running.. should i try to increase speed or distance first?

[SunsetRunner]

Hi All

I'm currently what I would call an average 5k runner. I run approx. 2 times a week in the mornings taking an average of 30-35 mins each time with little variation in speed or heart rate from run to run.

I would like to do more ie faster and longer lol but not sure if I should increase my overall speed/pace first or if I should try to increase distance first - thoughts?

ive been running for about a year now initially once a week to build it up from 0 - 5km and now happy with twice a week as a routine alongside strength training, Insanity and PiYo.

thanks in advance for any guidance.

Jenn

[JohnnyRow · Accepted solution]

Here's my take:

Since you are running twice a week, you can do both.

On one, very gradually increase your distance, even if means slowing down.

On the other, improve your speed.  You might try a combination of faster for a bit, then slow down or even walk a bit to recover;  no need to be formal about how far faster run and walk part are, vary them as you feel;  the faster part doesn't need to be sprinting or anything, just a bit faster to get your body used to it.

[SunsetRunner]

Thank you for your reply- I didn't think of that! Much appreciated! 

[LZeeW]

@SunsetRunner   I don't consider you a beginning runner (not in the least), but from my days as a competitive distance runner, we were trained to work on distance first, then speed.  I see current recommendations of increasing distance by no more than 10% of current distance.  You should not need to change your pace to do this.  As for increasing speed, we did specific speed training.  You might want to search speed training for runners.

Since you only run twice a week, I'm not sure I would recommend speed training each week.

[SunsetRunner]

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@LZeeW wrote:

@SunsetRunner   I don't consider you a beginning runner (not in the least), but from my days as a competitive distance runner, we were trained to work on distance first, then speed.  I see current recommendations of increasing distance by no more than 10% of current distance.  You should not need to change your pace to do this.  As for increasing speed, we did specific speed training.  You might want to search speed training for runners.

Since you only run twice a week, I'm not sure I would recommend speed training each week.

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thank you for your comments and advice. ill give it a go and see if I can add on a little distance. As I do other exercise and strength training I am likely not to worry about speed for a while!