After I hit 5 km...



S

synecdoche

Guest
I am working through the Cool Runnings Couch to 5K program. I am
finishing week 5 tomorrow, and am looking toward what is going to
happen after I finish the whole program. Does anybody have any tips on
how to follow up? I'm more interested in building up to 10km at this
point (over time of course) rather than going super fast. When i can
do 10 km I'll work on speed. Leastaways, that is what my uninformed
mind was thinking.

For what it is worth, I quite literally am going from couch to 5 km. :)
I was an athlete in high school (am 24 now) but fell out of it all
when I went away to university and am trying to get back into it. I
run on a treadmill for now but when the weather improves (where I live
is very cold and icy this time of year) I'll be going out to do
roadwork, I think.

At the moment I am doing 12 minute mile and feeling great.

I appreciate any tips! Thanks!
 
On 23 Dec 2005 18:54:47 -0800, "synecdoche" <[email protected]>
wrote:

>and am looking toward what is going to
>happen after I finish the whole program. Does anybody have any tips on
>how to follow up?


Your knees give out, you have knee replacement surgery, and never run
again.
 
synecdoche wrote:
> I am working through the Cool Runnings Couch to 5K program. I am
> finishing week 5 tomorrow, and am looking toward what is going to
> happen after I finish the whole program. Does anybody have any tips on
> how to follow up? I'm more interested in building up to 10km at this
> point (over time of course) rather than going super fast. When i can
> do 10 km I'll work on speed. Leastaways, that is what my uninformed
> mind was thinking.
>
> For what it is worth, I quite literally am going from couch to 5 km. :)
> I was an athlete in high school (am 24 now) but fell out of it all
> when I went away to university and am trying to get back into it. I
> run on a treadmill for now but when the weather improves (where I live
> is very cold and icy this time of year) I'll be going out to do
> roadwork, I think.
>
> At the moment I am doing 12 minute mile and feeling great.
>
> I appreciate any tips! Thanks!


first of all, you gotta understand that this forum is full of smart
asses...

i would look toward a 10k by increasing your weekly mileage by 10% a
week. there are a lot of good books out there. read hal higdon, jeff
galloway, joe henderson, john bingham. those guys can give you better
advice than anyone here. happy running.
 
synecdoche wrote:

> I am working through the Cool Runnings Couch to 5K program. I am
> finishing week 5 tomorrow, and am looking toward what is going to
> happen after I finish the whole program. Does anybody have any tips on
> how to follow up? I'm more interested in building up to 10km at this
> point (over time of course) rather than going super fast. When i can
> do 10 km I'll work on speed. Leastaways, that is what my uninformed
> mind was thinking.


>
> I appreciate any tips! Thanks!


Good for you on your progress!

I also started running using the C25K program. I was a complete nonathlete
when I started, and I really appreciated that the program told me what to
do and when to do it. Once I finished, I had to start making my own
decisions about how to increase mileage and intensity. Suffice it to say I
made some pretty stupid decisions, but it did seem to work out in the end.

Some general advice: build a mileage base first before trying to go faster.
You need to get strong before you start speedwork, otherwise you're just
asking for injury and frustration. The C25K program sort of dumps you out
at a point where you're running about 3 miles 3x/week. Maintain that a
week or two and then add another day of 2 or 3 miles. Maintain your
4x/week a few weeks and then increase the mileage of one run a little. Get
to the point where you do one "long" run every week. At that point you can
begin to increase the mileage of the other runs, maybe add another day,
whatever you feel you can handle. The main thing is to keep running at an
easy pace as you build endurance and become more fit. Your "easy" pace
will drop on its own, btw.

Hope this helps


Karen

--
live! vicariously!
 
Dred wrote:
> synecdoche wrote:
> > I am working through the Cool Runnings Couch to 5K program. I am
> > finishing week 5 tomorrow, and am looking toward what is going to
> > happen after I finish the whole program. Does anybody have any tips on
> > how to follow up? I'm more interested in building up to 10km at this
> > point (over time of course) rather than going super fast. When i can
> > do 10 km I'll work on speed. Leastaways, that is what my uninformed
> > mind was thinking.
> >
> > For what it is worth, I quite literally am going from couch to 5 km. :)
> > I was an athlete in high school (am 24 now) but fell out of it all
> > when I went away to university and am trying to get back into it. I
> > run on a treadmill for now but when the weather improves (where I live
> > is very cold and icy this time of year) I'll be going out to do
> > roadwork, I think.
> >
> > At the moment I am doing 12 minute mile and feeling great.
> >
> > I appreciate any tips! Thanks!

>
> first of all, you gotta understand that this forum is full of smart
> asses...
>
> i would look toward a 10k by increasing your weekly mileage by 10% a
> week. there are a lot of good books out there. read hal higdon, jeff
> galloway, joe henderson, john bingham. those guys can give you better
> advice than anyone here. happy running.


And just so the message is completely clear the increase is a MAXIMUM
of 10% per week. Often it is suggested nowadays that you should not
increase mileage every week. Some of Galloway's plans have increases in
alternate weeks.

The point being, don't build up your mileage or speed so fast that you
cause injury.

Enjoy the run,
Ed
 
I believe a very important point, if your getting into longer distance,
is a good diet.

When I started training for Half marathon's and Marathon's, I was
starving all the time. By selecting foods high in protein, without
excessive junk, I was able to crave my hunger, and have energy for the
long runs.Try and cut back on sugars that you have during the day, and
start eating a more balanced diet, and your energy on long runs will
improve.

I believe this is valueable once you start getting to the point of
running for 45 minutes or longer. Below that, its just for your health.

Enjoy!
 
The only tip I can think of, is to have subject matter that interests
someone besides yourself.