I’ve Been Running for 7 Years - Here’s What Actually Made Me Faster!

Overview

This video is a personal, coaching-style guide to how the narrator became faster over 7 years of running. They share seven lessons they wish they knew at the start, explaining their progress from running a 22-minute 5K down to a recent 14:31.

The message isn’t meant to brag—it’s about describing the “pathway” and the approach that helped them build performance through motivation, training structure, load/recovery management, and flexibility when progress stalls.

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Lesson 1: Goals and the goal-gradient effect

• Clear goals significantly increase the likelihood of achieving them.
• The narrator references sports psychologist Chris Bodman and the goal-gradient effect, where people who have goals are more likely to reach stronger versions of themselves.
• Personal examples:
  • Working toward a sub-30 10K
  • Previously setting barriers like breaking 20 minutes for a 5K
• Marathon performance context:
  • They reference marathon data (e.g., the London Marathon) suggesting performance often “peaks” around common target times.
• A “scary goal” example:
  • Running a sub-2:18 marathon at the Valencia Marathon in December (they mention they’re currently around 2:23).

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Lesson 2: Build a plan—and know when to hire a coach

• Build training backwards from your goal race.
• Consider:
  1. How long until the goal race (e.g., 16 weeks)
  2. Whether you can self-coach or should hire coaching
• Their coaching timeline:
  • Self-coached for the first ~5 years, learning through experimentation and tracking how their body responded.
  • After hitting a plateau, they brought in a coach.
• Criteria for choosing a coach:
  • Coaching philosophy matches your needs
  • Experience (ideally someone at or above your current ability)
  • Communication and relationship quality, including honesty and whether remote coaching works for you

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Lesson 3: Understand training load (not just mileage)

• Training load is the total physiological strain from volume + intensity, not just how far you run.
• Weekly training can be thought of as:
  • “Big bites”: intervals, tempo runs, hard long runs
  • “Small bites”: easy runs between key workouts
• Kaizen is introduced with a donut analogy:
  • The whole donut = weekly training load
  • Hard sessions = large bites
  • Easy runs = smaller nibbles
• Kaizen is described as analyzing past training and generating weekly training-load targets, with new systems to help structure the week.
• Promo mentioned: use code Ben Felton for a 2-week free trial.

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Lesson 4: Select races wisely

• Choosing a race involves:
  • Course profile (e.g., flatness)
  • Weather trends based on past years
  • Competition strength and whether you can run with a pack, which may make pacing easier
• Avoid racing too frequently:
  • Racing every weekend contributed to burnout/overtraining
  • Back-to-back races slowed progress because recovery took too long
• Suggested strategy:
  • One main (“A”) goal race
  • Possibly 1–2 secondary (“B”) races for variety
  • But avoid over-racing overall

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Lesson 5: Periodization (build a training pyramid)

• Periodization means planning a training block toward a key race in phases.
• Example: 16 weeks out from a marathon:
  • First ~4 weeks: base building
    • High volume, mostly easy running; less emphasis on specifics
  • Next ~4 weeks: build phase
    • Tempo runs and threshold/general intensity work; some focus in long runs
  • Final ~4 weeks: specificity
    • More race-pace practice, less volume, intensity rises
• General timing guidance:
  • If the race is ~2 months away: focus more on general aerobic work
  • If the race is only a few weeks away: reduce volume and emphasize specifics

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Lesson 6: You get faster from adaptation, not from the workout itself

• Core idea: fitness comes from the body’s adaptation during recovery, not from the workout in isolation.
• Hard intervals don’t automatically make you fitter the next day—you need time to absorb the stimulus.
• A mistake they describe:
  • Scheduling sessions too close together without enough recovery, which eventually worsened progress.
• If you feel heavy/tired before an interval:
  • It’s okay to tell your coach and adjust (move the session) rather than forcing it.
• Training should be adaptable:
  • Listen to your body rather than follow rules rigidly.

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Lesson 7: Deal with setbacks

• Progress isn’t linear, and setbacks are normal—even for elite runners.
• Their approach:
  • Allow yourself time to feel disappointed after a bad race
  • Reflect on what went wrong and what to adjust for the next cycle
  • Treat the setback as motivation to return to training—not as failure
• They close by summarizing all lessons as derived from “7 years of running.”

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Presenters / Sources (as mentioned)

• Chris Bodman (sports psychologist)
• Kaizen (app partner; featured via a donut “training load” analogy)
• Ben Felton (code mentioned: “use code Ben Felton” for a 2-week free trial)