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That's one of my next targets...beating that hour for 10miles. Macmillan reckons 59.40 off my 5k and half times, but have 49 secs to lose to get under an hour.
Might help if I did more than 1 10miler a year tho
Ha at least you are more regular than i am
1989
2010
it's a bit of an odd distance to race these days isn't it. 10ks and halfs are the flavour of choice for most.
The maths is particularly non forgiving tho. 10miles at 6min miling, stealing a second on one mile
The 10miler I do at Maidenhead has been going about 60years! Always has a really good standard, as there's so few about in this area.
Great South Run is probably the flagship 10miler in the whole country though!
http://www.britishmilersclub.co.uk/bmcnews/2003spring.pdf
Article on Steve Crams training pages 11-15. Very interesting, well certainly in my opionion.
The article on Cram's training just shows how tricky it is to train for middle distance events. It makes training for 10k seem relatively straightforward.
When I finish today's 13 miler I will have completed another fortnight of high mileage and I'll be heading into an easy week. I didn't actually manage 100miles for either week; both were around 85-90mpw. I missed each of the Saturday speed intervals but I did manage to do both tempo runs in each week (all with the fast 30minute middle section at 5.40 minute miling). At this stage though I see the tempo runs as the key sessions rather than the speed intervals.
Yesterday instead of doing the speed session I ran a brisk 10 miler in 58 minutes. I have been doing all my tempo work on the treadmill and I wanted to see that I could translate some sub-6minite miling onto real roads. My aim was to run exactly sub 6 minite miling for the 10 miles and hope that it would feel well within my capabilities. I got to the first mile in 5.55 and the second in 11.50 but it felt really hard - more like a pace I could only hold for a 10k or even 5 miles! By the time I got to mile 3 in 17.45 everything was feeling easier and then when I got to mile 4 my watch was showing 23.25 and it wasn't uncomfortable. I think the early difficulty was as a result of not doing a proper warm up. I did some jogging on the spot and stretching in the house and some shuttle runs in the drive! Not recommended! If I had been racing this as a 10 miler I think it could have been a low 56 minutes. I would guess this translates to a sub 34 10k so the training is definitely working and not breaking me down.
The only thing not going to plan is my weight which has crept up two or three pounds over the last couple of weeks. Staggering really considering I am burning about 2,000 calories a day just through running! I do have a fondness for pies and cakes though which will need to be brought back under control.
In article posted it says that steve cram's base training maxed at 80 miles and averaged at 60-70 miles a week during the 22 week base period.
'During the winter of 1983/1984, Steve did go as high as 120 miles a single week but he did not feel it was beneficial for him'
He got compartmental syndrome running this amount of miles so I am sure this is not the reason for middle distance success. Do not fixate yourselves on one week of training, it is of very little interest, it is the full year training and the periodisation is why he was an olympic athlete.
I race 1500m for my athletics club, but I was not going to bother this year because I cant get to sessions and have exams. The fact that steve cram never set footon the track for half the year means I am going to change my plan and give it a bash after the exams again. Going to try and just work on endurance and then after the exams put in a few weeks of sessions for another bash at the 1500m at the end of the year. Thanks for this link, it has been very very useful and helpful !!
>
This is more fun that wikifukipedia.
I can also add that another notable event from 1984 was Cram's endorsement of the breakfast cereal Kellogs Start.
How's the training going Twatt?
Just wondered why all the concentration on Steve Cram, when he specialised in much different distances to you, and over 20 years ago? Surely if you want to link what you're doing to an elite runner, you'd pick someone from today who does the distances you're aiming for?
Cos we dont have any current elite 10k runners?
Seriously though, if you type in 'Mo Farah' into Google the second hint it comes up with after just his name is 'Mo Farah training' so it looks like a lot of people would like to know more on that... hopefully someone will be along shortly to point us to it.
I'm having an easier week and just runnining once a day steadyish for about 10 miles. Eveything seems to be going to plan and the tempo times have come down nicely. I'm aiming for 5.35 min/miling next week. The only downside is that the training lacks spontaneity. You can't have your cake and eat it I suppose.
One funny thing about doing high mileage is that you can't tell yourself that you might be a little faster or be improving more quickly if only you were doing a few more miles, like you could do if you were running 50-60mpw. There's no hiding place. The improvements made are at or near to the limit! And that means you are more aware of your limitations.
The aim is to run a 10K in Feb quicker than 34 mins, and then try and run 32.5x during the summer. I've not thought beyond that about times. I'm not thinking about periodising my training and all being well I would be happy carrying on at 100/100/60 mpw through this year. That's a long way off though and i dont want to tempt fate.
Be interested to hear how the 10k goes. By then it'll all be very real. Hitting a pb, or recent year pb (forget if you had a good calibre as a teen) should be a given, but will be interesting to note how high a pb.
I remember a forumite on another thread once listed his 10k improvements.
It took 100miles a week to get him under a certain time, but after that he could hit the same on about 60miles and carried on improving. That was the most interesting part for me.
I apologise for going off thread with the training of the Steves, Cram and Ovett.
I came across their training whilst looking for something completely different.
Just wanted to show 'younger viewers'
that they trained high milages in the bid for middle distance glory.
Talk about Yin and Yang...
