I ran the first road race of the year.  It was a 5K and I didn’t do any preparation in advance of the race.  I just woke up on Saturday and ran.  The crazy thing is, I ran 3 full minutes faster than I ever have before.  3 minutes, that’s nearly a minute faster for each mile.

I think it was due to all the squats.  Squats improve running speed.  I’ve heard that before but I now know it to be true.   We don’t use weights in class, they are just squats done using the body weight.   Tonight in class we did 8 sets.  Each set was 10 squats and then 30 seconds of holding the squat.  It was phenomenally hard.   But they pay off in improved speed so they are worth the pain.

My next race is another 5K about two months from now.  It’s a bit more hilly, so it will be interesting to see if I can keep the same improved time up.   I’d like to get faster before I start training for the half-marathon.   I have a lot of miles to run, and I’d like them to not take up all of my free time!

Please leave a comment and tell me what you’ve done to improve your running speed.