What are the best ways to train for the best run time?

   A lot of people's reaction to intervals is to automatically say 60:120's and while that may work for some I have an alternative solution, mid-distance intervals. This is a nice approach because it also lets you run with others regardless of whether you are the same speed or not and all you need is an open stretch of road and a way of marking distances of 800, 1000, 1200, 1400, 1600 meters and so on. Ideally I would mark the halfway point as a turnaround for each so you can return to the start point as a group.     The goal is to run this distance in roughly 4.5 - 5 minutes which means depending on your two mile pace you will be going anywhere from half a mile to a mile and as your distance depends on your speed at the time you will all return at roughly the same time. Once the last person returns start a five minute timer in order to rest and then do the same thing over again. Three intervals is more than enough but once you get comfortable you can do as many as your body will take. It should be a goal to finish each interval in the exact same amount of time, something to think about when you start adding on more than three. 

   Additionally if you have the resources to acquire a heart rate monitor your goal should be to keep your heart rate level for the entire distance which really just means you need to maintain a steady pace throughout the run. Do yourself a favor and crunch the numbers a bit to figure out how far you run at your current 2 mile pace in five minutes and ensure you adjust that distance to a realistic goal, think small steps as you can always up the distance if you are consistently coming in under five minutes. Ensure you are running faster during these intervals than you are during your 2 mile or the exercise is pointless. Understand that the first time out is really just going to give you a gauge of where you are and where you need to be but once you adjust the distance to your own speed it is a smoker. Good luck, and don't give up.

Once you train yourself up, it is vital that you keep on progressing. Bodies that are trained make less drastic changes than those who are not. Example, an initial entry Soldier may be in pretty poor physical condition when they enter. After a few weeks of training, their scores sky rocket. However, it drastically drops when they take leave before getting to their unit. Now someone who has done sports or physical activity for a long time will not get that sky rocketing improvement, but if for some reason they miss a little PRT time, their score will not plummet. This is due to the size and definition of their mitochondria. The mitochondria is the "power plant" of our cells. The more trained we are, the better defined and larger they are. Once at a well trained state, it is hard for them to increase or decrease rapidly. When I finished up Ranger School, I noticed some loss in my physical fitness. However, I was able to gain it back relatively quickly due to my prior physical activity levels before Ranger School.