Running faster on the flats

[Bob Creasote]

Hi,

I do a lot of hill work and have a high "anaerobic threshold" but as soon as I am not running up a
hill, I am unable to keep up with the front runners. How do most people increase their speed? Mostly
track and flat work? Does it take long to develop? Can a runner in my situation usually see a large
speed increase?

I know that these questions are difficult to answer wthout any more background info but some general
opinions would be good.

thanks

Bob

[Roger 2k]

Bob Creasote wrote in message <3f6de767$1@news.fhg.de>...
>Hi,
>
>I do a lot of hill work and have a high "anaerobic threshold" but as soon
as
>I am not running up a hill, I am unable to keep up with the front runners. How do most people
>increase their speed? Mostly track and flat work? Does
it
>take long to develop? Can a runner in my situation usually see a large
speed
>increase?
>
>I know that these questions are difficult to answer wthout any more background info but some
>general opinions would be good.
>
>thanks
>
>Bob

One of the things I did that helped get my 100 meter time down from 15.5 to
14.2 was to accelerate for 30 meters then run flat out for 30 meters with 8 minutes rest.

I've also seen running down a shallow hill at top speed help leg speed.

Or running up real steep hills, full bore, from a flying start, where the hill only last for 10 or
20 seconds, then take 2 to 5 minutes rest.

In other words, do some drills, just aimed at leg speed.

You might also find a little leg work at a gym helps or doing minor plyometrics, like ankle jumps.

-2k

[Joseph Meehan]

No one thing. Most runner try to mix training types. Some speed some hills some flat and
some distance.

--
Joseph E. Meehan

26 + 6 = 1 It's Irish Math

"Bob Creasote" <afraid_of_spam@nothing.com> wrote in message news:3f6de767$1@news.fhg.de...
> Hi,
>
> I do a lot of hill work and have a high "anaerobic threshold" but as soon
as
> I am not running up a hill, I am unable to keep up with the front runners. How do most people
> increase their speed? Mostly track and flat work? Does
it
> take long to develop? Can a runner in my situation usually see a large
speed
> increase?
>
> I know that these questions are difficult to answer wthout any more background info but some
> general opinions would be good.
>
> thanks
>
> Bob

[Radioactive Man]

On Sun, 21 Sep 2003 19:55:29 +0200, "Bob Creasote" <afraid_of_spam@nothing.com> wrote:

>Hi,
>
>I do a lot of hill work and have a high "anaerobic threshold" but as soon as I am not running up a
>hill, I am unable to keep up with the front runners. How do most people increase their speed?
>Mostly track and flat work? Does it take long to develop? Can a runner in my situation usually see
>a large speed increase?

I have just the opposite problem. While I often include hills in the training routes on my easy
days, I do most of my speed and endurance work on the flats. In a race, particularly a long one like
today's 15k, I usually run the hills at a fairly conservative pace and lose some ground to people
I've just passed in the flats.

I believe one's relative performance on hills and flats is a factor of both training methods and
their physical attributes (weight, height, etc.). I am heavy (~185 lbs and 6 ft tall) for a
distance runner, but I believe I am better on the flats because I have an efficient stride. On
hills, performance is a more a matter of power to weight ratio than anything else. Thus, the only
way to improve on hills is to increase power or decrease weight. On flats, the equation is not
quite so simple.

>
>I know that these questions are difficult to answer wthout any more background info but some
>general opinions would be good.
>
>thanks
>
>Bob