Accensi0n - Couch potato to 10K in less than 60 minutes

accensi0n

Rightio, stats and background I suppose.

Age: 23
Weight: 60kgs
Height: 5' 7/8"

Started running at the end of December. Couldn't do a 3K run without stopping 6 or so times.

Longest run I've done so far is 5K in 31 minutes.

My last run was on Sunday 1st Feb which was a 3K run in 16 minutes.

I'm using mapmyrun.com so my times for what I'm running may be off.

Plan on doing the Great Ireland Run on April 5th. Want to do it in less than 60 minutes.

I'll most likely be running Tuesdays and Thursdays and sometimes on the weekend.

showry

best of luck with it,
having a goal is a huge motivator, as is putting your log on here - miss a day and you're off the front page,
there's plenty of encouragement and good advice here though,

accensi0n

showry wrote: »

best of luck with it,
having a goal is a huge motivator, as is putting your log on here - miss a day and you're off the front page,
there's plenty of encouragement and good advice here though,

Cheers.

From my own past experiences the most important thing to me now is consistency.

Keeping on the front page is obviously the most most important thing though.

rainbow kirby

Good luck

Seems to be quite a few boardsies doing the Great Ireland Run on April 5, hope everyone meets their goals!

Incidentally, my goal is the same as yours, to break 60 minutes for 10k.

accensi0n

rainbow kirby wrote: »

Good luck

Seems to be quite a few boardsies doing the Great Ireland Run on April 5, hope everyone meets their goals!

Incidentally, my goal is the same as yours, to break 60 minutes for 10k.

Cheers, good luck to you too.

SUNGOD

hi asccension as you said yourself the key really is consistency.
thats the beauty of running , if you keep at it you will improve .
best of luck with your log and training

accensi0n

Figured I'd go for a run in the snow this morning.

Step outside, start running...*slidey slidey slidey*

Footpaths of ice, deathtrap.

Walked back inside.

Sucks.

Euro_Kraut

Best of luck Accensi0n!

I am training for the same 10k myself after letting my fitness (and weight) deteriorate badly over the last 2 years. Will be interested to see how you get on and will follow your progress.

Go n-éirí an bóthar leat!

shels4ever

Have to agree with Sungod consistency consistency consistency and you will get that target

best of luck

accensi0n

Cheers guys.

Today

5K - Ran 3K, walked 500m, ran 1.5K


Having to walk for a while sucked but I havn't ran in a week because of leg pain and ice.

accensi0n

Today

4K

Had to walk a couple of times because my legs were killing me. Right leg felt like it was going buckle.

This stopping to walk malarky is annoying me.

accensi0n

Today

5K

Had to stop and walk a bit about 5 times...

Legs are still at me.

Left calf is tight and so are a various places in my right leg: shin area, upper front of thigh, back of knee.

I should add: I started squating and deadlifting in the gym twice a week since the end of January. Probably making the running tougher on my legs.

Really want to push past a 5K constant run.

accensi0n

Today

5K

Constant run. Very slowly.

Legs felt better today but right leg was still a bit tight/sore around the shin/calf area.

I was stopping in a certain place over the last few runs which made it a kind of mental barrier. As soon as I got past there I felt really good.

Ran the last 200m harder. When I got back I wasn't that wrecked, felt I could have gone on a bit.

accensi0n

Today

6.2K

38 minutes

Basic math skills let me down when I got home and calculated that I did it in 28 minutes....lol...if only!

EDIT: At a guess, I'd say I would do 10K in about 65 minutes

SUNGOD

accensi0n wrote: »

Today

5K

Constant run. Very slowly.

.

you've hit the nail on the head

constant running.forget about the pace, speed will come naturally when your body just gets used to running.

keep it simple
if you plan on 4k just do 4k slowly, it doesnt matter how slow, just do it*

your doing great keep at it







*im not working for nike honest:D

Slogger Jogger

Good luck with your training accensi0n. The fact that you're started and continued a training log here is a good sign. Small steady improvements will get you there. I'd recommend you looking at a 10k beginners schedule (e.g. Hal Higdon) to guide you on your way. Try talk a friend into starting similar training too - as its great to have companionship in your training and it helps with the motivation.

accensi0n

Cheers guys.

Sungod: Yeah you're right. If I start slowly and just keep it going I struggle less. Also though, after about 5K of my 6.2K run today it got easy and opened up naturally without forcing it which was good. Sucks that it takes 5K for it to happen though!

