Wanted to say Hi!

Hi all,

 

I wanted to say Hi to everyone on this forum. I have been running for a few months now and have managed about 3 10k runs so far with the best being about 54 minutes. My best time for 7.6k was 38 mins. I am finding it quite difficult to get my speed increased. I start of at around 7.5 min miles and then creep to 8.5 min miles and then 9 min miles. I am finding that the first 4 miles I am fine then after that when there is a hill I slow down. I always find the first 3k quite hard. Is this normal?

What is the best way to increase your speed and indurance?

cheers

 

Graham

I'm a newbie so not a lot of help been at it just under 2 months myself, but HI.

I'm sure the more experienced people will give you better answers but sounds to me like maybe you need to build up your stamina by maybe doing some slower but longer runs?

Steph

Hi Graham,

Firstly, you don't want to worry about speed too early in your running career. Speed training requires strong joints,so you want to let these get stronger over a few months before embarking seriously on speed training. Having said that, it you're really keen, you could start some fartlek, but just once a week, to minimise injury risk. Type the term into google, or the search facility here and it will come up with plenty of references.

Secondly, sounds like you may be starting most of your runs too fast. Hills inevitably slow us down, but in general, apart from the cool down, it's a good idea to get in the habit of running at such a pace that you finish more strongly that you start. (That takes a bit of pracitice and self -control!)

Good Luck

p.s. 54 minutes for a 10k isn't a bad starting point! Well done!

Hi Graham. I've been out of the running game for a while, so still just getting back into myself, but (as Steph says) I reckon you'd benefit most from some longer slower runs. Not only are they best for building endurance, they're also likely to be at the optimal fat-burning pace, so carrying less excess weight should always lead to quicker times.

I'd say try to run one long run a week (as well as any shorter runs you might want to do), increasing from 10k to 20k in 2k increments over the next six weeks, at about 10-11 min/mile pace.

Once that's established, some speed work will help get the pace even quicker - but looking at your times you probably just want to maintain a 8 min/mile for 10k (finishing in 50 mins - which is my 'comeback target' at the moment too!), which the endurance work will really help with.

Thanks guys, I am trying to stay with a 8k run on tues and thursday which I find easy to manage and then a 10k on Saturday. Will look up fartlek to see what it is.