My road to Rio

The road is long
With many a winding turn
That leads us to who knows where
Who knows when
But I'm strong

Stevie G . wrote (see)

Andy, did you start off as a 5k speciailist, but then added a huge amount of training?

100miles a week is one hell of an input for the 10k and half times you quote...however, they look pretty soft compared to your 5k time, so should see an improvement soon I'd have thought.

Stevie G - i started off as an average jogger just wanting to run but not really knowing why, first ever run was exactly a mile in 6 mins, like alot of people i made the classic mistake of thinking you have to do every run flat out to get to professional standards ha ha how wrong that approach was after about 5 months of this i had done no official races but did a 10k in training each week "PB"ing with 41 mins, then heard about the Snowdonia marathon, waited till 18yrs old then did it in 4:12 (massive struggle, off of 25-30mpw) over the next 3years the mileage just crept up by the smallest bit each week, it was only when i got to 20 it occured to me that to get good i need to start focusing on specific  10k`s and HM`s then the really good PB`s started to happen.

Stevie G . wrote (see)

Have you taken advice in ramping up to 100miles a week, or got help in structuring it?

No i`ve been self coaching to be honest, though i have been watching these Forums/Threads to pick up any little bits of advice, well that and reading a whole range of Books about successfull people ie Charlie Spedding, Ron hill, Steve jones and the kenyans.

dean richardson 7 wrote (see)

to be honest at 21yrs old unless your times are in the 14mins i wouldnt be giving up women and beer.  some things are not worth giving up. 

Sorry Dean i dont mean to be disrespectfull or anything but i think thats a bit of a defeatist way to approach things, if we all thought that there wouldn`t be any good runners anywhere.

I think Dean was just trying to put some perspective on this particular situation, like a lot of people have attempted to do.  If the difference between a semi-elite runner becoming an also-ran or an Olympic contender was giving up 90% of their social habits, that's one thing.  If the Olympic thing is no more than a pipe-dream, for the time being you're better off trying to strike a sensible training/life balance and see where it takes you.  I don't think that's defeatist, I think it's pretty sensible.

I think the key to the OP developing a realistic approach will be the joining of an AC.

It's one thing coming high up in your average park run, where the atmosphere is casual, and the standard is low, but quite another thing when you're surrounded in your own club by younger and much faster runners.

And sex is good for stretching your calf muscles after an LSR!

If Jess Ennis can have a fiance (lucky bloke!) and train for 7 events then surely you don't have to give up on a GF just to run - even 100 miles a week is only about 12 hours - just harder to find the right GF - join a running club - hey presto - lots of fit young totty that shares your interest - bingo!!

Much better than being mentalled in a night club as a way of finding the right life partner.

So are we all agreed that Mike should join a running club?

Skinny, who said you were allowed to leave your training thread

And I'm not sure what running club's you've been lucky enough to be part of!!

PhilPub - i think it safe to say Mike Rushton should make joinng an athletics club the next thing he does.

Haha - I've never been a member of a running club! But I've been married for 20 years to a girl I copped off with when mentalled in a night club!

Mind you, I've got myself thinking about joining a running club now.....

Twins are a common result of IVF - he probably knocked one out when he was in his hydrogen freezer in an oxygen tank in Kenya and they flew them back to his wife as a Xmas present - about the right timing - think she's due next month.

andy the deestrider. wrote (see)

dean richardson 7 wrote (see)

to be honest at 21yrs old unless your times are in the 14mins i wouldnt be giving up women and beer.  some things are not worth giving up. 

Sorry Dean i dont mean to be disrespectfull or anything but i think thats a bit of a defeatist way to approach things, if we all thought that there wouldn`t be any good runners anywhere.

philpub hit the nail on the head....for example Mo took a sacrifice to move to US to train away from his family to find that missing nano % that turns a 4th place into a gold. I think we would all do the same at that level.  

But at the levels being discussed here i would be more worried about looking back over my youth in 10yrs and realising i hadnt been living them rather than worried i hadnt reached my potential as a runner.   A more rounded life will make a happier and faster runner in the long term. 

Paul Evans ran 33 mins for 10k off football training and after a few months of specific training ran 29 mins for 10k on a grass track at the age of 26/27. He ended up running sub 28 mins. So I would say that if the numbers don't add up to something like this then forget the future Olympics. I would wager that a potential beating 10k runner could break 33 mins for 10k when totally unfit. Its called potential. Can't turn a cart horse into a race horse, just a faster cart horse.

dean richardson 7 wrote (see)

 

But at the levels being discussed here i would be more worried about looking back over my youth in 10yrs and realising i hadnt been living them rather than worried i hadnt reached my potential as a runner.   A more rounded life will make a happier and faster runner in the long term. 

Fair point but i think the whole idea of MR`s first post was to simply talk about how he could become that good, all to often the olympic champins aretalked about asif they are some special breed of Human, when infact these things are possible if youre prepared to practically put 10-15 years of your life into, yes i understand that theres less than a 1% chance of actually making it, but theres no harm trying, although i think to take MR completely serious he would have to do way more than he currently does in my opinion.

Sussex i dont literally mean 15 years for everyone, some sports are different so may not take nowhere near as long as running, but some realise that there not massively talented and will therefore have to work alot harder an sacrifice more because the reward doesn`t come half as easily.

RicF wrote (see)

Paul Evans ran 33 mins for 10k off football training and after a few months of specific training ran 29 mins for 10k on a grass track at the age of 26/27. He ended up running sub 28 mins. So I would say that if the numbers don't add up to something like this then forget the future Olympics. I would wager that a potential beating 10k runner could break 33 mins for 10k when totally unfit. Its called potential. Can't turn a cart horse into a race horse, just a faster cart horse.

Ric - Good point - I've heard him tell that story a couple of times.

I think in most instances it becomes clear pretty quickly what kind of potential a runner has. The best 2 or 3 runners I know were running 34:xx minutes for 10k within a few months of training. These guys have gone on to become really good club runners but they are still nowhere near Olympic standard.

andy the deestrider. wrote (see)

Fair point but i think the whole idea of MR`s first post was to simply talk about how he could become that good, all to often the olympic champins aretalked about asif they are some special breed of Human, when infact these things are possible if youre prepared to practically put 10-15 years of your life into, yes i understand that theres less than a 1% chance of actually making it, but theres no harm trying, although i think to take MR completely serious he would have to do way more than he currently does in my opinion.

 

Andy I disagree. The olympic distance runners are "a special breed of human" in the sense that they are blessed with a level of genetic ability way beyond the norm. Sure they all work incredibly hard as well but someone can't reach olympic standard in distance running through hard work alone.

mike rushton wrote (see)

Nah im not trolling, infact I despise trolls, I am being serious.

May I ask for some advice? What pace should you run intervals? Should I run them faster, the same or slower than my current 5k race pace? Im kinda torn on what to do, I want to do what benefits me most.

I am currently a 17 year old running 14.15 for the 5km. If you have any hope of doing what you claim you want to do you need to join a club straight away and find yourself a good coach.  You will also want to start racing on the track at distances below the 5km because you willl find that at when running at a decent level all the best runners will have tremendous speed (i.e. Mo Farah runs a 53 at the end of 10k!). I can't begin to tell you how enormous a challenge you are undertaking!!!