Development

Hi great to see so much support on here so thought id start my own thread to see if some of you regulars can help me to develop my running.

I've been running for a couple of months now and recentley completed a 10k race in a time of 57:23 which i was very please with. I am currently very overweight so want to keep the running going as im starting to see the benefits and to be honest im really loving it. My problem is that now ive done a race (which helped me to keep focused) im now at a loss as to how to keep motivated and focused and move on especially with winter coming up. 

Due to family and work committments i can only commit to running 3/4 times a week. Has anyone got any tips on how i can keep myself motivated and develop my running further i.e what training i should be doing to get faster and go further? 

Any tips greatfully appreciated as I dont want to loose motivation and go back to being a lasy slob on the couch

Well, one simple solution - enter another race? Seriously, find one about 4 to 6 weeks away, so you know you have to train for it, and can't just sit back down - and go for it. You have a target now, and believe me, the second race is a LOT easier than the first! You know what it feels like to be in a group, to race that far etc etc.... as long as you don't pick something much much harder you should hit a PB next time...and then the motivation continues further...

More advice - set yourself a weight target, set yourself a pace target, set youself a distance target. At the moment you need measurable performance, if you see improvements you'll keep going. There's no point saying "I'm going to lose 10kg" - say i'm going to lose 1kg...and do it...then another 1....little boosts every week or two are much better than aiming for a big boost 2 months away and never getting there. Conversely, if you don't hit a target, don't beat yourself up, and don't quit just because you missed one. We all miss targets... it's not the end of the world - just make yourself more determined not to miss the next one....

3 to 4 times a week is perfect - if you run more than that whilst still being new and overweight then you're asking for injury troubles... Just to give you an idea - I run 4 times a week...and at the end of August I completed the 60mile long Ultra Tour Peak District... so you don't NEED to be doing more than that at the beginning - just enjoy the runs, and make them count

Thanks for the advice ultrarocker. I will certanly look at what races are happening in the next few weeks and am really keen to set small yet achievable targets. Thats been my fault in the past is that i set goals to high and when ive not met them ive given up and the cycle repeats itself, thats why im keen to keep going this time.

Not sure Ill ever get to the stage of an Ultra run though  but seriousley thanks for taking the time to give me some advice

Hey no problem - anything else you wanna know, just ask

It takes a special kind of stupidity to run an ultra