Howdy, Stranger!
Categories
Help please.......
John Corbett
✭✭✭
in Beginners
I am a 45 year old male who is new to running. Been running for the last 7 weeks and just completed my 1st 10km race in 51.57 which I was happy with but want to get my time down to 45 mins. I found it hard going the last 2 miles so I think I need to work on my stamina? I havent ran for longer than an hour yet so is the answer to prolong my practice runs? Also, would you expect the last mile of your 10km run to be your fastest?
Thanks
John
The materials in this website are in no way intended to replace the professional medical care, advice, diagnosis or treatment of a doctor, qualified personal trainer, therapist, dietitian or nutritionist Runners's World, Part of the Hearst UK well-being network © Copyright 2017
Comments
You found it hard going, but were you slower for the last two miles ?
If you don't want to flag at te end I suggest you stretch you training runs out to 13/14 km if you do that and slowly build up the speed, you should find it easier to keep going at a more constant pace for only 10k
Thanks for your replies. My mile split times were as below :-
(1) 7.45 (2) 7.30 (3) 7.30 (4) 8.30 (5) 9.00 (6) 9.30
As you can see I got slower as the race went on. Pardon my ignorance but what kind of split pace would you work to achieve in order to run a 45 mins 10K? I'm assuming I need to increase my pace as the race progresses rather than decreasing it ?
It looks like you went off way to fast and stamina could be a problem - others may disagree but I think the easiest way to do it is to maintain, as closely as possible an even pace throughout, and if there is anything left in the tank speed up in the last mile.
Grendel is spot on. Even pacing is the key. And for what its worth, no one has ever broken a record running a positive split (slowing in the second half) so well worth keeping the pace constant, even if it means the first mile seems too slow, the field will be coming back to you rather than passing you over the last couple of miles rather than the other way round which I presume is what happened?
As Booktrunk says, stretch those long runs out, build your stamina and maybe get yourself a schedule drawn up to incude some intervals or fartlek.
Good luck
Yes, that was a quick start. MacMillan puts us in about the same bracket regarding predicted paces and your starting pace is about my half mile interval pace.
You essentially ran a good 5k and then carried on. If slow your starting pace to the average, you may be able to speed up at the end.
I was at around 51/52 for 10K at Christmas last year, hit 48 in Feb, then manged to break 46 in early June and managed 5 seconds under 45 at the Summer Solstice.
All my speed really came from long slow runs, getting a decent base with *slow* 2 hours+ runs on the weekends. By slow - nearer 10:00 min/miles or no more than 75% max HR - builds aerobic fitness and increases vascularisation/capillaries in the muscles.
I'd imagine If you'd gone off (as others said) at 8:00 min/miles you'd have easily managed ~48 min without the tail off, setting off too fast really takes it out of you. Spend 2-3 months building endurance up and then have another crack.
Hi Daeve,
I appreciate your advice, and I agree on your strategy. I have just run 7 miles this morning in 70 minutes (1st time I have ran for longer than an hour) maintaining a comfortable 10.00 min/mile pace. I want to extend the length of these runs over the next few weeks, but I just hope I can find the time. Up to 1 hr 20 will be OK as I am happy to get up at 5.30am before work, but 2 hours may be tricky to fit in with my wife and 2 children.
I was also considering some kind of interval training as I haven't done any yet and I feel I need to do some faster short runs. Did you do any of these, or just concentrated on the longer runs ?
With regards to the 10K race, I totally agree with you that if I had started off at 8.00 min/mile pace as I had planned, my final time would have been better, but as it was my 1st ever 10K race I just got over-excited. Next time I will be more reserved in the early stages.