Training help!!

HeatherBittner

Hi. I am a new runner (still run/walking) and am planning on doing a 10k on September 29th and then a 10-miler on November 3rd. I am looking for help customizing a training schedule that would start this Sunday and would carry through until the 10-miler in November. Some background. I completed the C25K program in February on the treadmill (totally different running outside). I have done 3 5k's so far this year and have 3 more planned before the 10k in September. I go to boot camp on Mondays (cardio) Wednesdays (strength training) and Fridays (Cross training). So I am looking to run 3 other days with one rest day a week. Please help!!

alanlmarshall

A major consideration is if your goal is to improve your finish times, to get faster, or only to finish the races. Your training will vary considerably depending on your goal.

This is an excellent 3 day a week training program:

http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=run+faster+less&tag=googhydr-20&index=aps&hvadid=21127072945&hvpos=1t1&hvexid=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=241280159682323077&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=b&hvdev=c&ref=pd_sl_14p51wxa08_b

schmenge55

If you have three days for running you want one of them to be "long" and easy. For a 10k I would say working up to maybe a 7-9 miles long day. You want a temp day which will be about 2-3 miles at about 15-30" per mile slower than your goal pace and then your final day should be some speedwork, which is usually about race pace

bonjour24

i say train for the 10 miler and use the 10k run in Sept as a training perk along the way. I'm a fairly new runner too, and all i'm focused on is moving forward and not stopping! i don't care about speedwork or running for 70mins at 95% max hr and all that balls. i want to start , finish, and not die in the middle.

my suggestion (if your goals are similar to mine) is to run 3x a week. I do 1 short (5k) a week, a mid (6-9k dependant on time, mood and motivation), and a long run (in training for a half so I increase it by 2ks a week).

The one thing i can absolutely advocate is hill repeats. Find a fairly big hill (200 metres long or so, if there's one near you) and run up and down it. I usually do that every other week on my short run. you can really feel it, but you can measure quickly how much you are improving. And it does awesome things for being able to run hills, which is really difficult when you're not really used to doing it. And they do throw them into races sometimes.

good luck!