From 10k to 1/2 distance - plan suggestions

[Noonie]

Posted here a few times and have really liked everyone's suggestions and comments so I thought this is a good place for this question.

After a year I'm up to 10k. While I was around this distance not long after starting BF I was often lightly injured due to TMTS and bad form. In the last three months i've had virtually no pains and I feel ready for going beyond 10k.

If it wasn't for the web and these forums, I would probably do the following:
- long run increased by 1km each week
- every fourth week cut back 10% (4-week blocks)
- so in about 12-16 weeks I would be at 22k
- on one of my weekly shorter runs 45:00-60:00 I would do an interval of 1k at a faster pace, increasing the distance of the interval by 1/4k each week (avg pace 7:15/k, current interval pace 6:30/k...one day would like to get that down to 6:00/k)
- non-run I continue to cycle, use a wobble board, and The Stick several times a day (this has really helped BTW)

My gut tells me that while this 'program' seems reasonable it is to aggressive. I had a plan a year ago and that proved too much. However, my form and approach is much improved so I may be ready. In any case, I'll give it a go and as usual listen to my body and cut back when not going well.

If anyone had a similar plan sand can share how it went, that would make for nice reading and some ideas to consider.

Thanks

 

[migangelo]

sounds like you know what you're doing. you already have experience with tmts and hopefully recognize it before it happens again. i myself follow loose plans and for something specific you need a coach there with you. my friends here want me to jump up to halfs but i don't feel race ready for that. if you do then go for it.

 

[mokaman]

You could probably already finish a half mary if you went real slow but it might not feel like racing. I kinda go by the rule not to sign up for a race until I can already do the distance easily...just my rule. My ball park thing is take your best 10k race time and add 15 - 30 seconds per mile...you could run a half at that speed if your base training mileage is high enough like at least 20 - 25 miles a week...kind of a way tell if your ready. If that seems too slow for your goals then you have more training/mileage to do.

 

[migangelo]

i don't believe in "just finishing" races. i want to do well for me. i won't jump until i can do better. i don't do 5k's often because they are over so fast but i believe i will do one every so often to see where i'm at. when i can get my 10k into the low 40's i'll move up to a half. until then i'll keep improving at them. last one was 56'. 10' improvement from previous year.

 

[Bare Lee]

Hey Noonie, like you, I always like sharing ideas, so here's my two cents.

I don't race but I agree with Mokaman's principle. Don't do a distance just for the sake of doing it.

I don't like to run fatigued, and don't believe one really benefits from it, and it can provoke overuse injuries. Avoiding overuse injuries is my number one priority! If you run consistently, injury-free, improvement is inevitable.

So I prefer to hover around in a given mileage range and mix up run types (hills, intervals, tempo, LSD, recovery), with just one long run per week. Once your max distance starts to get easy, or your pace is picking up, then add a bit. That's basically my method. Oh, also, some days I push it, some days I just go through the motions, depending on my energy levels.

I follow the same principle in strength-training. Once a max weight starts to get easy, and I can do it 3-5 times, I add a bit so the reps fall to 1-3 on my max. If my energy is off, I do less than my max weight, knowing that just going through the motions will help prep me for the next time I'm able to push it.

So I don't have a plan in terms of a set timetable, but I do have a plan in the sense that I have a notion of what different kinds of runs I need to experiment with in order to improve. I'm constantly tweaking this, seeing how I react.

Oh one last thing I've learned: shut it down at the least sign of trouble. Don't let the daily/weekly goal make you risk the long-term ones.