Running -- opinions, please :)

danibrosseau
danibrosseau Posts: 45
in Fitness and Exercise
Heya.

So... I've always been a runner. I've been recovering, though, from a PCL tear I got in February. I used C25K to pace myself getting back into running so that I wouldn't be tempted to do too much too fast. Now that I've reached a comfortable 5k, I was wondering if you guys would recommend working up to a 10k or improving my 5k speed first? I used to run a 5k much faster than I can now... but I also used to have much longer daily runs. I'm just not sure which to focus on first to get back to where I used to be, speed or distance?

Thanks. :)

Replies

  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
    I think you can do both. I've been following Hal Higdon's novice 10k plan. I do one longer run, which is the one that eventually increases to 10k, one mid-length (2.5-3.5 miles), and one short (2 mile) run each week. For the short run, I alternate each week between a regular straight run but at a slightly faster speed and 20-25 minutes of intervals. I've had a decrease in my 5k time along the way.
  • hermann341
    hermann341 Posts: 443 Member
    I think if you concentrate on distance, the speed will naturally come back anyways.
  • stuffinmuffin
    stuffinmuffin Posts: 985 Member
    Are you doing any cross training? As this might help improve your recovery and progress back into running too.
  • badbcatha05
    badbcatha05 Posts: 200 Member
    I've found personally that as I increased my overall distance, my speed has increased without working at it. Work up towards the 10K, and I think you will see your 5K time go down.
  • wolfgate
    wolfgate Posts: 321 Member
    I think if you concentrate on distance, the speed will naturally come back anyways.

    This. I've had to come back from a couple of significant downtimes over the years. I firmly believe the right path is to rebuild endurance first, and then add back in any speed training. The truth is most of the lost speed came back just from rebuilding endurance. It was that last 30-45 seconds of the 5k time that took adding back in the focus on speed.

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