Racing Flats "Big 8" in 12 Months

cunavalos

1 mile - 5 mins
3k - 10 mins
5k - 20 mins
5miles - 30 mins
10k - 40 mins
10miles - 1 hour
Half Marathon - 90 mins
Marathon - 3 hours

Long time lurker and have learned a lot from many of the logs here over the past 2-3 months, so decided to have a go at keeping my own. I would have to describe myself as a novice to the running scene and have to hold my hand up as one of the guys in the gaa shirts/shorts and brigade you see sprinting off at the front of a race only to come a cropper a mile or so down the road. Anyway after doing a small bit of running over the winter to maintain fitness for the coming football/hurling season i found myself enjoying the torture of running a local 4k winter series and did a few of the early spring races without any specific structured training.

Now last weekend i broke my thumb badly playing hurling and am out of gaa based action for approximately 6 weeks so will look at this as an opportunity to do some proper running based training for a sustained period leading up to the start of the summer series of races locally. This will let me know whether i want to continue running throughout the summer or go back to the gaa after the cast comes off (i am not ruling out a sabbatical from the gaa for a year if the running works out well)

Anyway i have seen the list of the “BIG 8” posted by Racing Flat and would like to think that i could be capable of ticking off all 8 within 12 months. I know some of the targets and distances need to be respected but at 26 years of age and 65kgs and a (relatively speaking) good base level of fitness think these are achievable and from my limited experience the difficult ones look to be 1mile 10 mile and the marathon

The next 4 weeks will see me building up my base mileage from the current 15miles a week (3 sessions) to 30 miles (5/6 sessions) sessions will be mixed from road,mountain,trail,grass and sand track. I will try and keep a good deal of speedwork into the schedule ( for GAA training). I do not think i will be aiming for the marathon 1/2marathon until much later on so will be focusing on the shorter stuff first.
Apologies for the length of the post but just thought i would get everything out in the open first. Below are my current PBs to show where i am at the moment.
Current PBs
4km= 15.39
4mile = 24.59
5mile = 31.35
10mile = 69.51

Sosa

best of luck to you on your goal .....your current times are good but the toughest one you will attempt is the 10m in sub 60 mins ...it would probably be easier to do the sub 3 marathon !
The rest are do-able ...im in the process of ( attempting to ) tick them off also.

TheRoadRunner

Hey best of luck with your attempt to tick off the big 8

Based on your times and current training IMHO you should be able to hit the 5km target no problem. The 5 mile will probably take a bit of work but is doable. 10km and upwards you may find it tough as you need to get serious miles in the legs. If I were you I'd concentrate on the distances up to 10km for the rest of the summer and take stock of the longer distances after 6 months.

Good luck anyway and don't overdo your training too quickly

shels4ever

cunavalos wrote: »

1 mile - 5 mins
3k - 10 mins
5k - 20 mins
5miles - 30 mins
10k - 40 mins
10miles - 1 hour
Half Marathon - 90 mins
Marathon - 3 hours

Long time lurker and have learned a lot from many of the logs here over the past 2-3 months, so decided to have a go at keeping my own. I would have to describe myself as a novice to the running scene and have to hold my hand up as one of the guys in the gaa shirts/shorts and brigade you see sprinting off at the front of a race only to come a cropper a mile or so down the road. Anyway after doing a small bit of running over the winter to maintain fitness for the coming football/hurling season i found myself enjoying the torture of running a local 4k winter series and did a few of the early spring races without any specific structured training.

Now last weekend i broke my thumb badly playing hurling and am out of gaa based action for approximately 6 weeks so will look at this as an opportunity to do some proper running based training for a sustained period leading up to the start of the summer series of races locally. This will let me know whether i want to continue running throughout the summer or go back to the gaa after the cast comes off (i am not ruling out a sabbatical from the gaa for a year if the running works out well)

Anyway i have seen the list of the “BIG 8” posted by Racing Flat and would like to think that i could be capable of ticking off all 8 within 12 months. I know some of the targets and distances need to be respected but at 26 years of age and 65kgs and a (relatively speaking) good base level of fitness think these are achievable and from my limited experience the difficult ones look to be 1mile 10 mile and the marathon

The next 4 weeks will see me building up my base mileage from the current 15miles a week (3 sessions) to 30 miles (5/6 sessions) sessions will be mixed from road,mountain,trail,grass and sand track. I will try and keep a good deal of speedwork into the schedule ( for GAA training). I do not think i will be aiming for the marathon 1/2marathon until much later on so will be focusing on the shorter stuff first.
Apologies for the length of the post but just thought i would get everything out in the open first. Below are my current PBs to show where i am at the moment.
Current PBs
4km= 15.39
4mile = 24.59
5mile = 31.35
10mile = 69.51

Best of luck, Hard target to set for one year as the marathon traiing alone would take 4-6 months really.
I'd say have a go for the 5k and 10 k targets as these should be possible with a few months tgood training if your at a decident level at the momnet.
I also think that the 3k time is a fairly hard one and would require specific training for a few months if not longer.

Main thing is to have fun.. i'll be hacing a crack at a few of them over the summer myself..

Sosa

Sosa wrote: »

The rest are do-able

Just realised how fast 3k in 10 mins was - 5:21 Pace :eek:

shels4ever

Sosa wrote: »

Just realised how fast 3k in 10 mins was - 5:21 Pace :eek:

Yep i've done the mile and the 3k times and found the 3k very hard compared to the mile. Still love that distance.

MCOS

Good luck cunavalos and nice log name! Agree with the guys, the sub 60 10 mile is toughest. not far ahead of the sub 3. You will be able to enjoy your christmas cake with some glee should you pull it all off!

happygoose

I'm a hurler and a long time lurker too with an interest in doing something like this.

Do you intend attempting them in ascending order, mile first, 3km....

I'd be interested in seeing your training on a regular basis, might try to shadow it myself!

eliwallach

MCOS wrote: »

Agree with the guys, the sub 60 10 mile is toughest.

+1
Sub 60 for the 10 mile is a toughie, but they will love you in Ballycotton for it....

A sub 40 10k is in the bag if your current 5 mile PB sits at 31:35.

Your age is your friend for the shorter distances but might come against you for the marathon attempt.

Good luck.