Progress and Advice

[Leeg1974]

Hi all,

Started on Couch to 5K back in August as a sedentary, overweight 47 year old. Managed to conquer 5K about 6 weeks ago (which seemed like an utterly impossible milestone back in August) and have since ran several park runs, now down to a PB of 24 minutes. Firstly, just wanted to say to everyone embarking on this journey and finding it tough, I know EXACTLY how you felt. It does get better and also more enjoyable, to the extent I now really look forward to my Saturday park runs!

My 17 year old son has been a great support and, having ran lots of 5k's with him, as well as 6k's and an 8k, we're going to go for a 10k road run tonight (which would have been the stuff of wild dreams only a few short weeks ago). Can anyone who's tackled longer runs tell me if these carb gels are a good idea to take with me? I've no idea if 10k will feel like uncharted waters after 8K, but I'm open to advice on anything I should do differently - not looking to break any world records, getting round in under an hour would be fine for starters!

Thanks in advance guys.

[Instructor57 Graduate]

I personally never take anything with me for 10k.Just make sure I am fully hydrated well before ...

Don't even take water unless running more than 10k

[Leeg1974 in reply to Instructor57]

Thank you - yep, I did previously take water/ diluting juice out, but it felt like a burden - always hydrate in advance now, although not so much as to have bladder issues!

[GoGo_JoJo Graduate]

Well done on getting to this stage! 👏🏻

I know it seems like a big one but you really shouldn't need a gel for a 10k.

I really wouldn't do anything differently, keep it nice and steady, have a nice chat and you'll be done before you know it.

If you have a tendency to get a dry mouth you might want a small amount of water on you, say 250ml to wet your whistle if needed but if not I wouldn't even worry about that, just enjoy it 👍🏻😁

Good luck!

[Leeg1974 in reply to GoGo_JoJo]

Cheers JoJo - think I might just go for diluted juice and a pre run banana as usual!

Dry mouth tends not to be an issue. Looking forward to it, as is my boy!

[MissUnderstanding]

I agree with the others-I wouldn’t take anything with me for 10k. I only started using gels for half marathon distance and I didn’t like them much!

The key thing is to find the easy, conversational pace that makes you feel like you can run forever. I found it much easier getting from 5k to 10k than 0k to 5k!

I’d personally ditch the aim to try get under an hour. It’ll be a big achievement just to cover the distance and speed can come later.

Hope it goes well. 🏃‍♀️ 🏃‍♀️ 🏃‍♀️

[Leeg1974 in reply to MissUnderstanding]

Cheers MissUnderstanding. Yeah, I won't be upset if it doesn't break the hour mark, I see this as a good stamina builder, which will help with the Park Run times - my aim is to get down to 21mins by early next year on the flat, although I appreciate the rate of improvement will start to tail off at some point - there's a guy who goes to my local park run and does just over 15 minutes - I'm not aspiring to his level!!!

[Cmoi Graduate]

Hi Leeg1974 , I wouldn't take anything with me for 10k, I'd just ensure I was properly hydrated in advance.

However, bearing in mind this and your other posts, I'd advise you to stop looking at pace, stop pushing for speed, and instead slow things down. Even elites run 80% of their runs at easy pace! It's running slow that will help build your aerobic base and get faster in the longer term.

Have a look at these links: runnersconnect.net/80-easy-... and runnersworld.com/uk/trainin...

You're a very new runner, and you're fifteen years younger than I am, so you have decades to develop your running. I understand the temptation to do as much as possible as soon as possible - that's how I was when I'd just completed C25K - but dialling things back a bit will benefit you more in the longer term.

Enjoy your run!

[Leeg1974 in reply to Cmoi]

Thanks Cmoi. When I started out back in August, I was 2.5 stones heavier than I am now and, having let my fitness slide, even the 1 minute interval runs were difficult. I've been very attentive to both diet and exercise in the prevailing months, so my gains have been fairly quick, as weight loss and fitness improvement have gone hand-in-hand. I'm also lucky to have been fairly quick when I was (much) younger, so I guess some of this is still residually there. Definitely won't be pushing too hard tonight, but really looking forward to it.

I'm not outwardly competitive, but guilty of setting a really high standard for myself,. which can have its detriments!

[SueAppleRun Graduate]

If you expect to get 10k in under an hour you shouldn't need anything, if you are running over an hour take water,

[GoGo_JoJo Graduate]

So how did it go?

[Leeg1974 in reply to GoGo_JoJo]

Sorry for not replying sooner - yep, went well, we got around in just under an hour. After about 5-6K, we seemed to sort-of enter an equilibrium, where we felt we could have ran forever - really enjoyed it actually, satisfying to reach a landmark.

[GoGo_JoJo Graduate in reply to Leeg1974]

Fantastic, well done 👏🏻 😁