It's been a few weeks now since graduation and I've run a few 5K distances in that time, so tonight I decided to start increasing my running distance beyond 5K.
It seems the general consensus is to increase your distance by no more than 10%. Mind you, last night I read an interesting article where the author cast some doubt over this 'rule' and put forward a good argument whereby some people can increase their distance by more than this without any ill effects.
Anyway, my plan tonight was to slow my pace right down and just concentrate on running 5.5K. Slowing my pace was harder to do than I'd thought and I could certainly feel the the effect in my calf muscles (apparently, running slower/taking shorter strides, works different muscles in the legs).
I managed to keep my pace at around a minute slower than I normally run and reached 5.5K without too much trouble. This is where I was naughty I felt I could run further so decided to continue on to 6K which I completed in 39min 10sec. I could have continued on but decided not to push my luck and called it a day.
I intend running this distance once a week for the next two, possibly three, weeks then look at increasing it again. Not the fastest time but that wasn't the point of the run tonight. I'm also hoping to start to include speed runs and strength/hill runs with the aim of reaching a distance of 10K. Fingers crossed
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paul2014
Graduate
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You weren't too naughty, Paul! Well done; keep that up and you'll be at 10K in no time at all. That's the best thing to do, just keep adding distance to your long run each week and you'll soon be running much further.
As you have found , it is not so easy running slowly - it tends to be hard on the legs at first. BUT - this is the way the experts tell us should form the largest part of our training. Try to run these longer distances at "conversational" pace -- ie you should not have to concentrate on your breathing anymore than if you were simply walking down the road talking to a friend ( but you are actually running) . It is not easy to do - legs hurt and you feel a bit "silly" - but once you can do it, you can go for miles (or as long as your legs hold out!!)
I remember reading a post from you not so long ago where you commented on how difficult it was running slowly. I didn't realise how difficult until tonight I had the 'running at a conversational pace' in my mind tonight You're also right, you do feel a little self conscious running at a slow pace. I was wanting to speed up when approaching other runners but I resisted
I am sure you will be okay at that degree of naughtiness, Paul and in fact you could move on next week by the same amount I am sure, without severe risk of injury. If you resist the temptation to increase the length of run for as long as three weeks, I will be surprised.
As a guide, the 10% rule does seem a sensible and easily calculated rule of thumb, but obviously some can exceed this with no ill effects, while others will do themselves a nasty even by not increasing their distance at all. As I have said before, I think age and your general fitness levels prior to starting C25k can make a huge difference to what you can safely accomplish without injury. JuicyJu and moger have both suffered injuries recently (which may not be running related, for all I know) but frankly I was not that surprised to see that happen, as the distances they were both running did seem quite extreme to me.
Core strength building is essential to increasing distance without risk.
Hi Ian. I think you may well be right about resisting (or not!) the temptation to move on sooner and I agree about general fitness/age having an impact on whether this is manageable or not. If I hadn't felt I could manage that extra 0.5K tonight then I would have stopped at 5.5K but I felt comfortable so pushed on that little bit further
Good strategy to reduce your speed for getting the distance in, this was the mistake I made last year - I tried to increase distance while maintaining my 5k pace. All the same though take care, listen to your body and don't ignore warning signs - not meaning to patronise you there but I for one have ignored warning signs and regretted it. Enjoy your running - but don't be naughty too often
A work colleague, whose been running for years, keeps telling me to get the miles in your legs first and the speed will follow, so tonight I listened I'll definitely listen to my body. As I've said above, I would have been happy with 5.5K tonight but I felt so comfortable and my body wasn't complaining so I pushed on to 6K
Sounds like good going. I'm doing a similar thing myself but staggering my runs throughout the week. It's difficult to know how to proceed after C25K I thought, so I'm just sort of experimenting with this.
Let us know how you progress, I'd be interested to know
I think that's what I'm doing really, ie experimenting. To be honest, I've been experimenting with other things like running on empty or having meals before a run; how long to wait after eating before running etc. I think it's all a big learning curve but the beauty of this forum is we can all learn from each other.
hi Paul, well done! I´m experimenting too, using the C25k + podcast for now, but I will try to increase distance slowly soon. Good luck and keep posting your experiences!
Thanks, Ana. I've been thinking about using the c25k+ speed podcast but I haven't made a decision as yet. I may just end up combining fartlek with one of my 5K runs. We'll see. Good luck with your experimenting
Well done Paul. Naughty but nice. I started the B210K but really I'm just trying to mix things up a bit. I think I need the structure so I can doit without over-thinking
Thanks. I looked at B210k but it seems a bit full on at the moment so I've decided to just increase my distance every week or two. If/when I'm looking at entering a 10K then I'll prob use something like B210K to train on the run up to the race etc.
My own 10k was achieved going up in bigger chunks than 10% (there's a term for units that make human sense but I can't think what it was) but over a looong period of time and slowly, slowly, slowly.
That's interesting to know. My increase was (I think, as maths isn't my best subject!) 20% but I was more than comfortable with that increase. It's as you say, slowly, slowly
I was a little naughty and got a spanking on the knees for it! Having said that, I may have done 6,7,8 and then 10K in fairly rapid succession... I'm pretty good at maths so I know that's "breaking the rules" but I did have more than a few weeks of 5Ks under the belt and the body felt good again... so far so good... must treat it well for the next 10 days... race fast approaching... yikes! Getting a bit nervous now!
You'll be fine if you take it easy... cracking time BTW (again!)...
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