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Just leaped from 5 km to 10 km - implications ?

  • 02-05-2017 7:20pm
    #1
    masculinist
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,616 ✭✭✭


    hey guys ,

    I took a break from the gym of about a week. I usually run 5 km once a week then lift for the rest but I was very busy with work and got a lot of 'rest' days. Far too many.


    So I step on the treadmill and I find I'm not tired at 5 km or even bored as usual and I feel I can go further. I make it to 10 km and feel I could keep going but am worried about injury as this is brave new territory for me since I started running gently about 3 years ago. I've been a wee bit stiff in the calf muscle/instep (ligaments?) since then but its definitely recovering.

    The question is , where should I go from here ?

    Should I do a 10km next time ? Or go lower ? How should I approach this ? Should I try running only 5 km but try to be much faster ? I would like to build muscle, and be more like the sprinters and not become skinny like the best marathon runners. Is 10 km as far as I should take this if I also want gains from lifting ? Or should I go lower again as I was before ? What do you guys think ?


Comments

  • #2
    glacial_pace71
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 301 ✭✭glacial_pace71


    It really depends upon what you're ultimately aiming for: upping the distance from 5k to 10k isn't huge if you're doing 5k regularly, e.g. say a few times a week. Some people add 10% extra in terms of overall distance via adding another run, others via upping the distance of individual runs. But it's incremental progress from week to week. As for going faster? That comes with varying the duration and intensity of those sessions.

    However, gym-based activity is a very different beast from the great outdoors. You mention physique as a factor. Well, if you need to bulk up on the upper body strength for other sports or for personal body image needs etc then yes you'd look more like the muscular sprinter than the carry-no-excess of the distance runner.

    However, you talk about wanting to build muscle but mention calf issues. That can be a warning sign on pronation or other factors. There'll be 1,001 on this site who can advise properly on this but my own experience has been that treadmills are not great for distances such as 10k.

    Just my €0.02 but bear in mind I'm in no way useful as a guide on these matters. Have a read of some of the personal logs and see how people have developed their programmes, e.g. you mention you've been running before over the past 3 years: have a look at some of the 'couch to 5k' and contrast with some of the 'marathon novice' threads, i.e. try to work out what sort of journey you're undertaking - the implications of moving from 5k to 10k are hugely contingent upon so many factors.


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