10k

likitisplit

I did a virtual 10k for Mother's Day: 1:12:14.

The cool thing was that I was almost doing negative splits the whole way, just running by feel.

Mile 1 - 12:00 (This might have included my warm up walk)
Mile 2 - 12:41
Mile 3 - 11:37
Mile 4 - 18:10 (I think this was my turnaround)
Mile 5 - 11:40
Mile 6 - 7:11
Mile 7 - 12:14 (this might have included my cool down walk)

(Since Endomondo believed in me enough to not alert me to my cool down walk, the last quarter mile I ran was in 7:21.)

timeasterday

Wow, that's pretty awesome! Is this your first time running 10k? You did great!

likitisplit

It's actually my long run. But this was a *race* I paid money! And will get a t-shirt and everything!

And I just that many people think it's crazy to pay money to run a course you could run for free 364 days a year when there's a couple of hundred people doing it *with* you. "You know you're a runner when...."

bttrthanevr

WOW WOW WOW I am so impressed!!!! I can't even begin to tell you how impressed I am! I am just starting the bridge to 10K and I hope I will get there, but I can't imagine it yet.

KathleenKP

It's not crazy, though. It gives us goals to work toward. I mean...I know you CAN run on your own, and you could organize a free 10K with a group of friends and work towards that, but it's just fun to have that race to look forward to.

That's a great run! You are on your way to that half marathon training, too, aren't you?

mamakira

Maybe that is a silly question but what is a "virtual" 10k?
1:12:14 is an awesome time for 10k!!!!

likitisplit

What I did was sign up on the internet, ran 6.2 miles on a course of my choice and timed myself (it had to be on May 11th or 12th), and then entered my time in on the website. I should be getting a finisher's shirt along here shortly. The real race took place in Colorado, but there were people all over the US participating in the virtual race. It was really fun.

There was one guy who was walking on the trail with his girlfriend - I was on my fifth mile and just flying. Everything was coming together perfectly - and he looked over at me and just smiled. I could tell that he was a runner too and I had just ignited him. I hope he had a great run that day.

What's really crazy is that all this is really recent. I've only just bumped up to a 6 mile long run and my very best and fastest time on a completely flat course and only for a mile was 11:30 just about 3-4 weeks ago. Now it's 9:55 or better and I'm beginning to hit a 10 minute mile pretty regularly for at least one to two miles during my runs.

This is part of the reason why I'm so adamant about not needing to focus on speed right after C25k - you get those base miles in and you'll go from a 15 minute mile on a good day to an 10 minute mile without half trying in just a couple of months. And you won't injure yourself by doing too much at one time. I mean, even I've been able to do it, right?

bttrthanevr

I'm so so so happy for you!!!

I wish I could believe you that one day suddenly I'll go from my 14 minute mile long run pace to a 10 minute mile!

What plan did you follow after completing 5k?

likitisplit

I ran 4 days a week for awhile, then I dialed up a 5k plan on the SmartCoach program on Runner's World.

The funny thing is that it looks exactly like a 10k plan, because the first thing any plan does to a new runner is increase your base and then start you on speed. So, whatever your goals: 5k, Speed, Marathon, you'll be doing the same thing for the first 3-6 months after c25k.

The bonus is that, as a new runner, you have huge capacity. So you can make great gains without incredible sacrifice because you haven't even started really pushing yourself yet (I know it feels hard now, you have to trust me on this). At some point, we'll all have to ask ourselves whether an extra 30 seconds is worth the additional risk of injury but, right now, our legs just eat it up.