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Running Speeds

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Re: Running Speeds

#71

Post by darkerside »

kyleyeats wrote: post #58
lordnacho wrote: post #40

I've often wondered how exactly I might increase my sprint speed, in terms of form. I've never met a sprint trainer, so all I can do is just try to naturally sprint, but I'm clearly not very fast and never was. But somehow I don't even know what the fundamentals are. What do you need to do to be fast? The other amazing thing is that marathon runners seem to be faster than I can sprint, and I really don't get how they…

Do squats and deadlifts. You can't hope to get anywhere near an ideal form without a whole lot of leg strength.

This will definitely make you faster

Re: Running Speeds

#72

Post by Aeolun »

jefftk wrote: post #57
Aeolun wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair, you don’t really need any of the numbers in the article. If the only thing you know about the freeze is that he’s 1.5 seconds slower than Ursain Bolt on the 200 meters you can conclude that he’ll win basically any race he runs.

I do think you need the discussion of distributions and variance: for all I know the 200m tends to be won by fractions of a second and there are millions of people just a second slower than Bolt.

To some extend. If there’s millions of people that are nearly as fast you’d have encountered them on your school or university course, but what you see there doesn’t even come close (aside from the odd one out like the article describes). Since I haven’t, I can make a reasonable assessment of the likelihood someone is nearly as fast.

Of course I might be wrong (maybe people in my general area are just incredibly slow)? But I’d have some confidence in the assertion anyway.

Re: Running Speeds

#73

Post by darkerside »

lordnacho wrote: post #40

I've often wondered how exactly I might increase my sprint speed, in terms of form. I've never met a sprint trainer, so all I can do is just try to naturally sprint, but I'm clearly not very fast and never was. But somehow I don't even know what the fundamentals are. What do you need to do to be fast? The other amazing thing is that marathon runners seem to be faster than I can sprint, and I really don't get how they…

Some good advice here. The marathon runner question is a potential enlightening one. Distance running, done well, is not about continuously producing thrust like some kind of human rocketship. It's just as much about learning to leak as little energy as possible, using techniques like those Lukas_Skywalker outlined. So you get up to speed and then just lose as little of it as possible for 26.2 miles.

Re: Running Speeds

#74

Post by [deleted] »

koblas wrote: post #59
lordnacho wrote: post #40

I've often wondered how exactly I might increase my sprint speed, in terms of form. I've never met a sprint trainer, so all I can do is just try to naturally sprint, but I'm clearly not very fast and never was. But somehow I don't even know what the fundamentals are. What do you need to do to be fast? The other amazing thing is that marathon runners seem to be faster than I can sprint, and I really don't get how they…

Best advice -- find a local running club that does track workouts. The group dynamics will be incredibly helpful as a baseline. Sprinting is big on strength low on endurance, that's why you see muscular sprinters and lean 5k+ runners. IMHO the biggest factor at being fast is training fast and understanding this is a multi-year effort not a quick fix. Odds are you will need to change slightly your foot strike pattern,…

[deleted]

Re: Running Speeds

#75

Post by jacobevelyn »

Semi-related: years ago I made a silly little running pace converter site: https://pace.ninja/

I’m not a huge runner but still find myself using it all the time, both for my own occasional running goals and to satisfy my curiosity for questions like “how quickly would an elite sprinter’s pace finish a marathon?”

Re: Running Speeds

#76

Post by chatmasta »

nlh wrote: post #68

I have what may be a silly (or even ridiculous) question: Why do recreational distance runners care about speed so much? Background: I went through a phase of long-distance recreational running - I ran lots of half-marathons, marathons, and even the Disney Goofy Challenge for a few years (half marathon on Saturday, full marathon on Sunday). It was all fun! Training was satisfying, the running itself was tough but rew…

You would care if you ran faster to begin with. But if you're running mostly recreationally, especially if you took it up without a competitive racing background, then I can appreciate why you wouldn't care about pace.

