Hi All,
I'm 42 years old and while I've always been pretty active, over the last few years I've put on a bit too much weight though. I'd like to shake that weight and running seems a great choice as I can do it anywhere, anytime. So after probably more than 15 years I decided to start pounding the pavement again.
Like a lot of people on here, I opted to do a couch to 5k, which I am just about done with. Even though my legs seem to be constantly angry with me, I can now run for 20 minutes without stopping and hopefully over the next two weeks will get to the elusive 5k/30 minute mark. My cardio does seem to be handling it better than my legs, but I'm guessing this will change with time.
I am enjoying my running and have started to look forward to it instead of it being a chore, so I'm starting to look ahead as I'm not sure what to do once I finish the program. I currently run 3 days a week with normally a game of rugby reffed somewhere inbetween. I seem to be maintaining a 6:30/km pace at the moment, but suspect that may be a bit fast as I start increasing distance. So where to once I get to my 5k goal? As I see it, these are my options:
1. Stay at the 5k distance for a few weeks until it becomes 'easy' and a quicker pace.
2. Stay at the 5k and run more days a week.
3. Go straight into a 5-10k program the same 3 days a week
4. Do a 5-10k but add 1 or 2 shorter runs in to build pace.
5. Some combination of the above.
I am looking at entering into a few 5k runs in a few months to see how I go, I could just use some suggestions on how to take the next step.
Thanks in advance for the help!
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Once you've got your base endurance (i.e. knowing you can run the full distance) you gain speed from doing sessions that work on pushing your body a bit more towards your threshold points, i.e.:-
- Intervals - so for a 30 min training run start with a 5 minute warm-up and end with a 5 minute cool-down and in between intersperse faster running for between 2 minutes and then slow to a recovery pace for 60 seconds and just repeat this for the middle 20 mins.
- Progression - again for 30 min run each 10 min section faster than the previous one, so start off easy, then medium effort, then hard.
- Fartlek - start off with a 5 min warm up and then run at threshold for 5 mins followed by a 90 second recovery, then 4 mins (90 second recovery), 3 mins all the way down to 1 min.
- Kenyan Hills - run a hill with a decent gradient and then run up this for 1 min and then come down again at the same pace. Repeat this 5 times and then do a 3 min recovery job before doing a second set.
With all of these it's to do with the effort put in, but also the quality. You want to be doing this at a pace where you can maintain the effort, so don't go mad. Build up your pace until you feel as if you can push on. Also ensure your doing easy runs on other days. So if you're running 3 times a week do two easy paced runs either side of your speed sessions.If there's a Parkrun near you then they're wonderful for putting all this into practice before you enter a 5K.
Never ran before started one month ago and absolutely loving it.
@stuscrim im planning on getting my current distance below 8mins a mile and then going to up a mile and keep doing that. not sure if thats any good just thought of it myself haha
Good work Webby! Yep, 8min/mile is a goal for me too. At the moment though I'm up to about 2 miles at 11min/mile so I still have a long way to go.
There's a school of thought that training should follow the 80/20 rule - 80% of your running should be at an easy pace and 20% should be at a fast pace. Hence the need to intersperse with easy runs.
@stuscrim Just keep at it, you will start shaving time off that every time.
Having set myself a goal of doing a 10K inside 60mins I started to take things a bit more seriously in terms of what I do for training. It does mean you become a bit obsessive, but on the flip side the satisfaction of going faster for longer is quite addictive.
Im currently going to do 2x 3.2km a week and 1x 5k, and then when ready move to 2x 5k and 1x 3.2 etc etc.
I always wanted to do running but never bothered, always with the mindset of "i'll do it tomorrow" and eventually took the plunge and im so happy i did.
And I think we're all competitive to a degree. With running, though, it's being competitive with yourself. Unless you see a club mate in the distance in one of the races and think you can reel them in