Yesterday lunchtime I was at thegym doing my tempo run on the treadmill. The session was my usual: 14 mins warm up at 7min/miling (which I do at 13.8kmh at 1%) followed by 30 mins at tempo speed (which at the moment is 5-35 min/miling (16.4kmh at 3%) followed by 14 mins stead at 6.30 min/miling. Now the thing is the gym is quite small and there are only two treadmills. There is a sign which ways that when its busy - time on the treadmill is restricted to 20 minutes. To try and avoid any problems I usually get the to gym when I know its going to be quiet. Yesterday I got there about twenty past eleven. There were about four people in the gym and both treadmills were not being used. I started the session straight away. Towards the middle of the tempo part of the run I noticed that there were about six or seven people in the gym and the other treadmill was now in use. As I usually do when this happens I carry on with the run (admittedly technically in breach of said notice) and keep an eye on anyone who looks like they are waiting to us the treadmill (using the big plate mirror). Everyone seemed to be happy using the equipment they were on and no one was obviously waiting, that was until this bloke jumps off the stationary cycle and charges up to me and tells me to get off because I've had my twenty minutes. Devoid of any politeness just very aggressive and lots of finger jabbing. Obviously at the time I'm banging along at 5.35 minute miling so I nod to the bloke and shout that I'll be two minutes. This just set this guy off into a complete fury and he starts ranting at me like a mentalist. Not being someone to take things lying down I give almost as good as I get. Then, I am not kidding, everyone in the gym (apart from a young girl) takes the opportunity in quick succession to tell me that I am taking the piss! By the time I got off the treadmill, which was all of 1 minute after being asked, there were already three fuckwits at the reception reporting me.
..scroll forward to this morning. It's about 7.45am. I'm about 4 miles into a 7 mile easy pace run. It has been dark but now there is enough light to see across the fields and woods. Then from almost out of nowhere there's a noise and from a break in the hedge there appears a deer (a Sika I think), then another, and another, and another. Four deers practially in formation cross the lane and gallop off in a line across to the far side of a field. Then the leader stops and turns and all the others follow his lead. And there they are four deer all craning their necks and eyeballing me. Call me soft but it really was magical.
He's probably on some other forum as we speak writing his version of events
"and this bloke had been on the treadmill for 40mins and wouldn't stop, despite me politely asking him to"
Quick update:
Ran about 95 miles last week. I don't keep a diary but I think it was something like -
am pm
Monday 8 @ 7m/m 9 @ 6.30m/m
Tuesday 13 @ 6.30m/m
Wednesday 9 (2 @ 7m/m, 30 mins @ 5.35m/m, 2 @ 6.30m/m)
Thursday 7 @7m/m 9 @ 6.30m/m
Friday 10 @7m/m 9 (2 @7m/m, 30 mins @ 5.35m/m, 2 @6.30m/m)
Saturday 8 @ 7.15m/m
Sunday 13 @ 6.20m/m
This is the first week of the two hard weeks but I had already lost my bounce by the weekend. I feel ok today though so I think I should be able to get through this week. All but the tempo runs were done outside. I didn't feel up to doing a mile rep session this week. In fact the last time I did that session was about a month ago. I think that to bring in that session in the next block of training I will need to not increase the speed of the tempo session. I might even slow it down to 5.40 or 5.45. Not sure yet.
Weight is stubbornly staying at 11 stone 10.
Touch wood - no niggles or pains. Keeping up with regular stretching.
Hi Twatt
What's the reason for doing your tempo sessions inside?
No convincing reason really.
I like the fact that I can control the speed of the session without worrying about pace judgement. One of the main features of my training at the moment (besides running shed loads of miles) is to progressively increase the speed of the tempo runs. The treadmill allows me to set the speed so I have to run say 5-10 sec per mile faster than the time before.
Because I am not racing very much how this session feels is an important indicator for me. I can judge my improvement or how tired I am or how fresh I am.
Where I live is quite exposed and when it's windy the pace can vary wildly, but that's not much of an excuse.
The other reason is habit. Which is poor.
It's funny because I wouldn't dream of doing the mile rep session inside.
Having said all that I do think that running some miles inside can give the legs a break.
A good, solid week there. Keep up the good work.
I have a couple of comments..
Learning (your own) pace judgement is a key part of the tempo run. I ran A LOT of 84s laps around the track for marathon preperation last year and subsequently found my 5km splits never deviated more than 10s either side of 17:30 during the Amsterdam marathon. Even pacing is key over all distance races from 1500m up, so well worthwhile to include it in your (race pace) training.
I'd also suggest mixing up the two tempo runs a little - for example running 30 mins @ 5:35 on Wednesday and 45 - 60mins @ 5:45 on Thursday to provide a slightly different training stimulus. Another alternative would be a progression run - eg starting with a mile at 5:45 pace, then dropping 5-10s per mile.
With regards to the treadmill training, whilst it can have its place, I think you miss an element of specificity from the training; it's not like you're going to race 10km on a treadmill - it's more likely a road course with a few turns, undulations etc - or perhaps a track if you're that way inclined. Matching your workouts to the race conditions as best you can may help eek out that final one or two %.
One last thing - I've found from personal experience that a long run of 15-16 miles is of benefit for endurance type runners, even when training for 5km. It would still be only ~15% of your total mileage which is a little on the low side. This is well worth a read.
Hope that's of some help. Sorry if I missed it on a previous page, but do you have a timeframe for your target 10km race?
BEJ
Thanks for your comments.
My own pace judgement is pretty good. I can usually race at an even pace. The point I was making about doing the tempo on a treadmill was just that there was one less thing to think about and I could concentrate on just completing the session.
Your suggestion about mixing up the tempo runs is a good one. It will add a bit of variety.
The article was quite good but there isn't anything in there which I haven't heard before. My long run of 13 miles is taking me about 82-83 minutes at the moment, so that's not far off the 90 minutes suggested. I have intentionally avoided having a run which is longer than 13 miles because I find my joints feel like they've taken a bit of a punishing after about 11 or 12 miles. In my session there is no run which gives me any residual tiredness the next day and I quite like that. I think it is one of the reasons why I haven't got into downward spiral.
I am looking to race a 10k next month sometime. I think I might be in a position to run 33-40. The next stage would be to be able to run 32 something in the summer. Who knows maybe win a low key race.