I was a competitive runner in college and it's actually the reason I won't run a marathon now. I got so burned out from that career that now I just run without a watch for fun, to de-stress. If I were to run a marathon I'd want to "do it properly" and not just finish it, and that would be way too stressful for me. Even now, when I run an annual turkey trot 5k, I can't help but race the people around me and go as fast as I can despite being terribly out of shape...

Re: Running Speeds

#77

Post by patrick0d »

>height and weight, fast- and slow-twitch muscle mass, cardiovascular conditioning, flexibility and elasticity, and probably more.

When we try to figure out how to measure someones speed (say to compare Usain Bolt to another high quality sprinter) we will look at factors like height, stride length and strength. But in terms of all the factors that need to be measured to describe the function of someones running speed we also have to think of things like the speed of gravity, how many legs they have, the viscosity of air etc. Usain Bolt can't change any of these features of course so if he wants to run 3% faster he might need to be 3x as strong as another runner - since that is one of the few parameters in the equation he can influence.

I think this explains the distribution of the top speed runners performances. The olympic 100m champion won in 2021 with a time of 9.80 and a good teenager might run a time of 10.70. If you saw this on a running track as the olympic champion would cross the line when the amateur was about 93 meters into the race. That's pretty close when you consider that one runner is a professional that might be able to lift weights 3x as heavy as the teenager, they have been training for years and years with professional help and they execute the race with superior form.

This is something that I like to remember when we try to compare and measure peoples skills and how they are likely distributed in society.

Re: Running Speeds

#78

Post by LRVNHQ »

nlh wrote: post #68

I have what may be a silly (or even ridiculous) question: Why do recreational distance runners care about speed so much? Background: I went through a phase of long-distance recreational running - I ran lots of half-marathons, marathons, and even the Disney Goofy Challenge for a few years (half marathon on Saturday, full marathon on Sunday). It was all fun! Training was satisfying, the running itself was tough but rew…

Running fast and with high intensity is fun. But getting faster over a same distance is a lot harder than just improving endurance to run longer distances, hence why most amateurs progress toward longer distances rather than better 5 or 10k PRs.

edit: missing word

Re: Running Speeds

#79

Post by fullspectrumdev »

onetimeuse92304 wrote: post #54
chewz wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Running isn’t an activity where you need much mental fortitude. But in sailing in 10 Beaufort or climbing in extreme weather it is all about mental fortitude not physical strength or training. Some people just quit, give up and others stand at the steering wheel for 6 hours despite soaked clothes and blowing gale.

Heck, I am observing candidates giving up during interviews or experienced software engineers giving up during outages. I would say both also require mental fortitude.

I mean, I’ve quit an interview process several times - usually because they were dragging it out, or because the interview process hinted to me I’d not enjoy working there.

Interviews are bidirectional information exchanges - the company is also pitching itself to the candidate during the process.

Re: Running Speeds

#80

Post by snowwrestler »

chewz wrote: post #42
onetimeuse92304 wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, the mental fortitude is much overblown aspect. Yes, there is this thing as mental fortitude and you can even train it to persist to run hard, especially when you "kick" at the end of a race. But this only helps to a very small degree, the most of the result is due to more mundane aspects like your experience with running, your running efficiency, your aerobic capacity, your additional fat you are carrying with y…

Running isn’t an activity where you need much mental fortitude. But in sailing in 10 Beaufort or climbing in extreme weather it is all about mental fortitude not physical strength or training. Some people just quit, give up and others stand at the steering wheel for 6 hours despite soaked clothes and blowing gale.

In extreme weather, the weather is what is testing your mental fortitude. In many such situations you can’t “just quit” once you have entered the conditions, other than essentially committing suicide by ceasing to protect yourself. You can’t turn off the weather and go home just because you’re unhappy.

In running, it is your own body that is testing your mental fortitude. To be more specific, it is the extreme physical discomfort one experiences while training and competing. And unlike life-or-death extreme weather, you really can quit at any point. It is a totally optional activity at all times. So yes, it requires quite a lot of mental fortitude to keep doing something so physically unpleasant, every day, in pursuit of a personal goal.

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