Which 10k Schedule?

Fast_Mover

Righteo..posting in hope that someone out there may be able to help me.

Im 20yrs old. Used to be mad into athletics since I was about 5-18. I was a sprinter/hurdler and the longest I would have ran competively was 400m so was never the middle/long-distance type.
Ceased my athletics career 2years ago thus became inactive which has caused me to lose my speed and fitness!!
Began back running in late September. There's a certain dirt trail that I do that's near me. I don't know how long it is(no way of measuring it) and I never time myself as I only have a normal watch and keep forgetting to take the time..I just listen to my music and off I go basically. It's not all flat..has loads of hills of various elevations/lenghts.

I know that im running the course with more ease now than I did back in late Septemebr but I don't know how fast time wise and it's very frustrating.

I know I can jog/walk 4miles in about 40minutes..did that on the roads(measured by clock on car) one night. Now, havn't a clue if that's good, bad or indifferent.:o

Im the type of person who needs a schedule..Something visual that I can read that will tell me what Im suppose to do and when to do it..then i'lll happily go do it and im physced up. I want to see improvements in my time/fitness. As new years is around the corner im going to start now as im sure i have slight kind of a base fitness..though whatever fitness I do have it could be gone come the end of January as im off teaching in Africa for three weeks. (Shur I might get in with a training group with Haile Gebrselassie im so good;):D)

So it's good to have an aim right..well here mine atm (subject to change!!:p:D)

-5k run on March 18th
-4mile run on April 29th

Iv been googling various 10k schedules and the following are what I have come up with:
Hal Higdon's-
Jeff Galloway-
runners world-
helensburgh aac

As ye're all runners of various disciplines in here im hoping any of ye might have some knowledge/ideas on which one is the best one for me to follow (if any of them at all!:o)

All suggestions welcome folks.

Thanks for reading.

--amadeus--

First up I would def reccomend getting a sports watch - even a cheapie digital will have a stopwatch function. Or check your phone, iPod - my iPod has a stopwatch with lap function and my last phone also did (haven't checked this one).

You can also measure the route using this , even if you run off-road.

Pretty much any of teh schedules you have mentioned would be fine but I would base it off how competitive you used to be. If you ran to a good standard in the past then I would imagine that you would be able to tackle a slightly more ambitious schedule (ie one that includes less walking / more mileage). As an experienced athlete you should also know that you should listen to your body above a schedule - if the schedule says hill session and your legs say rest then rest it is! I'm the same as you though - without a piece of paper I won't go out teh door.

As for your times 40 mins for 4 miles would be an hour or so for a 10k. To be competitive in a local 10k you would need to be running in the low 30s but the vast bulk of runners finish in the 45 - 60min range so I would say you are well on track considering that you haven't done a structured training plan.

Congrats on teh Africa trip btw! Which part? Training out there may be highly benifical. You will build a great deal of heat acclimatisation which will stand to you in summer races. Be aware of altitude - avove a certain altitude speed falls because of reduced oxegyn levels. However go above something like 2000m (or 2500, I can't rem!) and your body adapts by producing more red blood cells to carry oxegyn, which is very useful when you race at sea level again! Don't joke about training groups - if I were going out I would join a local club if one were available.

One word of warning - some danish scientists went out and took a random sample of kenyan boys (15 - 16) back and put them into an intensive athletics training program (the boys had never trained before). At teh end of x weeks the best two kenyans raced 10k against the two best danish runners of teh day...and won comfortably! So you may not be the fastest runner in the area...

Racing Flat

ditto to amadeus's comment. Get a watch. Another site to measure how long your route is www.mapmyrun.com

2 great sites to determine potential are www.mcmillanrunning.com and www.runningforfitness.org
Both have running calculators - you can put in your best time (? your best time over one of the shorther distances you did when you were running previously to determine your potential) and they will predict what times you should do for a range of other distances. Both will also tell you the pace you should be training at for a variety of distances/sessions.
In general, most training plans have 3 basic sessions a week - a long run, and 2 speed sessions - maybe one interval session and a tempo session. All other runs are just easy runs. If you follow this, it probably doesn't matter too much whhich type of speed session you do, unless you are targetting one particular distance.
Good luck

hawkwing

Timex do decent watches for a good price,you can track your time for every km of a 10k run etc and try and improve your times then. Best to use a spreadsheet in excel and record all runs you do as it gives you a goal every month and you know if you are improving also i find.

