10km - "What training should I do thread"..

crisco10

hey all,

So have always played team sports, still play a bit of 5 a side. But running has become my main method of keeping fit due to work etc.

Up til now, I have just been sort of "going for a run" 3 times a week or so.

For instance my last 3 runs (a pretty typical week it must be said:

Last Friday: 4.4km 17mins
Last Sunday: 12.6km 61mins
Today: 4.8km 21mins

I wouldn't mind putting some structure on that and trying to do a ~45min 10k or so in the new year sometime but I don't know what I should be doing to attempt that.

I looked at Hal Higdons Intermediate Programme but it seems somewhat too intense for what I want to do. (with work and college, i just can't afford the time to run/cross train 5 or 6 times a week) but on the upside I have more than 8 weeks.

Any suggestions? Am i being unrealistic wanting to improve with only 3 sessions a week?

PS: I also cycle to/from work every day but thats only 3.5km one way so hardly counts as exercise!

ronnie085

crisco10 wrote: »

hey all,

So have always played team sports, still play a bit of 5 a side. But running has become my main method of keeping fit due to work etc.

Up til now, I have just been sort of "going for a run" 3 times a week or so.

For instance my last 3 runs (a pretty typical week it must be said:

Last Friday: 4.4km 17mins
Last Sunday: 12.6km 61mins
Today: 4.8km 21mins

I wouldn't mind putting some structure on that and trying to do a ~45min 10k or so in the new year sometime but I don't know what I should be doing to attempt that.

I looked at Hal Higdons Intermediate Programme but it seems somewhat too intense for what I want to do. (with work and college, i just can't afford the time to run/cross train 5 or 6 times a week) but on the upside I have more than 8 weeks.

Any suggestions? Am i being unrealistic wanting to improve with only 3 sessions a week?

PS: I also cycle to/from work every day but thats only 3.5km one way so hardly counts as exercise!

You could run into work, adding distance to make up the daily milage, training done before the day starts. 45 mins should be no problem with them training times.

pconn062

To be honest I think if you want to see improvements in your 10k times then 5 days a week running is the minimum you need. For now I would just focus on getting in as many runs as you can. Simply running more will improve your times without adding speed work. I wouldn't advise speed work if you are only used to running 3 days a week, it would require a better base to be effective. Good Luck.

ecoli

Would agree with the run to work idea just adding these runs would double your mileage with half the time increased training would

A solid aerobic base is something which would definitely benefit you and is the most sensible approach

However if you are adamant on a 3 day plan alot of people here have used the "FIRST (Furman institute) 10k plan which is a 3 day one however the other days require cross training and personally I wouldnt say this is the most sensible approach for you and is high risk in terms of injury

The program is available though online if you google search it

crisco10

Thanks!

Good idea with the running to work...might start doing that on days when I can afford the extra bit of time.

So, it seems I really need to get out more. May need to re think my timetable during the week..:-) I'm afraid if I don't start working toward something I'll lose interest so could be worth an investment of time.

How long would you be talking to build up an aerobic base from just getting out before I would start to think about pacing etc?

Clearlier

The guys are absolutely correct that establishing a solid aerobic base is the best way to go about it however we all have to work within certain limitations so here's a couple of thoughts about how you might structure 3 runs a week training.

At the moment your training runs sound like they're at a similar level of intensity and they're pretty short. The cycling (even if it's pretty short) is much better than driving. Running instead is a better idea if you have showers especially as you can plan to take the long way into work. If running isn't practical walking would help your running more than cycling and 3.5k is a walkable distance.

If you're aiming at a 10k and running 3 times a week there are a few different runs you should plan for

- a long run - ideally I like a long run to be 2 hours but it feels risky to run for 2 hours at once off 3 days a week so maybe max it out at 90 mins. This run is mostly about time on your feet so don't worry about pace, scratch that - do worry about pace and make sure that it's slow. You want to build endurance in this run

- a tempo run - warm up for 10 mins - run so that you can squeeze out a word or two but not hold a conversation for 20 mins and then warm down for 10 mins

- a marathon pace run - faster than the easy run, slower than the tempo run - comfortably hard is what some call it - you want to get this run up to 60 mins - the 61 min run in your current schedule probably isn't that far away

- intervals - 8 weeks out start alternating the tempo and marathon pace runs and follow the guide from this thread

You should focus on time rather than distance (although you should measure distance so that you can see your progress)

Build up to the times I mention for each run gradually. No point in getting injured.

Start each and every run slowly, build into the run, never hammer it from the start.

Take an easy week every so often. Every 4 weeks is commonly recommended and the idea is to reduce the time spent training but to maintain the intensity of that training. Off 3 days a week you may get by with less frequent down weeks but better to take one and not get injured than the other way around.

Listen to what your body is trying to tell you (except when you're doing hard intervals and it's telling you to stop )

Do some core work 3 times a week - If you've got a sedentary job back and hips are often the areas that need the most work. Don't make excuses - this is critical to most runners success.

Enjoy the process.