exact collection. There should be.

It's especially lovely here today because it's overcast and it's been raining. Every color is more intense because everything is wet. There's no sun to wash out the color. It's as if I'm looking through dark sunglasses that intensify every hue. Have you ever taken off your sunglasses and thought, gee that's not nearly so pretty as I thought? Well, today, it is that pretty, really.

A young palmetto leaf, pristine and new looking, has sprouted from one of the bold, rusty roots jabbing into the path before me. The color of the fan is so vivid; the green of every fold is made slightly different by the angle of the light striking it.

What's that? Ooooooh! I know that sticky, creepy feeling. It's a spider web - or part of one - better keep my eyes open. Don't want any surprises.

As I jog by, I look to my left down a path to the lake. The pine needles are browner than usual, the grass along the perimeter greener, and the lake bluer. Overwhelmed, I want to nudge someone and say, "Look at that! Look at the colors!" But I am alone. I wonder why this trail is not crowded with runners and hikers enjoying this show. I've got this all to myself. That should make me happy, but instead I'm sad that others can't appreciate it - or won't.

I understand that they are busy. There's family, work, so many stressful responsibilities, but I think if they would just come here, just hike once around, they would find the woods possess the same magical, soul comforting effect as yoga.

You dash into class during a window in your schedule. Yoga is an item on the list. But by the time the hour long class is over, you've forgotten you ever had a list, and that is why you go because that is what yoga does to you.

The woods do that to me.

I run up a hill, around a corner, past the clearing where the Boy Scouts camp, the 2.0 miles sign, almost back to the water kiosk that marks the start of the trail. Think I'll go round again.

Challenging Race, Beautiful Place

As the Florida Trail Challenge Half Marathon approached, being the weather wimp that I am, I mostly worried about the temperature on race morning. Since we’d had temps in the upper twenties only a couple of days before, I was relieved when Steve Jerve, a local meteorologist predicted a low of 53 and a high in the seventies.

I carefully planned my race attire Saturday night, then cast the planned outfit aside on race morning, deciding on shorts and a short sleeved running tee with a long sleeve ‘throwaway’ outer layer and, on my head, my lucky Boston cap, a black Under Armor cap I found on the ground during the 2008 Boston Marathon.

I was thinking that I wished I had real trail running shoes, but I don’t, so I came up with the idea of building up the tread on my running shoes - designated trail shoes - with Shoe Goo. I did that a couple of nights before the race, and I have to say, I think it worked pretty well. Last, I fastened on my cool new gaiters.

My wardrobe decisions behind me, I focused on the ‘challenge.’ Looking back, that moniker might be a little mild.

My husband and I had mountain biked on single track in Alafia River State Park years ago, back when the mountain bike community  was just starting to build trails there, and I recalled that some of those trails were pretty scary, with actual cliffs. Nothing like people in Florida are accustomed to, and I wondered what it would be like to run on those trails.

Well, I found out pretty quickly. The entire race was on black diamond single track trails. Normally, most of those trails are reserved for bikers; runners are not allowed on them at the same time for good reason. They are not very wide and there are plenty of blind turns.

I dialed in an episode of Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me on my iPod for the first part of the race. Wendy was surprised I wasn’t planning music, but I felt like for such an arduous race music might have gotten me going too fast too soon. Anyway, it turned out to be a good choice.

I’m not sure why the terrain in that area has so much undulation, but it does, and plenty of trees with roots, big and small, traversing the trail in all directions, sometimes strung across it like a rope waiting to trip anyone who dares to pass. It was clear from the outset that this race would require keen concentration.

By the time I had completed the first mile, I was making a mental note that a good way to train for such a race would be to run through tires the way football players do. That would help me keep my knees high, which would keep my feet higher to avoid tripping.

It wasn’t long before a couple of the ubiquitous roots grabbed hold of my shoe, but I didn’t go down. I did begin to count my trip-ups, though, realizing that it was unlikely I would make it through this race unscathed.

Experience has taught me that the most likely time to trip is in the first couple of miles of a race – because I’m not yet fully warmed up – and in the last few miles – because by then I’m tired.

Some of the gullies the trail crossed were so steep that I paused at the top to plan the traverse.