digitalage

I would recommend the gps Garmin forerunner 305, great piece of kit I only started running last month, I'm training for a marathon in Hamburg 27th of april and since then my short run times are gettin better as I can track them with the watch I can do 3miles in 18min 35sec, done 6 miles in 41m 10sec...want to get sub 40 by for 6miles before marathon, should'nt be a problem as my fitness is getting alot better. I'm currently following halhigdons marathon training programs and find it great. Anyway good luck with your running.

Fast_Mover

Wow..thanks for all the replies guys:)

Yes, a watch, I want to buy, but there's so many out there my face is like this:eek: Would love a watch that I can time myself, measure what distances im running, take splits etc.

I used that route measurer thing but my route isn't located on it im afraid.

I did run to the highest standards back in teh day however after two years of a rather inactive lifestyle/good college social life god know's how long it would take me to get back there. One of my regrets in life I will admit:(

So I used mcmillanrunning.com to determine my 'potential' for the 10k..31minutes:D Oh good lord perhaps in another lifetime perhaps!!

Im just doing this to get back into the running swing of things..get my fitness/speed levels back(obviously not to a level they once were but to 70% of it atleast..im currently at 10% I'd say:D) and be healthy and happy again.
I don't want to be up there with the front runners of a race..I am realistic..I just want to finish it tbh:D..well to the best of my ability!

Going to The Gambia on the west coast of Africa. Ah i'll hardly be joining a running group, they'd have disappeared on me after 200m. Besides I'll be spending most of my days teaching kiddies so I won't have a chance to go off for even my own runs..hense I said that when I come back whatever level of fitness I did have will be gone.
Amazing how african runners are so good..perhaps I should move out there permanently, anyone up for it?;)

NoQuarter

ah fast mover the dodgey army potential!
10 k in 31 mins, i hope your username is true to form so!

use google earth to measure you routes, tis da biz!

africa is amazing BTW, check out cape town if you get a chance!

Fast_Mover

king-stew wrote: »

ah fast mover the dodgey army potential! !

SHhhhhhh about that..you'll blow my cover and i'll never get in*(1)!!:D
Aiming for a 10min 1.5mile requirement..gotsa beat the boys you know:cool:

king-stew wrote: »

10 k in 31 mins, i hope your username is true to form so!!

That's my 'potential'. Get back to me in a year or two..or even three and perhaps!!:D
Yes, as ye can tell my user name was created back in teh day I was fast..should change it to 'not_so_fast_mover' or plain 'slow_mover'!:D

king-stew wrote: »

use google earth to measure you routes, tis da biz!!

Ok it's all covered over with trees and such so I cant make it out..

king-stew wrote: »

africa is amazing BTW, check out cape town if you get a chance!

Won't be getting to cape town..way to far away from me. However I am hoping to get down to Victoria falls in Livingston Zambia, but chances are slim:(..More promising than that 31min 10k tho I suppose;)

So have you anything else worth while to add to my thread in terms of running/schedules? I need instruction/direction asap!!!!:)

(1)*I really don't want to join*(2)!!
(2)*Might get dirty/break a nail:eek::rolleyes:

eclectichoney

If you're looking for a basic watch, I got a nice comfy timex ironman ladies watch on ebay for around €20-25 a few weeks back. 50 lap memory. no fancy gps thing but it does the job if you just want to time your runs! Thank god for the weak dollar

thirtyfoot

Fast_Mover wrote: »

Im 20yrs old. Used to be mad into athletics since I was about 5-18. I was a sprinter/hurdler and the longest I would have ran competively was 400m so was never the middle/long-distance type.
Ceased my athletics career 2years ago thus became inactive which has caused me to lose my speed and fitness!!
.

I would suggest that since you had some success at juvenile level at the shorter stuff, why don't you get back into that? You don't lose whatever you had in two years of enjoying the life in college. Most athletes go through college and enjoy the fruits of boozing and partying and particularly at your age you can easily get back to where you were. Can I ask are you male or female and what kind of times you ran, you probably competed against several young sprinters/hurdlers I'd know.

