First 10k - your thoughts please.. (Read 725 times)

Hi folks, Im new to this running thing and have to say im absolutely loving it and the great 'buzz' it generates. Thing is, I set myself a goal to run the Dublin 10k in April this year in 60mins, coming from no running history since high school (im now 31). I thought of myself as 'fit-ish' prior to road running. boy was I suprised I would go to gym at least 3times a week for last 2 years and do resistance training. Swim a bit when I can, and surf on weekends back home. I alway looked at those dreadmills as something out of star trek. too many lights and lived in fear of them i guess. So mid Jan i quit the smokes and took to the treadmill. The first time up on that hell-belt was walk run walk walk run for 1k (tough!)...last night was my first 5km outdoor run in windy conditions. Im so happy ive come so far in just 4-5 weeks. Thing is can I repeat that progress for the next 4-5 weeks to reach 10km? i did the 5k last night in 30mins. so am on track. But i think it may be best to concentrate on completing the race 1st then look at watch after. If you could help a newbie soul out it would be great. or maybe bring me back down to earth from my high goals? Cheers, Joe.

Thing is can I repeat that progress for the next 4-5 weeks to reach 10km? i did the 5k last night in 30mins. so am on track. But i think it may be best to concentrate on completing the race 1st then look at watch after.

First of all, I am soooooooooo stealing the phrase "hell-belt." That is just plain awesome. If I make it famous, I'll send you a royalty. As for the rest - you gave yourself the best advice. Just keep doing what you're doing, and (like Scout said) don't worry about the time so much for your first race. Try to run at least 3-4 times a week, most of it nice and easy. Once a week, run a couple miles (a few kilometers) farther than you usually go. So if you do 5k on M/W/F, on Sunday do 8k. Once a week, try running harder for a kilometer or two, just hard enough to push it a bit, not hard enough until you're gasping and passing out. Somewhere in between. No question you'll finish your 10-k -- and then you can use your race time as a starting point for tracking your future progress. If you to walk for 50 yards out of each mile, that's fine (in fact, you should try it on your longer runs ... you might find your finishing time is actually faster doing that ...) It's a bit hard to guess whether you'll do it in under 60:00 - since you didn't tell us how fast last night's 5k was! You should consider making your training log public, so nosy busybodies nice people can take a look and give you better answers to your questions. Good luck to you, Joe! (And one piece of advice: run outside whenever you can. Get off that hell-belt. I realize the weather in Ireland probably sucks this time of year, but get out when you can. It's a hell of a lot more fun.)

Thanks for the great comments folks. I know you prob answer these Q's all the time so I really appreciate it. Yeah, im just focusing on finishing the race and look at improving upon the time down the line. The wind is dropped here so am well geared up for my next 5k outing this evening and a 7k at the weekend. ps - that april 10k is Sonia OSullivans last competitive race in Ireland (she had better watch her heels ) ha ha!