Hal Higdon 10k Training Program: Novice (Progress Thread)

Day 4 of half marathon plan. 3 run days in a row, and feel pretty good. 4 mile run on Sunday should be no problem. Tomorrow i will do a recovery walk and stretching for my rest day, and Saturday i may do some mild upper body strength and core, and another recovery walk to get ready for the long run day.

joanthemom8 wrote: »

Your plan looks good! I eventually made it to 10k and my goal now is to 1) improve time for 5 and 10ks and 2) work up to 1/2 Marathon, which I'm planning to do at the end of March. BTW, I'm a "old *kitten* mama", lol, I'll be 53 this month and I didn't strart running until I was 46.

Thanks. I'm not going to worry about pace until i can run at least 10 miles as i want to insure i have a good aerobic base to build on. My problem up until this point has been doing too much higher intensity stuff and not making most of my runs long and at a conversational pace. I think by following this plan and doing my runs slower will actually help my pace (at least that's the theory), because i will be able to run further.

I'm old too. I'm 61 and started running at 60 (i ran back when i was in the army in the 1980's though). I'm sure you can work up to a half marathon no problem.

FrenchMob wrote: »

Take it from a guy that started running a few years ago and was impatient and stubborn, like yourself. Doing too much too fast will end your running via an injury. It's not if but when. I went from couch to a sub-25 min 5k in 4 months, and a sub-2 hr half marathon in 8 months, and shortly there after, developed a knee problem. That sidelined me for a long time, and I was afraid to run again. I've recently restarted again and taking it real easy this time, and stretching....stretch every day if you can after your run or walk especially the IT band.

Cross training is exactly that; power walking is not cross training, neither is walking. Cycling, swimming, elliptical, strength training...those are cross training. You need your running muscles, tendons and ligaments time to heal and get stronger, and pushing them every single day will lead to an overuse injury.

You said you're running in Z3 for those runs. You should be no higher than Z2, and clipping Z3 (due to HR creep) in the last 5-10 mins of the run. Anything more than that, you're pushing too hard.

Any VO2max readings from Garmin are garbage. Just ignore that.

Pick a plan and stick to it; trust the plan.

Good luck.

P.S. This is my website that I have used to track my progress since I started in 2010. http://www.FatGuysRedemption.com
I'm also on Garmin Connect; https://connect.garmin.com/modern/profile/rvachon1971

Thank you.

Zone 3 is conversational so that is what i go by. Once i start getting to the upper end of zone 3 or peeking into zone 4, it starts getting more difficult to converse.

I have been power walking for about 4 years every day, and when i say power walking, i mean pounding the ground, so my legs are pretty well developed by now. I will not do any power walking during this program, but i will do casual walks for recovery. There is no way i will not make my 10,000 steps per day goal (unless i get run over by a domino pizza guy and die).

Also i have been doing a lot more stretching, core, and strength training since i started this.

I connected with you on Garmin and also sent you a friend request on MFP.

dewd2 wrote: »

OldAssDude wrote: »

FrenchMob wrote: »

Take it from a guy that started running a few years ago and was impatient and stubborn, like yourself. Doing too much too fast will end your running via an injury. It's not if but when. I went from couch to a sub-25 min 5k in 4 months, and a sub-2 hr half marathon in 8 months, and shortly there after, developed a knee problem. That sidelined me for a long time, and I was afraid to run again. I've recently restarted again and taking it real easy this time, and stretching....stretch every day if you can after your run or walk especially the IT band.

Cross training is exactly that; power walking is not cross training, neither is walking. Cycling, swimming, elliptical, strength training...those are cross training. You need your running muscles, tendons and ligaments time to heal and get stronger, and pushing them every single day will lead to an overuse injury.

You said you're running in Z3 for those runs. You should be no higher than Z2, and clipping Z3 (due to HR creep) in the last 5-10 mins of the run. Anything more than that, you're pushing too hard.

Any VO2max readings from Garmin are garbage. Just ignore that.

Pick a plan and stick to it; trust the plan.

Good luck.

P.S. This is my website that I have used to track my progress since I started in 2010. http://www.FatGuysRedemption.com
I'm also on Garmin Connect; https://connect.garmin.com/modern/profile/rvachon1971

Thank you.

