Hey guys!

I ran a mile yesterday and it took me 10 minutes! I'm embarrassed by this time. Im a 23 yr old female. 5'6" 133 lbs.

I was really hoping for about 8 or so which I think is respectable.

Granted Ive never run on like a track team or trained in any real organized fashion. But I probably jog about 2/3 miles around my neighborhood 3-5 times a week for about 30-40 minutes.

Maybe I need to try it again working harder. I got tired midway and had to walk a lil but all and all when i finished i really wasnt that drained. Heart rate up a bit but I recovered from that in like 2/3 minutes.

Any suggestions on how I can get faster at this?

High intensity interval training.

and don't forget to run 1 mile as fast as you can. If you want to lower your time on one mile, you should probably include running one mile in your training.

Do runs of 20-30 minutes once or twice a week for about a month. On other days, do interval runs where you run 2-4 minutes at a good pace and then take a break for a few minutes and repeat a few times

why all the fancy advice? How can someone expect to get better at something fast if they are not practicing it?
I'm not saying not do any of the fancy stuff, but definitely practice what you're trying to get good at.

Interval training. Like what some poeple mentioned in this thread's reply.

Basically, what you want to do is sprint for a minute, jog, walk, sprint, jog, walk, etc. Do it over and over again. Eventually you'll be able to do it. Just remember, if you're running the same speed all day, everday, you're not going to really improve all that much.

Also, be sure to rest. Sometimes if you don't rest or are tired, your speed will be nil.

Run it entirely downhill!

But seriously, try keeping that 10 minute pace for 2 miles. then 3 miles. then 4 miles. After you can keep the 10 minute pace for more milage, push yourself on your 1 mile time and you'll be surpised how fast you can do it!

Yeah, start weight training.

Increase your strength, increase your speed.

Consistancy is the key to running farther and faster. Hal Higdon is a well respective author and running couch. He has many free plans from 5K to a marathon for any level of runner. Here is his 5K Novice plan...

5 K Training: Novice

Take a look at it and if it seems too easy, choose the Intermediate plan.

Hope this helps.

Well for running under 10min in the mile the limiting factor is not footspeed, it is endurance. To improve endurance you need to increase the time you spend running areobically, so the people who are recommending doing 20-30 min runs are right on.

I garauntee that you can take off an entire minute from your mile time while not training any faster than 12min-miles, you just have to run longer and more frequently.

I suggest start running 20min, don't worry about how fast you run. Each day focus on running longer, not faster. After a while your pace will naturally increase. The 5k link above is also a good place to look if you want more structure.

First of all, don't be embarrassed at your current level of fitness. I myself am often tempted to not post certain things here because I am not nearly as strong or as fast as many people here, but the thing is, no one here knows me in real life, so even if they were to laugh at what I can't do, so what? And I don't think anyone really looks down on anyone here. I'm pretty sure everyone who comes here does so either to help others or to gain wisdom and motivation for their own fitness or both. The people who really should be embarrassed are the people who want better bodies but are unwilling to ask someone else how to improve themselves and unwilling to put any effort into it. Good for you for actually making steps toward getting in better shape. If you continue working at this, you'll be able to run several miles at a 10 minute pace and be able to run one mile in well under 10 minutes.

It is true---work on what you want to be good at. If you want to be good at running one mile, run one mile. Now, even if you don't care about how fast you sprint or about being able to run over 5 miles, you certainly could gain a lot from working on sprinting 100 yards as fast as you can or running 2-3 miles. At least it might give you some variety from a normal one mile run. But if the mile is what you want to be best at, keep working on that. And if you have an off-day where it takes you 11 or 12 minutes even when you're giving max effort, don't be discouraged.

Others may disagree, but I don't think you should need to weight train. If you are not very muscular at all, running will build muscle up to your level you need it for the running you do. When I started track my junior high of high school, I was very scrawny and had almost no muscle anywhere, but after a few months, my calves were much, much bigger than they had been. However, after that point, my calves and other muscles didn't get bigger because they were already big enough for the running I did. Unless you want to be good at sprinting or want to run medium distances competively, you probably don't really have a need for weights at this point. Running a mile in 8 minutes is going to be mostly a cardio challenge for you, not a muscular one. Achieving an 8 minute mile shouldn't require weight training. That being said, there are strength exercises that could benefit you. But I'll leave it to others to sell you on those.

To get your mile time down, besides just running miles, are there other forms of cardio you enjoy? Do you have opportunities to play soccer or ultimate frisbee or something like that with friends? Something like that is more fun than just running, and it will help your cardio if you give your max effort when you play. How about swimming? There are a lot of ways to improve your heart and lung performance besides running. Keep running, but if there are other things you enjoy more than running that get your heart rate up, certainly do those things too.

What's your diet like? Are you avoiding junk food and deep-fried food? Are you getting enough protein (meat, dairy, beans, etc.), monounsaturated fats (extra virgin olive oil, nuts, etc.), omega-3 fat (salmon, supplements, etc.), fruits, veggies, whole grains, etc.? If you don't already have a good diet, changing to one will certainly help you meet your goal of a faster mile time.

Good luck!

Have you tried wearing roller skates?

As Gotfit said, you need to build up strength in your legs to run faster. I promise you that if you stop running for a month or two and start squating, when you hit the road again your time will have improved

I Have to say, it really does. I was not into weight lifting and my husband got me going. After lifting for a while and not running for a while, I tried running again and I went almost a minute faster a mile!

It really helps!