Preparing for bridging

[SteffHazlehurst]

I've heeded the advice and I'm playing consolidating for a few weeks doing 5k three times a week before moving onto longer distances, and I thought I should ask myself *why* I want to go further?

*Because someone who knows how to push my buttons is niggling me to do so, and it seems ok to consider doing a couple of 10ks in September & October, just to see how it goes?

*Because if I can go further, then more interesting routes are available to me - it's quite hard to make 5km loops in my (rural) area, but if I can go a bit further, it really opens the options

*Because it's another programme to follow and that gives me a nice structure without having to think too hard

I'll keep working on that one!

Meanwhile I'm trying to understand if I need to go slower to go further. Lots of these training plans talk about 'easy pace' and 'tempo' and I don't really know what those are, except that I'm really not up to holding conversation whilst running (or since the sheep aren't great for conversation, I can't often sing along to my music whilst running). Do I need to slow down? How much do I need to slow down? How do I set off at the 'right' pace?

[Razouski]

I'm sure one of the admins will have some guidance for you about pace, that's based on science. I didn't slow down to increase my distance. I had found a pace that I felt comfortable for when running 5k and generally ran the same pace as my distance increased, although with distance comes not only longer and more interesting routes but also hills! Well you don't have to have hills, but I find them harder to avoid the more distance I'm running (and that's mainly because I won't run laps - I'd rather do the dreaded hills than to run two or more times round the same loop.

I'm also not convinced I could hold a conversation while running (and you'll see from my posts, that although I do sing along to my music while running - often making up alternative lyrics - I usually only sing-a-long-a in the privacy of my own head). You'll gradually find your own happy pace I'm sure.

[Irishprincess Graduate10]

The only reason I increased my distance was because I wanted some bling and I couldn't find 5K races near me so had to get to 10K. I ran 5/6K's for about a year before even thinking about distance and I look back on that time with joy and a big smile because there was absolutely no pressure and I just explored what my body could do. I loved it.

Don't let someone else pressurise you to run longer/faster/whatever. This has got to be your decision but I agree with your other points. Mix it up, hills, intervals, off-road and consider cross training on your rest days to complement your running.

In general you do have to run slower to run further. Certainly to begin with so your body can get used to the increase. After a while you can speed up but get the distance done first. The pace thing is trial and error. Try talking to yourself while you run or say a nursery rhyme. If you can say it without puffing then that's your pace.

Good luck and enjoy 🙂