Running Even Faster

Most of the time, I receive emails from people who are seeking to pass their PFT and just as many who wish to max out their PFT scores for their age group.  There are many articles in the archive about the PFT for all services and events so check those out.

Every now and then, I get emails from people who are training to run even faster than they already are.  These are the runner who are trying to break 5:00- 6:00 mile pace and are usually Marines who want to run faster than 18:00 on the three mile run or Army Rangers or SF guys who want to hit 11-12:00 in the 2 mile run. 

I have been working on some training regimens for speed building and have discussed many different ways to accomplish this goal with collegiate and Olympic runners in the 800m, 1500m, and 5km events.   It seems from my trial and error and recent research that the way to tackle this speedy goal is twofold:

Here are some intense intervals to help you with your training for crushing the PFT run or 5k and 10 k contests:

Workout #1:

Run 1 mile easy / stretch

Repeat 8-10 times

Run ¼ mile at 10-20 seconds under current mile pace.

Jog slow or walk 1:00

• Say you are running a 9:00 1.5 mile run = 6:00 mile pace = 90 seconds ¼ mile run. 
• Try to hit these ¼ mile intervals at 70-80 seconds. 
• Benefits – increase foot speed, and build VO2 Max.  

Run for 30:00 total BUT
Run 1:00 sprint / followed by 1:00 slow jog for 30:00