Slogger Jogger: Had a look at those HH guides and wasn't really into them. Just going to keep doing what I'm doing. What I'm going to start doing though is adding onto my runs if I feel good at the end of them.
Like today, did 6.2K but felt I could have gone on a bit.

accensi0n

Today

6.2K

Opened up a little earlier than my last run which was good and felt really good throughout the run.

I'm off to Nice, France for a week tomorrow. Relaxy touristy holiday but I'll see if I can get some runs in down along the promenade.

Enjoy Ireland losers.

Edit: Just on a bit of a side note. I want to get stronger and heavier so I've been eating every 2-3 hours and lifting heavy weights in the gym. Even though I've been running 3 days a week, I've put on 2 kilos in the last 3 weeks. Just for anyone out there that's trying to put on weight as well as running, it's possible.

accensi0n

26/2

3K

On the promenade in Nice. Nothing since.

accensi0n

Yesterday

5K

First run after getting home from holidays.

Was good.

accensi0n

Today

5K

Not happy at all.

I timed a 5K 6 weeks ago and it took me 31 minutes. Today it took.....31 minutes!

I'm doing the St. Patricks Festival 5K next weekend and really feel I should be doing it in sub 28 if I'm to stand any chance of accomplishing my 10K goal.

accensi0n

Today

5K - 27mins 55secs

Pretty happy. Started off at a faster pace and kept it going.

accensi0n

Today

6K

Slowly. Was pretty hard, legs were tired from squating in the gym yesterday.

Airway/chest was starting to tighten which hasn't really happened for a while.

Next run will be the St. Patricks Festival 5K on Sunday.

Weights session in the gym tomorrow and then 48 hours of lovely lovely rest, then go nuts for the 5K.

Good luck to everyone else doing the 5K on Sunday.

I'm aiming for sub 27mins 30secs


EDIT: This will be my first race btw.

rainbow kirby

Good luck!

accensi0n

rainbow kirby wrote: »

Good luck!

Cheers. Looking forward to it.

accensi0n

Today

St. Patricks Festival 5K Road Race

24mins 22secs

woohoo!

Really happy and sursprised with my time.

Legs started hurting early enough because of the faster pace I started at but it's great how a bit of competition keeps you going.

Well done to everyone that took part.

EDIT: Some differance to what I could do a few months ago.

EDIT 2: Me, black T, centre right - http://www.flickr.com/photos/31670380@N07/3356327689/

Bally8

Well done Accensi0n, excellent time.

accensi0n

Bally8 wrote: »

Well done Accensi0n, excellent time.

Cheers.

accensi0n

Today is going to be a rest day, from running and the gym.

I havn't ran more than 6.2K yet so the plan for the next few weeks is to increase my distance. My time for the 5K was pretty good so my priority now is distance.

I aim to do 8 runs before the Great Ireland Run so was thinking something like the below:

6.7K - Slow
7.6K - Slow
8.5K - Slow
10K - Slow
6.2K - Fast
11K - Slow
6.2K - Fast
12K - Slow


Any thoughts? Cheers.

accensi0n

Today

Weights session in the gym.

Ran 2K to the park. Kicked a ball around for an hour or so. Walked home.

Weather was great.

accensi0n

Today

7.6K

Extremely slowly as my legs were pretty knackered. In fact, I went so slowly I managed to make 7.6K last ~59mins.

The longest run before this one was 6.2K which means I did an increase of 22.6%. Think I read somewhere not to increase by more than 10% but that seems pretty conservative.

One Cold Hand

accensi0n wrote: »

Today is going to be a rest day, from running and the gym.

I havn't ran more than 6.2K yet so the plan for the next few weeks is to increase my distance. My time for the 5K was pretty good so my priority now is distance.

I aim to do 8 runs before the Great Ireland Run so was thinking something like the below:

6.7K - Slow
7.6K - Slow
8.5K - Slow
10K - Slow
6.2K - Fast
11K - Slow
6.2K - Fast
12K - Slow


Any thoughts? Cheers.

Just read through the thread there. Good work!

If you're really aiming for a good time I wouldn't bother with the 11k or 12k runs. Depending on your fitness it could take you a while to recover from these. I would change these to 7/8/9k runs.

When is the Great Ireland Run btw?

accensi0n

Cheers.

The Great Ireland Run is on the 5th of April.

http://www.greatrun.org/Events/Event.aspx?id=7

MoonDancer

Wow, well done!, you are doing really well!
I've just started & it sucks having to walk every 2-3 mins! I know I'll get there eventually though!!

accensi0n

MoonDancer wrote: »

Wow, well done!, you are doing really well!
I've just started & it sucks having to walk every 2-3 mins! I know I'll get there eventually though!!

