Help! Focus on faster or longer?

ChasingStarlight

I have been running for a year. There is a good fun run coming up in my area in October which has a nice half marathon course- no loops and pretty flat. The 10 k course is pretty much the same as the one I did in July.

I am tempted to do the half, as I just did a 14 k (8.7 mile) run so could easily build up the distance, but I am slow. Should I go for a slow half or try to run a quicker 10k? I recently have been running quicker, but don't want to embarrass myself!

Here are some egs of my times in fun runs (I know I am not breaking any land speed records!)

Nov 2011 8k 53 minutes
April 2012 10k 62 minutes
May 2012 8k 47 minutes
July 2012 10k 56 minutes
August 2012 14k 84 minutes (but ran it with a slower friend and very hilly)
August 2012 8k (not a race) 43 minutes

DG_Allen

Hey There,

You've done a sub 1 hour 10k, that's not that bad. There are people a LOT slower than you.

I think it all depends on your goals. Do you want to run a marathon some day?? If so, then start increasing you long SLOW runs and build your endurace. You should also do some speed work and tempo runs to increase your bodies ability to work hard for longer periods of time. That will improve your times in short races like 5k and 10k. If you have no interest in doing the longer distances, then just go for the 10k and work mostly on speed.

That half you describe sounds pretty fun. I bet you could do it in under two hours if you train. I'm training for a half right now and I'm using SmartCoach on Runnersworld.com. You should check it out. I'm also going to run another 5k on Sept. 1 and go for a PR just to see where I'm at with my training and fine tune my plan heading into the half in late October.

What do you think?

mortyfit

TOPIC: Help! Focus on faster or longer?
heh--"That's what she said........"

Couldn't pass it up.

mikeyrp

Personally I think you can and will do both in parallel - long runs increase your endurance which then gives you strength and confidence to do short runs faster - which improves the efficiency of your running so your long runs get quicker: its a positive circle!

I'm a big fan of the Half Marathon distance: its an achievable goal, it requires proper training discipline, it doesn't sap your time like marathon training does and it burns plenty of calories.

I'm currently working on improving my half marathon time and preparing for a triathlon: there is a really good program I'm using called 'Run Less Run Faster' - here are some links you might find useful.

http://www.runlessrunfaster.com/ (Calculator)
http://www2.furman.edu/sites/first/Documents/Marathon Training Program-metric.pdf (Marathon programme)
http://www2.furman.edu/sites/first/Documents/Half Marathon Training Program - metric.pdf (Half Marathon)
http://www2.furman.edu/sites/first/Documents/10K Training Program-metric.pdf (10K)
http://www2.furman.edu/sites/first/Documents/5K Training Program-metric.pdf (5K)

ChasingStarlight

TOPIC: Help! Focus on faster or longer?
heh--"That's what she said........"

Couldn't pass it up.

Hey, this is the running forum! I know the answer to the other question without help! Do you want do know the answer ?

ChasingStarlight

Thanks Dave and mikeyrp, I think I'll do the half. Scary! I will check out those links.

mortyfit

You can also build custom training plans on Runnersworld.com, just put in your current weekly mileage, how hard you want to train, your finish time for a recent distance, and the date/distance of the race you want to train for. It will generate a day-by-day program for how many miles, how fast, and what type of run (easy, tempo, speedwork, long run, rest day, etc). I'm in week #18 of mine training for marathons in December and February.

Good luck!

camrunner

TOPIC: Help! Focus on faster or longer?
heh--"That's what she said........"

Couldn't pass it up.

Hey, this is the running forum! I know the answer to the other question without help! Do you want do know the answer ?

I'm listening... for both answers, honest!

gavini

Personally I think you can and will do both in parallel - long runs increase your endurance which then gives you strength and confidence to do short runs faster - which improves the efficiency of your running so your long runs get quicker: its a positive circle!

I'm a big fan of the Half Marathon distance: its an achievable goal, it requires proper training discipline, it doesn't sap your time like marathon training does and it burns plenty of calories.

I'm currently working on improving my half marathon time and preparing for a triathlon: there is a really good program I'm using called 'Run Less Run Faster' - here are some links you might find useful.

http://www.runlessrunfaster.com/ (Calculator)
http://www2.furman.edu/sites/first/Documents/Marathon Training Program-metric.pdf (Marathon programme)
http://www2.furman.edu/sites/first/Documents/Half Marathon Training Program - metric.pdf (Half Marathon)
http://www2.furman.edu/sites/first/Documents/10K Training Program-metric.pdf (10K)
http://www2.furman.edu/sites/first/Documents/5K Training Program-metric.pdf (5K)

i am a big fan of the Furman FIRST program, i use it to train for marathons and it has helped me get a lot faster

kgprice11

bump bumped bump

ChasingStarlight

Thanks, i have got a custom training program from Runnersworld.

I went for the moderate program first, but it looked too easy as I run longer than that normally. So then I went harder because that is how I like it (as opposed to faster or longer).

It looks good- i coincidentally did the almost exactly the specified run today already.

scottb81

After running a year you should be more than ready to start working on speed, and it can be improved through more easy running and specific speed sessions. I would recommend you get a book like Daniel's Running Formula that lays it all out in detail. It's better to understand the principals behind what you are doing so you can work your program to fit your needs and abilities than to follow a more generalized pre-made program.