Loosing weight and now... Need for speed!

[marco83]

i am using this website as a diary of my loosing weight- getting a better runner adventure, so some of my post won't be very interesting to most. Sorry for this will probably be one of them...

September is almost here and, after loosing 10 kilos (with 8 to go to normal weight) I am very much motivated to getting faster, at least on 5 and 10 Km.

I have a plan with reduced miles (compared to the past couple of months) and interval training, tempo run and all. But yesterday I only had a 30 minutes window to train so I wanted to make my time worth the effort. I decided to use it as a test.

I went on the loop in the picture; a very well known loop around my house, with some hills. I used the first 5 minutes to warm up, but not too slow and then I progressed to a tempo run. I pushed myself to the limit in the middle (downhill + flat) section and then kept it up in the final hill. I even manage to sprint in the end. This is a loop that at my fastest so far i have done in just below 30', but yesterday I really wanted to give it a try. It was tough! Legs and lungs were burning, but I start counting and miles passed by. I sprinted in the final 500 meters and at that point I was probably going faster than 4' per K.

I am very proud of how my body reacted to the challenge and changed in the last month of loosing weight, so I and needed to write this down as I am going to use this forum in the next couple of months to approach the 10 k race.

At the end the time stopped at 26:30! I could not believe it! I had to double check, can I really run this fast again ??? I am not sure how it happened. I checked and the time was in line with the time on the clock at home, so it must have been true. So I am closer to my 10 k goal, so today I am happy.

This post should help me when I will hit a wall in my training and will stop believing I can make it to 10K fast race Hope it wasn't too boring for who decided to read it all.

enjoy your running

Marco

[misswobble Graduate10]

Well done Marco! Now then, listen up. Take care. At this point you have to take care of yourself as you could go mad and get hurt. So, plenty of mixed running, distances, surfaces and hills. Running up hill SLOWLY is a great way of building up lung power. Less strain on your legs though if you run good and slow. I know you want to speed up but trust me running up hills really helps you get fitter and stronger. Slow running builds up your legs too, so it's not all about fast runs every time. You have to mix it up. Take some rest days too and do other exercise. Walk everywhere! Down hill running at speed is fantastic and I love it but it did buy me a 9 month stretch on the couch with an horrific shin splint, so bad I thought I had a broken leg. I would take extreme care on downhill runs til you've had time to build yourself up. Don't run them out of control yet!

Doing the uphill runs burns calories and will reveal your abs. Win win!

Keeping your log is a great idea. Fun but will help keep you focussed and get feedback from those who have been there or who want to do the same as you.

Have fun! Always!!

[marco83 in reply to misswobble]

Thanks for your reply and good suggestions Will have plenty of slow runs (for an idea, this morning I ran the same mileage in 36' ) and hills in the next few weeks preparing a 10 k. I am planning to take a couple of months for the preparation so that I can build it up slowly. I usually do not run on steep downhill (I prefer to recover walking when downhill) for the reason you highlighted.

thanks again for your post. have a great day

Marco

[Bluebirdrunner Graduate10]

Well done Marco..will follow your diary/posts with interest. 😊

[marco83]

this Saturday I wanted to assess my current situation before starting the full training for the 10K so I went to an unknown park run (which happens to be the one close to my house, with quite a few people very fit as it is a University park). I knew it was a fast course, but with a few hills and curves that make it fairly difficult and I also knew that with the fit people I was to be pushed in the first k and then try to stay there. And that's what I did!

I started with the first and ran my first Km with the firsts in 3:30!!!

That alone was an achievement for me as it is the fastest K in 13 years! Then I got a bit scared by the speed and i slowed down a bit (but probably everybody else did cause I kept the distance with the first group of people.

I ran the next 4 k on my own, with a guy about 100 meters ahead of me and another probably 100 mt. behind. I the end I was proud (and surprised at the same time) to see the time stopping at 19:43!!!! I could not believe it. I did it!!!Let than 20!

Not only, I got 7th!!! over 120 runners (87 men) and I got 7th

I am very pleased with what just happened and it will motivate to try and push my preparation for the 10 k. If I think that 3 years and a half ago I could not run for the bus (and definitely not at that speed for even 100mt.)

Enjoy your running!

Marco