Cheers. Legs are knackered at the moment, want to do as much as possible but know that if I overdo it in the next couple of weeks it'll probably feck up my goal.

Yeah, when I started a few months ago I was doing walk/run/walk. Gets a bit frustrating after a while but then you start to realise you're making improvements. I had a 'click day' where I went out and did a constant 3K run when the last time I did it I had to stop about 4 times! That was the first time I got a great feeling from running.

Good luck to ya, keep plugging away and take it easy.

accensi0n

Today

8.5K

Very slowly.

Some pain on the inside of my right leg just above the knee area. I think it's from Wednesday when I was booting a rugby ball around.

MoonDancer

8.5K thats brilliant!!!
I'm still following your log, you're great inspiration!

accensi0n

MoonDancer wrote: »

8.5K thats brilliant!!!
I'm still following your log, you're great inspiration!

Cheers. Hopefully I can keep it going over the next couple of weeks and do the GIR in sub 60 minutes.

Well done to yourself as well.

accensi0n

Today

9.5K - 60 minutes

With just less than 2 weeks to the GIR this was a "see where I'm at" day. Picked a route that was almost 10K and ran harder than my last couple of runs. I'm happy with the result.

accensi0n

Today

11.2K - 1 hr 15 mins


Wet and windy.

accensi0n

Today

5K - 26mins 55secs

accensi0n

Gonna start logging my gym sessions as well.

sets x reps
bw = bodyweight

Today

Squats

bw - 1 x 10
40kgs - 1 x 5
60kgs - 1 x 5
72.5kgs - 1 x 4, 1 x 2
70kgs - 1 x 3
60kgs - 3 x 5


Deadlift

70kgs - 1 x 5
75kgs - 1 x 3


Pullups

bw - 1 x 6, 1 x 4, 1 x 3, 1 x 3

accensi0n

Today

9.5K

Took it very easy and walked bits of it.

Headed out at about 8am so plenty of traffic. I was timing it but bumped into a friend and had a chat and then there were all the stops I had to make at traffic lights so there was no point.

accensi0n

Today

Gym

Squats

bw - 1 x 10
40kgs - 1 x 5
60kgs - 1 x 5
72.5kgs - 1 x 5, 3 x 3
60kgs - 1 x 5


Deadlift

80kgs - 1 x 2, 1 x 3


Pullups

bw - 1 x 8, 1 x 4, 2 x 3

accensi0n

9.8K - 1:02:23

Very tough run. Breathing heavy and legs sore in the front upper thigh area. The positive was that I had the sense and mental strength to slow down and just keep going, something I wouldn't have done a couple of months ago.

Gym session tomorrow and no running until the GIR on Sunday.

SUNGOD

hi accension best of luck this sunday
with your very good 5k race time and the fact you have had a few runs around 10k (9.5 to 11.2 i think) you should be quitely confident that you have the speed and stamina to break 60 min .
best of luck sunday

accensi0n

SUNGOD wrote: »

hi accension best of luck this sunday
with your very good 5k race time and the fact you have had a few runs around 10k (9.5 to 11.2 i think) you should be quitely confident that you have the speed and stamina to break 60 min .
best of luck sunday

Cheers SUNGOD.

Pretty happy with my prep.

Expecting race day to give me that extra drive to reduce my time like in the st. patricks festival 5K.

accensi0n

Today

Lighter weights session than usual on account of me being scared of injuring myself and not being able to do the GIR.


Deadlift

25kgs - 1 x 6
45kgs - 1 x 5
55kgs - 1 x 5
65kgs - 1 x 5
70kgs - 1 x 5

Pullups

1 x 6, 1 x 5, 1 x 4, 1 x 5

accensi0n

Today

GIR - 10K - 1:00:15

Didn't do sub 60 like I wanted to.

This was probably the easiest run I've done and felt grand at the end of it....I wish I had a stop watch with me so that I would have known that I needed to pick the pace up slightly at about 8KM.

Not too bothered cos I know I would have done it in less than an hour if I had a goddamn stop watch!

rainbow kirby

*soothes*

Congrats anyway, you'll *definitely* get it next time.

accensi0n

Cheers. I'll probably go for a 10K run in the next couple of weeks and force myself to do sub 60.


Also, I'm going to be stopping using this log and starting one over in the fitness forum. So, to anyone that's reading this, cheers for reading and good luck to in your running!

Thanks for the advice and encouragement that's been posted here too.