Someday...

[Veronica]

Right now I'm running about 10:11 miles. Is it realistic to think I may someday get to an 8 minute mile pace?

When I started running last April I was running 12:30 miles.


Veronica

[OakLeaf]

As a new runner myself, I think it depends on distance and context. I'd always run about a 10 minute pace when I was running just for cardio without really thinking about the pace and without pushing distance. Now, my "long run" pace is 10:30 - 10:45, and my fastest 5K that I ran last weekend was @ 8:16. I really believe that if I worked at it more consistently and raced more often I could get below 8:00 (but maybe I'm just kidding myself about that ).

I definitely have trouble maintaining anything quicker than about 8:40 in a solo tempo run; the race ambience helps me keep the pace up even though I'm really not competing against anyone else. My legs just feel lighter in a pack.

Does that help?

[tribogota]

I love my running book CHI running by Danny Dreyer, it really helps stop worrying about getting faster and worrying more about getting better. I have now been running for a year and a half, and have got my 10k from 66 minutes down to 60 minutes, 6 minutes over 18 months of training methodically, disciplined and hard....I keep hoping I will wake up one day and BE a runner. Although I do like it now.
(sorry about the student incident, I teach university freshman who average 16-17 years old and they CAN BE the worst). This makes triathlon all the more great

[OakLeaf]

+1 on Chi Running. I don't know whether it's made me faster or not, but it's made running feel a WHOLE lot better.

[kacie tri-ing]

I have 8 minute dreams too.....

[Veronica]

The reason I posted this is: I've decided to not even think about a tri specific bike until I have a reasonable run pace. 8 minutes seems to be reasonably competitive in my age group. But I don't want to pick an unrealistic goal either. It's not like I think I'll ever win, even with a fast bike. I'm not twiggy enough. This is just for fun. And I don't know if I even really want a new bike.

For my last sprint tri I was 11th on the swim, 17th on the bike and 69th on the run. That was with a 10:11 pace.

This month I've run almost as many miles as I've biked.

Veronica