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Training for 10K
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I have been running now for over 4 months and now can run the magic 10k without stopping. But how many miles a week should you do? I do about 10 -12 ( i feel thats not alot) but swim 50 lengths a week.
Today I ran a easy two mile but it was really hard I had to stop a couple of times!! is this because I swam the day before - help I'm really confused
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Hi Martin,
Are you training for a race or just for fitness? If you are new to running you seem to be doing OK by taking it easy to avoid injury and getting your base fitness. Your run today could be down to lack of energy, are you taking in enough carbs. If you gradually increase your mileage in line with what you are aiming to achieve, ie if you are training specifically for a 10k you could aim to run 8 to 10 miles comfortably with a couple of shorter but quicker runs during the week along with your swimming.
Hi Barry
Thanks for the advice. I'm trainig for both really I'm hoping to do a few 10k's then move upto the half marathon. I have just startd to read up on the carbs diet. hard to understand but I do know how impostant it is. I'm resting today and try a 5k tomorrow. Cheers
You should definitely be aiming to up your mileage and that should happen fairly naturally as you get fitter. I ran my first 10k off a similar weekly training load to you, perhaps a little more. I was typically doing 3 runs of circa 5 miles as hard as i could cope with and that got me through my first attempt but it was not a terribly scientific or sustainable approach.
I would personally recommend training with a heart rate monitor as that will help give you an idea of when you are fatigued from your cross-training and when you need a rest. Curiously its often pretty hard to tell if you are knackered simply based on how you feel and some objective measure helps.
A HRM isnt essential though as long as you keep an eye on how you are performing and dont try and push it. What i would suggest is slowly build up how far you run. A general guide is adding no more than 10% and even then dont do that every week, give yourself time to adapt and consolidate. If you do all your running at an easy conversational pace then you should be able to build the mileage up without too many issues but dont ignore fatigue or niggles. if in doubt, rest!
Definitely build one of your runs up to a long run but make sure its good and slow. The longer the better really, even for 10ks. Doing a good long run will build up your aerobic endurance. If you can do a 10 miler then 10k doesnt feel quite so hard. Again build it slowly.
Following those sort of principles, over the course of this year i have upped my weekly mileage from about 20 to over 40 on a good week and despite doing no speedwork at all i have taken 5 minutes off my 10k pb so high volume, low intensity is a mantra that can work.