Hi, this is Debbie Boyles, coach at Mojo for Running. And today, we're going to talk about things you could do to run faster, to increase your running speed. You know, everybody at one time or another is going to struggle with being on a plateau. It might be a beginning runner who saw improvement for several weeks and then feels like they're not

getting any better. It could be a runner who's in the middle of the pack, who's been gradually

improving for years, but is pretty much staying the same for a while. It's going to happen

everybody at one time or another. And of course, one thing you can do is incorporate

more speed work. And I'm going to do another whole podcast about that. But today what I thought

I'd talk about is some of the different types of things that people can do that virtually

anybody can do that very often they just might not have thought of. Things that from a coaches standpoint that when I stand back and look at their training regimen right off,

it's like a red flag that, hey, here's a place where this person could change their training

and make a difference very quickly, very easily, just by adding something or changing something

around about their training.

So that's the main thing that I want to talk about today.

So we'll start with the number one thing that I think is a problem for people that

causes them to stop improving.

Number one, rest more.

Sometimes we get so caught up in training and striving for that lower PR

that we forget that one of the most critical facets of training is, in fact, rest.

Your body doesn't get stronger, more capable of faster times during actual running

or training, or cross-training for that matter, but rather during recovery. For two weeks, do this.

Try taking a complete rest day on one of the days that would normally be an easy training day

and make an easy day out of one of your hard days and be careful not to make your other training

days more intense to compensate that'll negate the whole thing.

This will give your body a bit of extra recovery. Then return to your usual training regimen. That is, assuming that you're using a realistic, well-designed training schedule,

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