7 miler Race

astange83
astange83 Posts: 105
in Fitness and Exercise
There is a 7 mile race in Lexington KY at the end of March. Yes I know this is 5 months out but I'm working on a 5k level right now, and a fairly slow one when you're talking race times, like 12:30 mi which I know I couldn't keep up for 4 extra miles maybe 1 at this point. So my question is, is 5 months long enough to get ready for 7 miles and try to keep around 12-15 min pace? That still puts me at the back of the pack, but the race looks interesting and I'm starting to need training goals to keep me focused. As the mornings get colder that bed looks so much better than my basement treadmill and bike!

I figure I need to be at 4 miles by end of Nov, 5 at end of Dec, 6 at end of Jan, then working on 7 in Feb/Mar? Hopefully by begininng of March it will be warm enough to hit the road again to toughen up the feet.

Replies

  • lawkat
    lawkat Posts: 538 Member
    Do you do one long slow run once a week? Since it seems like you run 3 miles, one day a week add 10% or 1 more mile to your run on the weekend. This will help you build your endurance level so that your runs during the week get easier and you can run longer. Try to vary your weekday workouts. If you have hills in your area, do some. Speed work helps. Make sure you do an easy run to compensate for the harder runs. You could probably run further than a 5k at this point, you just have to push yourself.
  • astange83
    astange83 Posts: 105
    I haven't been doing one long run a week I know I need to add that in to my program if I'm going to make the distance though. While training for my 5k I was doing 1 5k practice run a week. So I know I need to up my distance gradually. I think 5 months to add 4 miles should be doable. I'm looking to finish not win :)
  • astange83
    astange83 Posts: 105
    I've got this....don't get me wrong I'm tired but I just finished 5 miles in 66 minutes and have til the end of March to get the rest of the mileage in. Feels good doing 5 miles!! Can't wait to be ready for more!!
  • runfatmanrun
    runfatmanrun Posts: 1,090 Member
    5 months is more than enough time to get up to 7 miles. Once your 5K program runs it's course, or even now, look for a 10K or half marathon training plan that can give you guidelines on how to get to 7 miles by March.
  • brandiuntz
    brandiuntz Posts: 2,717 Member
    5 months is more than enough time to get up to 7 miles. Once your 5K program runs it's course, or even now, look for a 10K or half marathon training plan that can give you guidelines on how to get to 7 miles by March.

    ^^^This. You'll be ready for it in no time. And don't worry about the pace. My pace is still over 12 minutes/mile for longer distances (5 miles and up). As you add distance, your pace will improve some naturally.
  • mjpTennis
    mjpTennis Posts: 6,165 Member
    Definitely switch over to a 10k and then maybe a 15k training program. You will benefit from building your running base miles (miles each week) up. You should try to get 4 easy runs at least 4 times a week. Good luck.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    Plenty of time, just make sure you're training appropriately. get some shorter/easy runs in earlier in the week and your longer run on the weekend...build up. Right now I'm adding a total of 1 mile per week to my total mileage for the next month or so and then my program starts to really ramp up but I'm training for a 1/2 marathon in 20 weeks...so about the same time from you're talking about. My biggest running accomplishment so far was completing a 10K.

    Also did you do 5 miles or 5K? If you did 5 miles you should easily be able to tack on an additional 2 miles to hit your 7 miles....you could probably do that pretty easily within a month or so.
  • astange83
    astange83 Posts: 105
    Plenty of time, just make sure you're training appropriately. get some shorter/easy runs in earlier in the week and your longer run on the weekend...build up. Right now I'm adding a total of 1 mile per week to my total mileage for the next month or so and then my program starts to really ramp up but I'm training for a 1/2 marathon in 20 weeks...so about the same time from you're talking about. My biggest running accomplishment so far was completing a 10K.

    Also did you do 5 miles or 5K? If you did 5 miles you should easily be able to tack on an additional 2 miles to hit your 7 miles....you could probably do that pretty easily within a month or so.

    I did 5 miles, used the 10k step program on my treadmill but still had 1k steps left oops. My treadmill will give both steps and distance. I'm pretty exhausted tonight but I've got plenty of time to get that last 2 miles in.

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