Zone 3 is conversational so that is what i go by. Once i start getting to the upper end of zone 3 or peeking into zone 4, it starts getting more difficult to converse.

I have been power walking for about 4 years every day, and when i say power walking, i mean pounding the ground, so my legs are pretty well developed by now. I will not do any power walking during this program, but i will do casual walks for recovery. There is no way i will not make my 10,000 steps per day goal (unless i get run over by a domino pizza guy and die).

Also i have been doing a lot more stretching, core, and strength training since i started this.

I connected with you on Garmin and also sent you a friend request on MFP.

There's another *kitten* number that someone pulled out of their *kitten*. Much like the 180 steps per minute, 10,000 steps per day has very little science behind it. On rest/cross training days I usually do not get close to 10k and I'm a perfectly happy with that. Chasing a number when your body tells you otherwise will do more to hold you back than help you get faster.

I'm not really chasing it. It's just a habit (good or bad depending on how someone looks at it), but i will say that if even casual walking starts affecting my run days, i will definitely back off on the walking. My goal is to run 13.1 miles in 12 weeks, and i will do my best to try and make that goal.

I've also been trying to pick up the cadence a little on my run days, but it makes my HR go up a little too high, and i feel like i'm getting a little bit out of the conversational zone, but i'm working on it.

dewd2 wrote: »

This may be my new favorite running quote: "The goal of workouts isn’t to prove fitness. It’s to improve fitness."

https://blog.strava.com/why-faster-might-not-be-better-17291/

I agree with not going balls to the wall all the time, but i also believe exercise should be challenging.

I am trying this program for 2 main reasons.

1. i want to be able to run at least 10 miles without stopping
2. it will force me to do longer less intense runs, which will help me achieve reason 1.

I know if i do most of my runs longer and keep the intensity below lactate threshold, that i will condition the right components needed for endurance running, and reduce the risk of injury.

Up until i started the program i did mainly run/power walk intervals. Either 30 second run (try to hit my MHR) 2 to 3 minute power walk, or 60 second run (just hit zone 5) 3 to 4 minute power walk. That's 10 to 16 intervals over a 3.9 mile distance depending on which intervals. One day on the weekend i would do a 7.3 mile course on hilly terrain. I would power walk most of the course at a pace that would keep me in zone 3/4, and certain parts i would run at a pace that would keep my in zone 4/5. Once in a while (maybe once every couple weeks) i would do a steady state run from 3 to 5 miles.

I know i should be doing the opposite. Most of my runs should be long low intensity runs, and once i can run 10 miles or more, i should not be worried about pace.

I have also been paying more attention to my perception of intensity and comparing it to what HR zone i am in at the time. Turns out, i feel like i can converse in zone 3 and even a little in zone 4 (i try to keep it about in the middle of zone 3 though). For about the first mile i don't feel like i can converse very well at all though.

Well... week 2 is complete...



For some reason i did not have a good feeling going into the 4 mile run today. I felt stressed about it. But then i thought that i could walk if needed. Don't know why i felt that way, but once i started running, i kept it at an easy pace, and it turned out to be a piece of cake. Probably could have run another mile, but i am sticking to the plan.

Next week adds another half mile to the Tuesday and Thursday runs, and a mile to the Sunday run. I am anxious to see how that pans out for me.

Week 3 complete.



Wednesday was a short run or cross day. I have not done intervals (or anything challenging for that matter) for a while, so i did intervals. 120 second run/ 180 second power walk intervals X 6. I hope that is not considered cheating.

Today my intent was to do 3 laps around the lake, which is 5.1 miles for my 5 mile run. When i got to the end of the 3rd lap, i still felt really good, so i did another lap which made it 6.84 miles. I kept the pace nice and easy the whole time, and i did feel a little fatigued after the 4th lap, but not too much. I probably could have done another lap but that would have been pushing it. I hope this is not cheating either, and tomorrow is a rest day anyway, so i don't think it's that big a deal.

One thing i do know now.

I can run a 10k pretty easily.

here is the interval workout on GC...

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/3234847928

And todays run on GC...

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/3242744204

Week 5 complete.



I had to switch my long run day to Saturday instead of Sunday, but the plan said that was ok to do.

Next week long run day says "5k race". Do I do that at a conversational pace too, or can I push it to see how fast I can run 5k?