My first 10K and thoughts about my next step

ggluvbug1

I did my first 10K today. And I ran the whole dang thing-finished in 1 hour 10 minutes (which may seem slow to some, but that is good for me). And I am very proud of myself!
I decided to do this a couple months back, and I have been building up to it by running 3 days a week. I started out doing about .5 miles at a time. I have done some 5Ks in the past, but I walked/jogged them. So, I figure I have done okay getting to where I am right now.
I discovered the second wind that has always seem to elude me. And I didn't expect my toes to be the thing on me that hurt the worst (two bleeding toe nails and a nasty blister). I have read up on what I need to do to correct that, so I am going to get my shoes in a larger size to help.
I have been struggling with proper nutrition and not eating enough, so I know I need to get my head around that.
I am now thinking I would like to do a half marathon, but I am not sure that it is something I should think about right now. There is one in November, but I don't know if that is enough time to get up to that level or not. A couple of people mentioned to me that I shouldn't be working on losing weight and trying to train for a race. I know I am new to this type of exercise, but I really enjoy it. I don't want to limit myself (I am a super goal oriented person) but I don't want to do things that are counterintuitive to progress.
Thoughts or comments are welcome.

amybg1

Congrats on the 10K!! I'm visually impaired and have done 2 10Ks and countless 5's, my 5K times are in the 40-minute range in the past and a few in the 30s and my 10k times so far averaged 1:20. Seeing as it is your first 10...Why not run another 10 before setting your sights on the half? You said so yourself that your nutrition isn't the best and indeed training for a race and losing weight...Well, the weight loss tends to be slower but it does come.

So go for another 10, work on your nutrition in the meantime and see how you feel after. Training for a half is more taxing than a 10K

Pectinbean

I did my first 10k in October last year at an 01:10 too! I've signed up to a half marathon in October this year. Got a 5 and 10k next month to keep my motivation up. There's loads of advice and training plans online, you'll be fine if you keep exercising regularly.

The distance was worrying me a bit until my running friend said just to think of it as lots of little races. Thinking of it as four 5ks makes training far less daunting.

DocGu

I found that going from 0 to 5K was the hardest, going from 5K to 10K was not as hard, but still a challenge. Going from 10K to the half was honestly not even remotely as difficult. Once you can do 10K consistently, the changes that occur in your body that make running easier (increased capillary density, increase mitochondrial density, etc) have pretty much happened so increasing your distance becomes easier.

So yeah, go for it. You should have no problems.

ggluvbug1

I found that going from 0 to 5K was the hardest, going from 5K to 10K was not as hard, but still a challenge. Going from 10K to the half was honestly not even remotely as difficult. Once you can do 10K consistently, the changes that occur in your body that make running easier (increased capillary density, increase mitochondrial density, etc) have pretty much happened so increasing your distance becomes easier.

So yeah, go for it. You should have no problems.

Maybe I need to read up more on the science of all of this running stuff! Might make it easier to know exactly how to attack it.
I agree that hitting that 3 mile mark was much harder than making it to 6. I think I will try to do a couple more 10ks before November.

ggluvbug1

I did my first 10k in October last year at an 01:10 too! I've signed up to a half marathon in October this year. Got a 5 and 10k next month to keep my motivation up. There's loads of advice and training plans online, you'll be fine if you keep exercising regularly.

The distance was worrying me a bit until my running friend said just to think of it as lots of little races. Thinking of it as four 5ks makes training far less daunting.

I am already signing up for a 5K in June and am looking for at least 1 or 2 local 10ks. I figure that it will keep me on track and accountable.

badbcatha05

I found that going from 0 to 5K was the hardest, going from 5K to 10K was not as hard, but still a challenge. Going from 10K to the half was honestly not even remotely as difficult. Once you can do 10K consistently, the changes that occur in your body that make running easier (increased capillary density, increase mitochondrial density, etc) have pretty much happened so increasing your distance becomes easier.

So yeah, go for it. You should have no problems.

I found this also to be the case, I truly believe a huge part of it was a mental thing. It took me 3 tries to get thru C25K. One to get through the 5K to 10K. Now, tomorrow I'm looking at 11 miles in prep for my first half next month. I finally finished C25K in August last year.

