First 10k

Hi I'm new to the site so please be gentle lol, I downloaded the popular Nike plus running ap a 15/08/12 and have really got the bug for running I am really getting into it although at the moment I don't have any of the right equipment clothes shoes etc. I'm 30 6ft 2ins and around 13st I play football at a competitive level and consider myself to be generally quite fit, now I know it's all relative but I just went for an 8 mile run constantly churning out 7 minute miles and completed 10k in 44 mins. Is this decent for what I consider myself a novice and will I improve running this once a week with a few shorter runs in between ?

Yeah, for a first 10km that's pretty good, especially considering in a real race you might well be quicker still.
If you really get the bug, why not look at training schedules and/or joining a running club? You might well be fit already, but you'll reap rewards from focused running training.

That is pretty quick. Especially for someone with no structured running training.

As part of an 8 miler it's even more impressive.

You probably will improve if you keep doing that once a week but you could improve quicker and more if you structure your training differently.

What do you want to improve? Your pace or distance? Or both?

Do you have a goal in mind?

Yes, its a good time if you aint doing much running.  If you do more I would imagine you could get a lot better given your age etc and your current time without much running practice.

That said my friend is a professional footballer (34 Years Old ) and he does 10k's in 38 minutes just as a point of reference. In footballing terms he is not regarded as a very quick player but that I guess this is due to his acceleration over shorter distances.

Well I'm registering for the Birmingham half marathon at the end of October but I would like to improve my time,distance and all round game really.

Thanks for your help what do you mean by structured training ?

Try and follow a structured training schedule, this wil include usually one long run per week, a speed session such as intervals or tempo running and some shorter runs.

I've never used this but just found it, it might be helpful.

http://my.asics.co.uk/my/plan/new

I have followed these plans

http://www.209events.com/file/256.pdf

And generally if you stick to it closely it works.

Its really worthwhile reading the text at the top as well.

The only thing is you will need to be a little careful about injury, don't just steam into loads of training, try a long run at the weekend at say 9 min mile pace and see how you go, endurance is going to be the hardest thing to develop in time for October, I wouldn't worry about pace too much just now as you have plenty of pace for the half marathon distance.

In all honesty it's very unlikely that you will get to run a half marathon at 7 min miles in time so you will need to slow down a bit.

Try the long run when you can, keep it slow which will take some self controll if your used to 7 min miles and reevaluate from there.

Hope that helps.

Jim

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Thanks Jim I did have thoughts along 8:30 as an average for the half marathon I really appriecate it.

I'd say that is pretty realistic.

You don't need to run as fast as your target race pace for your long runs but might want to run at target pace for 20mins during the week to get a feel of it.

Jog slow as a warm up before and after for say 10 mins.