Advice from experienced runners PLZ

[Kevtrev]

I have completed 10K training Im going to complete my consolidation runs not sure how many to do and then I want to take it further do I increase it to an extra 1K every week or not as I eventually would love to run half a marathon any advice welcome please 😉 happy running fellow runners also I probably would like to do 10miles before a half marathon 😉

[Beachcomber66 Graduate10]

I did my own age adjusted version of roseabi’s plan on the marathon running and support community. Steady progress like the 10k plan as you suggest with even more cross training thrown in! I think you have done the hard bit getting from 0 to 10k. 😊

[Kevtrev Graduate10 in reply to Beachcomber66]

Thank you very much I will have a look into it 😉👍

[damienair Administrator]

I’d personally mix it up for a while between 5K runs and 1 long run per week just staying in or around 10K. I’d do that for a few months so as to build up the legs before moving on. Just keep doing what your doing, do parkrun, enter some 5K, 6K and 10K road races. Then next year enter a half marathon and train towards it 3-4 months out. Work on improving your 5K and 10K times.

Damien

[Kevtrev Graduate10 in reply to damienair]

Thank you Damien some very good sound advice 😉👍

[mrrun Graduate10]

At that stage I ran three times weekly - 5k, 5k intervals, and full 10k. Once l became comfortable with doing 10k every time (that took a few months), I then increased it and began preps for HM. In other words, you move up once the current distance becomes a norm. When you take up HM program, it's likely that you'll have to run 4 times per week with three consecutive running days so you want to be ready for that in order to minimise injury and fatigue risks. Take your sweet time with that, don't go rushing to demanding, structured programs until you are fully ready, and you will know when you are. Now l do 10k runs more than any other when not marathon training but that's a different topic..

[Pianism Graduate10 in reply to mrrun]

Oooh, this is good advice, thank you

[Kevtrev Graduate10 in reply to mrrun]

Thank you very much great advice I definitely will take my time and I will take it further only when I’m ready 😉👍

[Irishprincess Graduate10]

It depends on your body and general fitness level, age, etc. Some people can go from one stage to another fairly easily but I'd say that's rare and not without risk of injury. mrrun is right in his advice, consolidate and get used to running a 10K so that its your "norm". I ran a 10K once a week and did loads of races before I considered attempting to go further.

And mix it up too, hills, intervals, different terrain, it all adds to your running body and general stamina. If you don't already, start to cross train too. Weights and/or strengthening exercises are very good complements to running and a stronger body overall is a better prepared running body.

Once you come to go further then yes, you can add 1K a week to your longer run. Make sure you don't run beyond a 10% increase in your TOTAL weekly mileage and take a down week every three/four weeks when you reduce your mileage. A coach once told me this should be a 50% reduction although I kept mine around 30-40%.

Take your time and enjoy the journey. It's almost as much fun as the destination 🙂

[Kevtrev Graduate10 in reply to Irishprincess]

Thank you very much great advice and yes I’m going to do a good month of consolidation runs of 10K and only go further when I’m ready as I don’t want any injury’s so far injury free touch wood. And yes I do strength training as well I go to the gym 3 times a week I do legs push pull and running 3 times a week and diet and I’m loving it 😉👍

[Pianism Graduate10]

There's a 10-miler in Stockport in December that I'm training for. We're both at the 10k stage at the moment and there's time for an easy ramp up to 10 miles by then. Then I'm doing the HM in Manchester in May, all being well. Maybe you could consider one or both of those?

[Kevtrev Graduate10 in reply to Pianism]

Yes thank you Ian sounds great I’m definitely going to be doing the Manchester run as I’m absolutely loving it happy running 😉👍

[Realfoodieclub Graduate10]

Up to date I have always done the MyAsics (now Runkeeper) HM training plan and given myself an extra three months to train. It has me running predominantly 7kms then for the last few months it ups to 10,14 and 17km. I start training for my HM in November ready for HM late May. There are many different breakdowns for HM training, good luck, Rfc x