From now to November it is definitely possible. When did my first 10 mile run ever, I thought "hey, I only have a 5k to go and I'd be done with the half!"

If you choose to sign up for it, I would say pick one of the longer training plans. They start out with relatively low miles, akin to prepping for a 10K and the long run one day a week is really the only that should be challenging for you as long as you use a smart pace. I would think that this would give you a chance to see if you can tweak your nutrition enough to give you enough fuel for the long runs. If you decide it's not working right now, and don't want to sign up for the race, increasing your mileage will still help you improve your times of 5K and 10K so it's still a win! And there is nothing wrong with focusing on those distances.

ggluvbug1

I found that going from 0 to 5K was the hardest, going from 5K to 10K was not as hard, but still a challenge. Going from 10K to the half was honestly not even remotely as difficult. Once you can do 10K consistently, the changes that occur in your body that make running easier (increased capillary density, increase mitochondrial density, etc) have pretty much happened so increasing your distance becomes easier.

So yeah, go for it. You should have no problems.

I found this also to be the case, I truly believe a huge part of it was a mental thing. It took me 3 tries to get thru C25K. One to get through the 5K to 10K. Now, tomorrow I'm looking at 11 miles in prep for my first half next month. I finally finished C25K in August last year.

From now to November it is definitely possible. When did my first 10 mile run ever, I thought "hey, I only have a 5k to go and I'd be done with the half!"

If you choose to sign up for it, I would say pick one of the longer training plans. They start out with relatively low miles, akin to prepping for a 10K and the long run one day a week is really the only that should be challenging for you as long as you use a smart pace. I would think that this would give you a chance to see if you can tweak your nutrition enough to give you enough fuel for the long runs. If you decide it's not working right now, and don't want to sign up for the race, increasing your mileage will still help you improve your times of 5K and 10K so it's still a win! And there is nothing wrong with focusing on those distances.

The one I am looking at has a training plan, and it even has the dates to start each phase. It has a build up schedule that I could use (although I think I am doing more than that now, and it has a 19 week training schedule along with strength training designed for runners.

nurserunnermom

I am in the same boat as you! I am gearing up for my first 10 K in 2 weeks time and I hope to finish around 1:10 too. I already have my sights sets on a fall half marathon. I bought the book by runners world about marathon and half marathon training and it is really helping me to plan out my training. I highly recommend. Congrats on your first 10 k! Running is so awesome and I have never felt better since I've been training regularly! Keep in touch:)

mamajess242

Congratulations!

I will be running my first 10k in 2 weeks time.

A half marathon sounds great, but it will take loads more time and practice to get to that level, so as a mini goal, why don't you do another 10k but aim to improve your time to under an hour?

I'm going to friend request you now ;-)

ggluvbug1

Congratulations!

I will be running my first 10k in 2 weeks time.

A half marathon sounds great, but it will take loads more time and practice to get to that level, so as a mini goal, why don't you do another 10k but aim to improve your time to under an hour?

I'm going to friend request you now ;-)

Haha! That is exactly what I told my husband last night. I would like to do that by September. Friend request accepted.

corinne1977

I finished my first 10k yesterday in 1:10:16. I'm really happy about my time. Now to start training for a half marathon in November. :happy:

Daisy471

Congrats on your 10k! I'm the same pace as you - I've done four 10k's and three were between 1:09 & 1:11. The other, well bad weather (January in MI), fresh snow + hangover. I was somewhere around 1:20. I ran my second half marathon last week. It had been several years since my first one and I had stopped running for a while, so I was starting over. I ran a 10k just before I started my training plan for the half and did 2 more 10k's during my training. Those weeks were shorter mileage overall. It worked well for me, even if the benefits were purely mental. It was great after a 9 mile run to look at the schedule and realize that my longest run for the next week was a 10k. Anyways, you have plenty of time to get ready for a half. Find a plan that looks good to you and keep running consistently!

nurserunnermom

Great idea to do another 10 k but improve time to under 1 hour! you are right the training for a half is a big time commitment and being a full time RN, wife and mom to 2 little girls 2 and 4 so my time is limited but I'm sure I could do it if I really set my mind to it! Glad to see others bit by the running bug on here. Watching the Boston Marathon today was a huge inspiration. I will remember that when my alarm goes off at 6 am for my run tomorrow:)

snikkins

I actually signed up for my first half before my first 5k, although the 5k did happen first. I still haven't done a 10k. I really enjoy the half marathon distance. It's a friendly distance, so to speak. I used Hal Higdon's training plan and finished no problem! I'm the same way about being goal orientated.