Soon, I developed a technique. It was clear that in order to get up the other side, it was necessary to run down the downhill - no matter that it seemed too steep - in order to attain the momentum required to ascend the other side. It required quite a bit of finesse, but my technique seemed to work, well, most of the time. I admit that twice I ended up using my hands to hold onto a tuft of grass at the top to pull myself up over the crest. I don’t think that is supposed to be necessary, and I doubt if most of the 73 people who finished ahead of me had to resort to that method.

At times we were running with a drop-off of twenty feet or so right at the edge of the narrow path. Did I mention that these were bike paths? I can’t even fathom biking on these trails. At other times, there was water just off the path or at the bottom of the cliff. Okay, I know you're laughing at my referring to a cliff in Florida, but what else can you call it? Anyway, the view was lovely, but I did not want to take an unexpected dip in that water on this cold day, especially if it was at the end of a tumble down one of those drop-offs.

Once, about five miles in, I tripped and ended up running, arms flailing in every direction, ten feet off into the scrub before regaining my balance. After that I walked a bit, thinking I would be less likely to trip if I was not as winded. I needed to be at my best, my sharpest, because it seemed either a root grabbed hold of my foot or a rock jumped up in the middle of my stride every few minutes.

When I caught up to the lady in front of me, she had fallen and was just getting up. She was okay but said it was her third fall, and she was done, just continuing until she could find a spot to exit the trail and the race. I knew that could be me if I wasn’t careful.

I remember one scary day when I was skiing in Breckenridge. A complete novice, I was on trails that were too hard for me – foolishly trying to keep up with my kids – and I fell a couple of times. One fall really rang my bell, and after that, I was paralyzed with fear of falling again. That fall erased any confidence I had had. After that I just kept falling. It seemed like it took me forever just to get off the mountain that day. That lady looked like she wanted off that trail as bad as I had wanted off that mountain.

Before long, I got to the point of counting my trips; I was considering each one a victory, because I hadn’t hit the ground, and a warning because I knew that I soon would. Like a cat with nine lives, I wondered how many trips I would survive before one of those nefarious roots slapped me to the ground. How much would it hurt? Would there be blood? Would I tumble into that water with the green scum on top?

Somewhere around mile 10, I had finished listening to the second Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me podcast and dialed in a medium speed music playlist, but I wasn’t listening to it; I was actually thinking about the ‘25 Things You Should Know About Me’ list I had just made in response to a Facebook request from one of my friends. In my mind I was going over who I would send it to and counting the names. That’s when it happened, the fall.

Turned out it would be stumble number 7 at about 10.5 miles that took me down. But I was extremely lucky, landing in the dirt on my right side and hip. It wasn’t one of those dreadful falls that goes by in slow motion. No, this time I was running one instant and hitting the ground the next.

No blood, not even an abrasion. Yes, as falls go, it was a good one. The glass was half full, the race half over, and the fall behind me.

I brushed off the dirt and rejoiced that I had decided not to wear the ZAP Fitness long sleeve white shirt I had selected the night before.

I resumed my run, determined to keep my eye on the goal, the finish line, a scant 5K away . . . and concentrate.

There was the younger woman in pink that I kept passing. Non-runners might not understand how one person could pass another repeatedly, but runners know how this happens: I would walk through an aid station, and she would pass me. Then she would stop to stretch, and I would pass her.

Another woman in navy blue, water bottle in hand, was leapfrogging with me as well. I don’t think I could run holding a water bottle. Seems like it would throw me off balance, and on this run, I needed every bit of balance and coordination I could muster.

Not long after I fell, I passed a fit looking young man sitting on a rock beside the trail. It was less than two miles to the end, but I understood the tired, weary look in his eyes.

As I approached the finish, I was relieved to discover that the end of this race did not include the infamous deep white sand that had punctuated the end of the November Alafia X-Country Trail Race. We crossed it a couple of times, but that wasn’t bad, nothing like running through it for a quarter of a mile on tired legs.

The Florida Trail Challenge took me slightly over three hours, a long time for a half, but it was not like any other half I’ve ever done, as my ankles are still reminding me.

Wendy came through completely unscathed. Maybe it’s all that yoga she does that gives her superior balance and agility, but that race was one tough challenge for anyone, so this mom was thoroughly impressed.

Her eyes had recorded so much that I didn’t even notice, partly because I was afraid to take my eyes off the trail of course, but also because no one appreciates nature more than Wendy. Having her there with me just made that beautiful day darn near perfect.

An hour later, we were relaxing at Panera Bread, sharing a sandwich, and plotting our next adventure.