Hi all, first post here (or anywhere!) so apologies if it's a little self indulgent, but I'm not used to doing this!
I finished the C25k three weeks ago, and really enjoyed it! I've never been able to run consistently for more than a few minutes ever (in my 41 years), so this has been a massive breakthrough. I've since kept up the routine of running every second morning without fail.
Halfway through the C25k, I felt like I needed to set myself a long term goal, so I signed up for the big annual 10k run here in Brisbane on 29th August.
Since finishing the C25k, I've now progressed to 7km non stop, and 5km under 30 mins. What I would really like to achieve at this stage now though, is to be able to complete the 10km at the end of August in under 60 mins. I'm pretty confident in being able to complete the 10km, but haven't pushed myself and increased my distance gradually as I'm fearful of injury.
So after all of that, my question is, does anyone feel that this is achievable in this time frame, and should I be doing something else in order to get to this there? Or should I be more realistic and just progress as I am?
Thanks to the wonderful and supportive community here!
Simon.
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Simon-Bris
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Hello and welcome Simon 🙂 As you say, this is a great community and I hope you’ll be here for months and years to come.
First of all well done on graduating and on sticking to a routine of running. It sounds as if you’re really loving it!
I’m surprised you’ve moved on to 7K so quickly after graduation. Generally we recommend a period of consolidation by running 30 minutes three times a week in order to start building stamina and strength. While fitness comes pretty quickly in new runners, the muscles and tendons take a while to catch up and so by doing too much too soon you run the risk of injury. These forums are full of such tales, sadly.
It takes several months, up to a year, to develop a strong running body that can cope with the demands of speed and distance, both of which you’re trying to achieve in a very short period of time.
You have been lucky that you’ve not been injured thus far and perhaps you’ll continue to be lucky and achieve what you want. However this comes with risk. I’m sure the last thing you want is to have to stop running for several weeks while waiting for an injury to heal ☹️ Presumably you want running to be in your life long term.
By all means go ahead with the race, you’ve reached 7K and it’s my belief that you could run 10K on race day without pushing further distance now but with plenty of consolidation and slow runs between now and then. It’s the slow runs in training that will eventually give you speed but this takes time. Running the race fast is a high risk strategy. You might get away with it but do you want to take that risk?
Obviously this is your choice but I’d hate to see such an enthusiastic new runner get injured so early on in his running life.
Good luck and keep us updated on how you’re getting on 🙂
Thanks Irishprincess for such a lengthy response! I really do appreciate it!
You're absolutely right, the last thing I want is an injury, I just have to not let my enthusiasm get the better of me. I've been trying to limit my increases to 10% a week, but maybe it is still too much.
Yes it's achievable, especially if you can do 5k in under 30. It's just maintaining that pace for 10k, build towards it steadily adding a little further each run. Shorter speed runs also help, i like to maybe do 3 or 4 short 5k runs of which maybe one of them il try to go fast/PB hunting. Plus a 10k or 2 when want to go a little longer. When building up to half marathon i just ran at steady pace and added a km or 2 onto each run and got up to distance pretty quickly.
Your 5k is already quick enough so I'm very confident you will achieve 10k in under 60 pretty quickly 👍🏻
10K is definitely achievable if you are running 7K now but I would say trying to do it at a pace below 6min/Km is going to be very difficult and you will be risking injury. I would recommend you go the other way and run it slowly. 70mins gives you an extra 1min a KM which is a lot and will help lower the intensity.
I am a similar age to you and ran my first 10K three weeks ago - I run them every week now, my PB is 69mins and I don't see that coming down below 60min for at least 3 months.
Thanks Thommo23 , and congrats on getting to 10k yourself! Yeah, I think I will just focus on the consistency for the moment - that seems to be the general consensus. 😀
Honestly? I'd work on consolidating where you're already at, and then getting to 10k at a slower pace, rather than pushing it.
I started C25K just under 14 months ago and I've only managed one sub-60 10k, but several sub-30 5ks. Admittedly I'm female, almost 20 years older than you, run hills (elevation gain over 10k is usually 220m-290m) and prefer distance to speed, so our situations aren't comparable.
But really, if you take it slower you have more chance of building strength and reduced risk of injury. If things are going really well on race day, then you can always speed up in the second part of the run. Better that than overdo it beforehand and end up not being able to run at all.
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