For what it's worth, I totally think you got this! :drinker:

katkat28

Awesome work, congrats on finishing!
I just started running in January, and my first time race, a 10K will be this weekend. I'm so excited.
Personally I think I am going to work on getting my 10K to under 50 minutes before I attempt to train for the next level, a Half Marathon. I love love love running, and I'm so glad I've found a healthy form of exercise that I truly enjoy. I'm going to add you so that we can motivate each others. Anyone else..feel free to add me too:)

rduhlir

I am going to comment on the losing weight and training thing....

Yes...if you are wanting to compete and race the HM race then losing weight at the same time might not be a good idea. But that isn't what you are wanting to do, you are wanting to complete your first. The HM distance is kind of special that way. It is a longer distance race that will require -some- nutritional focus...but not so much that you won't be able to lose weight while doing it. This isn't the same as say training for a full marathon...where keeping your tank topped completely off is super important due to the high mileage weeks.

You will have to increase your calorie intake some...and if you haven't already I would strongly recommend doing a TDEE approach to this as it will give you a higher calorie intake to help keep you somewhat fueled for your runs as they start to get longer and longer, but at the same time will help to give you a deficit for the weight loss you want. Just to give you an idea...I was eating 1800 calories a day (2000 on long run days) when training for my first half and lost weight just fine.

aswearingen22

Congrat's on your 10k finish!! I think you're completely ready to train for a November half marathon! Keep your base what it is now, or maybe slightly increase, and then assuming training starts around July-August, you'll be more than ready. I ran up to a 5k distance for years, then had baby #2 and hadn't run much, but DH and I decided to run our first 5k when baby #2 was about a year old and I did that in 30mins w/o running much of anything before. We caught the racing bug, and signed up for our first half marathon 4 months later. We trained and it was hard (more because I trained on the treadmill over the winter instead of on the roads and was sick for 2 weeks before the race and messed me up mentally, DH did fantastic!), but it was plenty of time. It would be a great idea to find a 10k in September/early October to race to get a gauge for pacing for your half, you'll likely surprise yourself how you'll improve that time while training for a half!

ggluvbug1

I am going to comment on the losing weight and training thing....

Yes...if you are wanting to compete and race the HM race then losing weight at the same time might not be a good idea. But that isn't what you are wanting to do, you are wanting to complete your first. The HM distance is kind of special that way. It is a longer distance race that will require -some- nutritional focus...but not so much that you won't be able to lose weight while doing it. This isn't the same as say training for a full marathon...where keeping your tank topped completely off is super important due to the high mileage weeks.

You will have to increase your calorie intake some...and if you haven't already I would strongly recommend doing a TDEE approach to this as it will give you a higher calorie intake to help keep you somewhat fueled for your runs as they start to get longer and longer, but at the same time will help to give you a deficit for the weight loss you want. Just to give you an idea...I was eating 1800 calories a day (2000 on long run days) when training for my first half and lost weight just fine.

I was talking with my doc about this yesterday. I have been on a very restrictive calorie diet, and in 3 weeks, I haven't lost anything. She feels I am now too low on my calories and wants to transition me off the shakes and back to regular food. I am going to meet with the dietician at my next appointment in a couple of weeks and ask her about the approach and how I can make sure I am getting the right kinds of foods for my fitness goals. Thanks for your thoughts...

_Terrapin_

First congrats! A year ago I said I'd run a 10K in 2014, ran one last year, and another one two weeks ago. I said I wouldn't do a 1/2 marathon ever. SIgned up for one today for January 2015; so, keep plugging away and challenging yourself. Best of luck, enjoy, and keep going.