This is of course unless you don't want to get back into it but as far as 10k/marathon goes, you have the whole of 35+ to get into that, but the shorter track stuff has a much shorter shelf life and once you hit the 30's you are no longer competitive at it. The standards and depth at hurdles in the country at senior/U23 is poor at the moment so there would be defintely be openings for some success for someone with talent (of course the transition from juvenile to senior isn't always smooth).

lindab

Tingle is spot on.It wouldn't take you long to be bringing back those pb's.
6months of base work and all round fitness and will probably take you best part of two years to get back to your best but it will be well worth it.

Fast_Mover

Well why I was thinking of doing the 10k schedule in the first place is not to be competitive in it in any way but just to get a basic level of fitness back and then in turn my natural speed back.

When I did athletics I know I never reached my full potential..as in I never trained as much/as hard as I should have. Did two nights a weeks for an hour each night. Then competition at weekends. I did have natural talent. Pity I just never capitalised on it. Feel it's to late now. Especially as all the other people who I would have ran against have two years training/advantage over me.

Did 60mH..was my favourite event. Had good speed over a short distance which was helped with my great reactions out of the blocks.
100mH..Always good for the first half of the race, but then towards the end I wasn't as strong.
400mH..Hated it!! Well thats more of a psycological thing considering I only ever ran one race. Even though apparently that would be my event if I wanted to 'make it'. Did run 250-300mH all the way underage and was very successful at it. Never moved up the extra 100m/junior level etc. I had no coach behind me to push/encourage me to do it.
I did run the 400 flat as part of a relay several times (1st leg) and always enjoyed it. Though to be fair every body enjoys relays as its a team effort.

Aug of 2006, a year after I gave up athletics a highly respectable coach approached me and offered to train me. He's known me from the competitive running scene from when I was about 12 and had noticed that I wasn't running anymore. He said my build leads me to be a 400m-800m runner and that's what he would train me to be. I never took him up on his offer..don't know why..perhaps to scared? Regret it to this day.

Racing Flat

Aug 2006 is only a year ago! Go back to that coach and tell him that you are ready to start training now and I'm sure he'll send you on the right track.

thirtyfoot

Fast_Mover wrote: »

Well why I was thinking of doing the 10k schedule in the first place is not to be competitive in it in any way but just to get a basic level of fitness back and then in turn my natural speed back.

.

10k training won't get your natural speed back.

You said it yourself its probably fear thats stopping you getting back racing. The world is full of kids with unfullfilled potential, its the ones with the balls and determination to make it who usually end up doing it. Its very easy to say I had loads of potential but couldn't be arsed, those kind of people deserve no sporting respect.

A one year break at your age will have done no damage to your future potential, if you really fancy yourself as an athlete (and you seem too, which isn't a bad thing as confidence is a good trait in track) you should get back racing at your proper distance and event. You are only 20 for God's sake and you are acting like you are a washed up drunk in his late 30's.

Give it a go, nothing to lose or will be regretting it in your 30's.

I see you mention something about the army. They have an athletic group, went to the World Army Champs in India just a couple of months back, a pretty handy 400m hurdler in their group too, a 51 sec man.

Fast_Mover

No, no, have no intention what so ever of going into the army at all!! Happy with my life as a teacher so far!:)

Ya it's fear holding me back. But surely 2 years of a sedentary lifestyle has come at a price..not weight wise(im 9st 7lbs and 5'6'') but as in fitness/speed.
I just want my fitness back!! I know it's not going come back over night unless I do something about it, hense I want a programme to follow.
But where do I begin if its not with a 10k schedule on getting my fitness/speed back? I mean is it even possible to get my speed back as its at 0% at the moment!

I'm not joining a running club. Don't want to see all the people who I would have trained with succeeding/having the balls to continue what im afraid to do I suppose.

I know I used my college course as an excuse as I did have alot of alot of work/long hours, in till 6 most nights, hungry and so hard to get out to the running track as it's all the way across the other side of town and with traffic but then you see Joanne Cuddihy doing very well and she's doing medicine, one of the toughest/demanding courses out there nearly.