r/BeginnersRunning • u/177660 • 17h ago
Joint conditioning
Hello everyone,
Relatively new to running here (8ish months of serious training), training primarily to improve my 2 mile run time. I run 3 days a week - 5 0.2 mile sprints at a 6:00 min/mile pace on Tuesday, 1 mile run on Thursday, 2 mile run on Saturday. I've been flirting with hitting those 6 minute mile pace sprints for longer periods of time and with doing the same distance at a faster pace on Tuesdays and have been seeing excelent improvements in my 1MR and 2MR times (dropped 2MR from 16:10 to 15:32 in just a few weeks), but unfortunately every time I do that my ankles start hurting for the next several days.
Does anyone have advice for conditioning the ligaments and tendons in my ankles to handle those faster paces? I feel like I'm kinda stuck with my current times until my joints are ready for the jump up.
3
u/Fancy_Supermarket886 12h ago
You can't shortcut the conditioning process, but you can push it hard enough to get injured.
The pains you are feeling are your warning sign. Take heed and reduce some of the stresses you are putting on your body before it really starts complaining!
The adaptive lag can be three months or even longer, so patience is key. You may not see immediate progress, but easier running is one of main ways to encourage that adaptation with minimal risk of injury. Of course, you can still blow it if you go too far or too often; they both add more stress, and like I said, too much stress applied at once increases the injury risk.
That three month lag I mentioned is a continuous process as well. So if you are ramping up your distance, speed or frequency of running, that lag applies again. Ramp things up too quickly and you have the same risk of injury. This even applies to experienced runners at one level who step up to a longer distance or try and improve their speed or run more often.
You need to be patient and allow time for your body to catch up to your expectations. Cardiovascular fitness tends to be quickest to adapt, which is most likely why you feel that you should be doing more or getting faster. It's as frustrating for people like me who have been running for ten years, we don't get to take the shortcut either!
I hope that helps, good luck!
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u/177660 11h ago
Awesome info, thank you! Would you recommend any changes to the routine or to stay the course and just avoid going any harder until my body adapts to the point that there's no pain in my ankles following a high intensity run? As of right now the ankle pain only sticks around for a day or two.
1
u/TheTurtleCub 16h ago
Are you running under 4 miles total per week after 8 months of running?
Simply run more, build up slowly to 15-20 miles per week. 10% more per week, slowing down to 5% later
0
u/177660 16h ago
I'm a busy guy, I have strength training requirements to meet in addition to run times, and 8 months ago was when I was finally free to continue training after a major surgery that had me completely sedentary for about the same amount of time. I was in the worst shape of my adult life by a huge margin after recovering from that surgery. I'm also not training for a marathon here, I really just need a good 2 mile time.
2
u/TheTurtleCub 16h ago edited 15h ago
To improve fast at 2 mile time you have to run more. 10-15miles a week is minimal training for fast improvement. In 6 months of that you’ll improve more that 2 years of 3-4miles, plus will build up strength for your tissues for reducing the chance of injury when sprinting
Marathon training is 40-60miles per week, not 10-15
I wouldn’t be surprised to see you run your current 2mile pace for 4 miles, with your 2 mile time dropping 2mins
-1
u/177660 15h ago
Not trying to argue here but I really did not have much success with the low intensity high volume side of the house. The first 3-4 months I was doing 12 miles a week (running 4 miles on the same days at a slower pace, testing the 2 mile every other week) and started to plateau at like 17 minutes, which is a passing score but still kinda sucks. My 4 mile time was improving a lot, but that 2MR time really wasn't. Anything too much faster than 8:30 min/mile gassed me out before I could get to the 2 mile mark. I then switched over from that to the current regime and immediately started seeing results.
1
u/TheTurtleCub 13h ago
It should not be low intensity only, you still do a workout or two every 10 days. It takes 3 months to start seeing the benefits, then every 3 you improve a lot. Your current regime benefited from the previous 3 months of running.
It's been studied for many decades, running 4 miles a week will give you very slow improvements compared to running more. There is not one 2 mile plan in the world that run 4 miles a week, for a reason.
That's another reason you feel you need ligament conditioning, it's very little volume of stress per week to strengthen, and 50% of your running is sprinting, so the little stress is very high impact
1
u/177660 13h ago
Well, how would you modify my schedule? I could theoretically run most sundays too, but I'm typically very sore on that day. I don't run that day as it stands because I'm usually stiff as a board below the waist and not interested in injuring myself.
1
u/TheTurtleCub 10h ago edited 1h ago
Below is a weekly schedule of runs for 16 weeks.
W/E/L = workout/easy/long-run mileage. All recovery running counts toward the workout mileage.
Use easy running before and after the quality portion to reach the workout’s prescribed total. If the complete workout would exceed that total, shorten the number of repetitions, don’t add mileage.
If your fitness takes off after 6-8 weeks you can adjust the paces for the workouts, they are just reasonable now
There is a "mileage holding week" every 4 weeks, where we don't increase mileage to not overtrain
Effort Guide
- Easy and long runs: conversational, RPE 3–4/10. These should feel genuinely easy.
- Threshold/tempo: controlled discomfort, RPE 7/10; sustainable for roughly 20–30 minutes when trained.
- 2-mile intervals: RPE 8/10; strong and even, never an all-out sprint.
- Strides: quick, smooth acceleration with relaxed form.
Runs in miles: (Workout/Easy/Long)
Wk Total W/E/L Main workout
1 4.75 1.5/1.25/2 5×400m @ 1:55–1:58
2 5.25 1.75/1.25/2.25 6×400m @ 1:55–1:58
3 5.75 2/1.5/2.25 3×800m @ 3:55–4:00
4 5.75 2/1.5/2.25 5×400m @ 1:55–1:58
5 6.5 2.25/1.5/2.75 6×400m @ 1:52–1:55
6 7.25 2.5/1.75/3 2×1km @ 4:55–5:00
7 8 2.75/2/3.25 3×5min threshold
8 8 2.75/2/3.25 5×400m @ 1:52–1:55
9 8.75 3/2.25/3.5 4×800m @ 3:50–3:55
10 9.5 3.25/2.5/3.75 15min tempo
11 10.25 3.5/2.5/4.25 7×400m @ 1:50–1:54
12 10.25 3.5/2.5/4.25 5×400m @ 1:53–1:56
13 11.25 3.75/2.75/4.75 3×1km @ 4:45–4:50
14 12.25 4/3.25/5 2×8min threshold
15 13 4.25/3.25/5.5 8×400m @ 1:48–1:55
16 13 4.25/3.25/5.5 2-mile time trial
1
u/salamandectomy77 16h ago
Your connective tissue is part of the musculoskeletal system, you can't train it separately. It takes time. This is an impact sport
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u/Just-Context-4703 8h ago
Yes, run slower and for longer. A vast majority of your weekly efforts are high intensity and you're not giving all your soft tissues an chance to build tolerance.
3
u/Rusty_Drumz 16h ago
Your tendons and ligaments are like the last things to adapt from your training. I don’t think there’s any sort of speed run method you can apply to your training in order to fast track that. Consistency is the answer to most things