Hello all. I hope you’re all (if you’re in the UK) adjusting to what now seems like the permanent shift to Autumn weather. My last post involved me flirting with starting a training plan in the NRC. At first I was going to give the HM a go (as that’s my race target for the new year), but after returning from a late summer hol I realised that although I was confident I could do the HM distance, I’d never really focussed on optimising my 10k time, pace and comfort.
Feel free to judge but I skipped the first few weeks of the NRC 10k plan and started at week 4. I now see what many of you see in Coach Bennet’s guided runs, at first they were a bit cheesy (ok they’re still a bit cheesy) but they really make you think about how you are running, why, etc. After a couple of weeks on the plan I beat my PB for 5k, and today took 3 mins off of my previous 10k time!!! I felt like I’d pushed a little harder but didn’t feel like I’d struggled so maybe there's a bit more to give….
Along the route I caught sight of a small murmuration of starlings (?), it’s not easy taking a photo of a shifting target whilst running so I’don’t think this quite captures the event but it’s the first time I’ve seen them here.
I’m doing 4 runs a week out of the 5, dropping one of the recovery runs, (that would be quite a tall order with my current day to day) and I feel likes that’s about right to get a good 10k and build the comfort, pace and stamina to move on to HM. Does anyone else “tailor” the plans, and do you think it has a massively different effect?
Thanks all for the suggestions previously as I needed a bit of structure to my weekly runs, and I’m now a CB convert!! One question, once I’m happy to move up from the 10k plan, is HM the next natural step or should I consider something else?
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Congratulations on your PBs and that’s a great photo too. I also have always tailored my plans to my life. I think it helps it feel like a more ownable plan if you’ve crafted it to work for you. As long as you are not pulling out too much of the critical weekly runs it should be fine. Personally I find it difficult to run 5days. My current structure is a three day week. It seems to work if I make those three effective runs. As I get older I find the rest days to be more valuable. What I still am hugely deficient in is the strength work. 🙂
Thanks Decker , I’m current doing 2 of the recovery runs, the speed run and long run. I’ve always been able to fit in 3 runs a week and made a conscious effort to do 4 with this plan but it’s not that easy so there will be times I’ll only do 3. I felt I was coasting a bit and although happy with the distance I could run felt I need to mix things up a bit.
It sounds as if your training is going well. Well done on the PBs!
I have never used NRC plans and use Hal Higdon for HMs running three times a week which suits me and my life, but if you're getting on with what you have then keep going.
Many people aim for 10 miles between 10K and HM distance and you are entitled to a nice new shiny badge on this forum once you reach 10 miles, so that’s something else to aim for perhaps? Also, a lot of HM training plans take you to 10 miles in training and then you cover the remaining 3 miles on the day.
There was an HM in Eastbourne in October that sparked my interest in the training plan for a HM but I decided to take this Autumn / Winter to concentrate more on building up time / pace / stamina over 10K and 10M. There is another in May and the South Downs HM in June / July which I think are going to be my targets,
Focussing on 10M next is a really helpful bit of advice, I have run that distance before but at a bit of a struggle as I hadn’t really consolidated 10k etc.
I did use the HM plan, and have now moved onto the Marathon plan. I do three runs per week. The longest recovery run, the speed run and the long run. I like the marathon plan because it links into the Nike Training Club app which encourages me to do strength flexibility and yoga stuff with video trainers. The latter would otherwise not get done! Like you, it has speeded up my runs and improved strength and fitness. Really good; my brain edits out the cheese now 🙂.
Fab photo.Starting at week 4 is just fine if you're ready for it - CB advocates flexibility!
I've been doing the HM plan; I chose to run every other day, but I still do all five runs (so each 'week' takes me 10 days). That means the plan take longer but I had lots of time before my event so it worked. Dropping some runs is fine too, though best to keep variety in the runs you choose (long, speed/hills, recovery).
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B220K - W5R2
HHM Training - Week 4 Day 6
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