A tip from my father-in-law

My father-in-law who is an avid runner and a marathoner with really good times has given me some of his secrets to increasing distance. The way I have been doing it up until this point is I start off at a nice pace which for me is about ten minute miles, oh and by the way I do most of my running on my treadmill. So I start off at ten minute miles and every minute I would increase the speed by one. I would do this for ten minutes and then reduce the speed by one every minute. This would get me to about 18:30 minutes for two miles. When I got good at this I would start at 6.5 on the treadmill go up and down. This is a good way for me to increase my speed for a few miles but doesn't really help me with distance.
My problem is I get bored running at the same pace for long periods of time. So I asked my father-in-law for some advice and this is what he gave me. He said start off with a nice easy pace, so today I did my ten minute mile without increasing the speed. Then after about ten minutes go balls to the wall as fast as you can for as long as you can so I took the treadmill up as fast as it would go which is six minute miles and I was able to keep up for a minute and a half. He then said take it down to a very slow jog which I did for another minute and a half then back to your pace, so I took it back to my ten minute mile. I did this until I finished out the mile. Then repeat. I was able to run 4 miles in 40 minutes today. That doesn't seem like much but three weeks ago I was having trouble running two miles. I could have gone longer today but I am training for the Escape from Alcatraz triathlon so I went for a bike ride after my 4 mile run. He also said the first time you do this, only goo all out twice maybe three times, then increase it every run. Before you know it you will be able to run long distances because you have been stretching out your lungs with those sprints. Good luck!