Running!

I've just recently got into running a couple months ago and I love it . Since then i've been running quite often and building up my distance. Today I ran my longest run yet which was 9.3 miles (15km) and I ran it in 1 hour and 13 minutes. Is this a good time to run that distance? Anyone have any tips to become faster and run farther?

9.3 in 1 hr and 13 minutes is AMAZINGGGG (to me anyway). 

Whether it's me, or anyone else however, that's incredible!!! I'd just say to get even better, keep it up! I'm a beginner runner, and i'd love some advice too, so i'll be lurking in this thread a while haha. 

Congrats again!!!

Thanks!! I've only just started running a couple months ago but i've been running almost every day. When I started I couldn't even run for a minute without stopping, now I can go for over an hour without stopping! I love the challenge. 

Anyone else have any tips on how to get faster and run farther?

Also i've been having a lot of hip pain, does anyone know why or what I can do to prevent it?

Thanks! 

The hip pain is probably your ITB band, you should invest in a foam roller.

 

You might also, want to slack off on increasing your mileage, make sure you aren't increasing your weekly distance more than 10% per week....or you will be setting yourself up for injury.  (As a former injured runner, I cannot tell you how important it is for me to stay injury free!)

 

Your body also needs breaks to repair, you should be taking 1 day off per week.  This will help you improve also.

Wow That is incredible!! I've just began running, I could barely run a minute and have built it up to 25minutes now but it's taken me a month to build up to that!! Slow progress!! I can't wait until I can run distances like yours!! You're my run-spiration!!

anya - Thanks for you answer! I'll definitely start giving myself more rest days, I haven't been doing that much lately. I agree with wanting to stay injury free. When you start to feel pain somewhere how long do you think you should rest your body? Also I was wondering what is considered long distance running?

Stacywills - You saying that made me so happy! Honestly if you keep it up you'll be doing it in no time! Set goals or yourself and challenge yourself and you'll be running like you never thought you could. I never imagined i'd be able to go for more then 5 minutes without dying. 25 minutes is an amazing start and I bet you could do even more! 

Long-distance is generally whatever is within your endurance and tolerance levels, but on the average, it's over 6-8 miles.  So your 9 miler starts getting into the "long-run" category.

If you were training for a half-marathon, the long-run day during a week's worth of training would be around 9-11 miles.

For full marathon runners, a 20-miler would be considered the lower end of the "long run."

And for 5K runners, that'd be 2 miles.  So it does depend.  From what I've encountered, about 6-8 miles typically crests the difference between short & long because 5Ks and 10Ks are considered short-distance races (10K = 6.2 miles).

Running longer distances is about endurance and energy management, so the only real way to get better at it is to just keep practicing.  Which means just getting out there and going!

Speed can be improved through HIIT-like speed work and even hill and trail work.  The total distance during the training session may be shorter, but it'll be more intense to compensate -- it can involve a light run for a couple hundred meters followed by a full-speed sprint, and then scaled back to a light jog.

Many training programs involve running about 3 days a week with some other cross-training in between, along with 1-2 rest days (which may just mean a slow 1 miler or even just a walk, if you don't want to just sit on the couch all day).

What I'd been doing prior to my knee injury (which I'm still trying to recover from after about 5 months ) was Tuesdays for my medium run, Thursdays for my short run, and Saturdays for my long run.  Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays were (actually, still are) weight-lifting days.  Sundays, I'm off completely.

Before my knee went wonky, I was up to doing 6 miles on Tuesday, 4 on Thursday, and pushing 8-10 on Saturdays.  I tried to rush it after I hurt my knees, so I ended up aggravating the injury.  Plus, my shoes may have been too light, so that didn't help on concrete.

I'm starting at the beginning again now, with 2-1-2 sets and just gradually increasing my mileage per week, about 10-15% more, as Anya stated.  I'm aiming to do a 2-1.5-2 set this week but it's tough to restrain my brain into wanting to get back to the 6-10 mile ranges again!

One last bits of advice I received about warm-ups and cool-downs.  Before heading out for a run, give your leg muscles a quick massage to loosen them up a bit -- quads, adductors (inside of the thighs), abductors (outside of the thighs), hip flexors, calves.  Rotate your feet to lightly stretch and loosen the ankles, then a light, light, light walk or jog for about 5-10 minutes before pouring on the gas.

Stretch after the run, not before.  Ice any achy joints, and drink lots of water.

And congratulate yourself for a job well-done!

 

Weirdfish - Thank you so much for your answer! If you were to train for a half marathon how many miles a week/day should you be doing? I've just been running as far as I can everyday (not taking enough rest days) but I think it's been turning into too much because i've been having a lot of hip pain. I think if I have some kind of plan it might help me but I have no idea what kind of distances to do. 

How far are normal HIIT work outs? That sounds like a good idea for a shorter distance day. 

I'm sorry about your injury, I understand how hard and frustrating that can be. How long have you been off? Did you lose your cardio within that time? That's what i'm most afraid of if I take too much time off i'll loose everything i've worked for. 

Thanks for the stretching tips, i'll try them out!!! 

You're having joint pain because you're stressing your connective tissue beyond its ability to heal itself. Cool it now, or deal with IT band syndrome for the next several time periods.