Running for about 2 months - advice on training?

joconnell

Heya Folks!

I started running in february using runkeeper and generally doing intervals of walk / run either based on distance or time. I'm up around 8.5 / 9k in 55 minutes at the mo and I'm going to do the 10k in the phoenix park. Ideally I'd like to get up to half marathon spec in the next few months (I think someone may have conned me into one around july) but at the minute I haven't a clue what I'm doing! Right now I'm mainly doing upper body weight work in the gym three times a week and doing a run on sundays. I've started to add in a short run on the in between mornings and ideally will do two so it's similar to hal higdons idea of the three short runs adding up to your weekend distance.

The next thing is how should I be deciding my intervals? I started off by doing 45 secs run / 30 secs walk and built that up each week. The last long run I started at a 1 min run / 30 seconds walk and each interval added another minute to the run with the walk always half of what I'd just run. This gradually increased up to a peak 6 minutes running and then gradually back down again, however I'm not sure if this is a useful approach or not. Should I stick to the same walk / run interval for the entire run and gradually increase the running time for each successive run? Or is there something to be said for gradually building up within the one run?

Also is it odd that I actually felt better / more comfortable during the longer intervals of my run?

Cheers for any tips folks!

RayCun

joconnell wrote: »

Should I stick to the same walk / run interval for the entire run and gradually increase the running time for each successive run?

that's what I'd do. I'd be trying to cut out the walking intervals completely from my runs. That will almost certainly mean running more slowly when you are running.
Try 5 minutes running, 1 minute walking in your three runs this week, 8/1 next week, then 10/1, then 15/1, then no more walking.

joconnell

Cheers for that ray - great to get a point in the right direction.

RayCun

well I'm only a few months ahead of you, I started running last September.

joconnell

How you finding it so far? What type of distances have you built up and what type of weekly schedule you following?

RayCun

I started with a couch to 5k programme, and in June I'm going to start an 18 week programme for the marathon, but at the moment I'm not following any sort of plan. I run home from work 2 or sometimes 3 times a week, the route I follow now is 5.4 miles. On the weekend I do a 3 mile loop to and from the house. The idea is that this is a 'speed' session - I'll usually try to throw some strides into it somewhere - and during the week I'm building up some stamina.

I also want to get more consistent with my pacing. All my runs follow the same pattern of starting and finishing faster and getting slower and slower towards the middle of the run. Before I start the marathon training I'd like to be able to run at a consistent 9.00 or 10.00 pace.

At the same time I'm trying not to overthink things... :rolleyes:

RayCun

oh yeah, distances...
the 5.4 miles is the longest run I've done so far. I'm doing the Great Ireland 10k on the 18th, which will be my new longest. Longest race was the Raheny 5 back in January.
When I start the marathon training I'll be switching from long runs during the week and short at weekend to short during the week and long at the weekend. One reason I want to sort out my pacing is to make sure those long slow runs really are slow...