My "post-grad" plans & a question
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CatShelton
Posts: 147 Member
My last run before I graduate is on wednesday! I am running a 5k on Saturday, and have one race per month planned through october. Some are longer distances, the longest being a 10K in September.
I do much better having a goal like a race to work towards. However, I am not a very fast runner at all. I run about an 11:30 mile, on a relatively flat course, about 12 min. with hills. I am going to concentrate on getting faster for a month or so. I downloaded an app called Fartlek drills, and will use that for about a month or so, doing 30-45 minute runs with fartlek drills to work on my speed. I also plan to run hill drills (with 4-7 repeats) once a week too. I am hoping to get my speed down to around 9-10 minute miles and then start working on get start working on getting my distance up to 10K distance.
I would like to continue adding distance without doing too many walking intervals though. Has anyone had any experience with this? Is it better to do the 10k program with the walking intervals or just add a quarter mile at a time, or whatnot? I guess what I am asking is, is steady state training better for distance, or intervals to work up to the distance?
~Cat
I do much better having a goal like a race to work towards. However, I am not a very fast runner at all. I run about an 11:30 mile, on a relatively flat course, about 12 min. with hills. I am going to concentrate on getting faster for a month or so. I downloaded an app called Fartlek drills, and will use that for about a month or so, doing 30-45 minute runs with fartlek drills to work on my speed. I also plan to run hill drills (with 4-7 repeats) once a week too. I am hoping to get my speed down to around 9-10 minute miles and then start working on get start working on getting my distance up to 10K distance.
I would like to continue adding distance without doing too many walking intervals though. Has anyone had any experience with this? Is it better to do the 10k program with the walking intervals or just add a quarter mile at a time, or whatnot? I guess what I am asking is, is steady state training better for distance, or intervals to work up to the distance?
~Cat
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Replies
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11:30 is actually a really good time for a new grad.
I use the Runner's World SmartCoach feature to develop personalized training plans.
If you look at professionally developed plans, you will see that most of them don't add speedwork until you've developed a base of about 10 miles per week. As a new runner, you are better equipped physiologically to add distance rather than speed. By the time you get your base up, you will have developed the joints and bone structure to get a lot faster (you'll get faster in the meantime anyway).
There are sound reasons why 10k plan include walking intervals. However, if that's not for you, there are many other plans to pick from. Active.com and Runner's World are two excellent online sources.
Also join us at the Bridge to 10k message board: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/forums/show/543-bridge-to-10k0 -
Fartleks are a great way to improve your speed. Hill runs are good too.0
