Fit blondes in Berlin

[Claw75]

Quite pleased with how that went considering I don't think I've done more than 10 mins continuous jogging since school.  Must've made a mistake calculating the distance of yesterday's session though as I took a very slightly longer route today which is showing as 2.58 miles.  1 mile of that was covered in the first 10 minutes, which felt really good.  The middle third of the second 10 minutes was uphill and very slow going.  I did consider coming off road into a small park and doing the rest of the jog there, but a voice in my head said 'get up the hill Loser'   Wasn't until the last minute of the second jog that I felt like it was time to stop, and by the time I'd finished the second 5 minute walk felt absolutely fine.

[kinboshi]

10-minute mile pace isn't slow at all.  I'd dare say you're actually running too quickly at the moment.  You're looking to build your distance, so you should be running more slowly (imo).

You can only build your pace or speed at any one time. To run faster, you run shorter distances at a fast pace.  To increase your distance, you slow down and run further. 

For reference, a 10-minute mile pace for a marathon would mean you'd do it in about 4 hours 25 minutes.

[Claw75]

I dunno - it didn't feel 'fast' (eg when I was walking I was covering a mile in 13-14 minutes so not a great deal quicker than that).  The preliminary plan I'm following at the moment just says to jog at a comfortable pace for 10 (or whatever) minutes and not worry about the distance covered (I'm only looking it up myself afterwards out of interest).  If I try to artificially slow down (rather than when i'm forced coz I'm going uphill or something) is there not a danger that I won't actually get any benefit out of it?  And won't it balance itself a bit as I start running for longer (next week is 15 min jog/5 min walk x2, followed by 20/5 x2)?

[kinboshi]

13-minute mile pace is still a jogging pace (5 hour 40 minute marathon).

You're looking to increase the distance you can run, so yes, you will get benefit from running longer distances but at a slower pace. 

[kinboshi]

If gatso starts his marathon training, but continues to run at his 5k pace (which is pretty quick), then he's never going to be able to get the mileage in and he won't be training properly for the marathon.  Of course, you want to do some speed training if you're aiming for a time, so some of his runs will be at this pace, but the vast majority of his training mileage will be at a far slower pace.

[gatso]

agree with dan. I'd say 10m/mile is too fast for you right now. I know plenty of people who've been running for years who can't do a 60min 10k, it took me quite a while to get to that point

slow it down a bit, give your body time to adjust or you're risking injury

it's a great sign though, you're probs not going to be a really slow runner if you think that pace is easy already

[gatso]

If gatso starts his marathon training, but continues to run at his 5k pace (which is pretty quick), then he's never going to be able to get the mileage in and he won't be training properly for the marathon.  Of course, you want to do some speed training if you're aiming for a time, so some of his runs will be at this pace, but the vast majority of his training mileage will be at a far slower pace.

absolutely

I do my long runs at a much slower pace

[kinboshi]

Dan, what's your target time for Berlin?  I want to do 3 hours 30, but reckon I'll fall short (again), and so 3 hours 40 is probably my realistic target.

[gatso]

hard to say, not run more than 10k in a race even though I've done much longer in training. pretty sure I could do 3:00 if I wasn't so lazy, 3:10 would be great for a london gfa, 3:30 is laziness realistic

[Claw75]

cheers lads - i'm going to just do what feels comfy for now and listen to my body and not push it.  I'm not really thinking at all right now (maybe I should be?) about what pace I'm planning to run the marathon at, as that seems pretty daunting.  I'm looking to meet shorter term goals first - the first one being to be able to jog continuously (regardless of distance) for 30 minutes in 4-5 weeks time.  After that I'm planning on doing a couple of 5k races, and then I'll be starting my training for the half marathon where I'll be building up the mileage and paying much more attention to how slow/fast I need to be going to get the distance covered.

[kinboshi]

hard to say, not run more than 10k in a race even though I've done much longer in training. pretty sure I could do 3:00 if I wasn't so lazy, 3:10 would be great for a london gfa, 3:30 is laziness realistic

You should be looking at 3 hours 15 mins as a realistic target with your 5K time (assuming you can add the endurance to the speed). Berlin's a fast course too, so probably makes it easily doable for you.

[kinboshi]

cheers lads - i'm going to just do what feels comfy for now and listen to my body and not push it.  I'm not really thinking at all right now (maybe I should be?) about what pace I'm planning to run the marathon at, as that seems pretty daunting.  I'm looking to meet shorter term goals first - the first one being to be able to jog continuously (regardless of distance) for 30 minutes in 4-5 weeks time.  After that I'm planning on doing a couple of 5k races, and then I'll be starting my training for the half marathon where I'll be building up the mileage and paying much more attention to how slow/fast I need to be going to get the distance covered.

Exactly, therefore slow down.  You're not looking to run a particular distance in a set time, you're just trying to run for 30 minutes.  So run more slowly!

[gatso]

You should be looking at 3 hours 15 mins as a realistic target with your 5K time (assuming you can add the endurance to the speed). Berlin's a fast course too, so probably makes it easily doable for you.

I actually think my 5k time is slow though. I've PBed 8 races in a row so still improving it. I'll be very surprised if I don't get it under 19 minutes

I'm not really thinking at all right now (maybe I should be?) about what pace I'm planning to run the marathon at

god no

[kinboshi]

You should be looking at 3 hours 15 mins as a realistic target with your 5K time (assuming you can add the endurance to the speed). Berlin's a fast course too, so probably makes it easily doable for you.

I actually think my 5k time is slow though. I've PBed 8 races in a row so still improving it. I'll be very surprised if I don't get it under 19 minutes

I'm not really thinking at all right now (maybe I should be?) about what pace I'm planning to run the marathon at

god no

Well, 3 hours 15 mins should be a breeze in all honesty. 

Claw, forget the concept of pace completely for now.  Forget distance too.  One thing matters, time on your feet spent running in minutes.

[Claw75]

lol I wasn't thinking about pace until you told me to slow mine