Great Scottish Run 10k - Glasgow 5th October 2014

Guess it all depends on fitness and definition of hill and flat...If you have only trained on pancake flat routes then any undulation would be tough. VestanPance, you are clearly a runner with several years of half marathon experience and doing a marathon now. Of course the 10K route is going to be a breeze. Your fitness is up there to deal with pretty much anything -that in itself gives you mental toughness!!!

In the parks it is not very hilly, but it is over half way/towards the end of the routes and if you have paced badly - or it is quite hot - then this is the point where people feel rough - especially if they haven't raced often or have had the mental toughness to get through it. There was - maybe in the Women's 10K - I only ran it once - a steepish hill - I might be getting confused with that.

Anyway, I would say that if you have blasted it up the hill at St Vincent street, and you are going too fast, the ramp at the bridge can be the straw that breaks the camel's back - you see that every year in the 1hr 05 wave. I put myself in that wave to make me not go too fast at it is so congested you are forced to go a bit slower for the first k or so, but you can see people haring off who then die on the ramp.

Yes it is relatively flat, but it depends on fitness, prior training and whether you hate hills or not.. it is not fair on people to give them a false impression when you don't know fitness levels. I would rather Lesley74 thought that I had over-egged how bad the hills were and she found them easy at the end than thought I had underestimated them and got demoralised like I used to - but the I am just a wuss!!!

Lesley and Nikki, you will both be fine!!! Sounds like you are putting in the training. I will keep my fingers crossed for lovely cool weather. Let us know how you get on!

Of course, hills and flat are totally different types of workout - absolutely, you need to train on hills to run on hills, and hills are often more about leg strength vs cardio. If you are a newbie runner however, you are building both so when hit with any sort of hill that requires more exertion, it can be tough - especially on your first race when you may go too fast anyway!!

What I am getting at though is that though 10K is your least fave distance (same with me - I much prefer 5K or a half - I don't have that fine tuning of pace -) you still have an excellent base and having run for a long time, know in the back of your head that you can manage hills and when you are feeling terrible you can push through. Hills that I thought were hard 10 years ago I no no longer think are tough. That is more what I meant.

OP: One other thing - I don't take the sports drink during a 10K, but if you do, make sure you have had a go at running with the stuff in a practice race. I have learned the hardway during the half that my stomach cannot deal with lucozade sport - cue a very painful last 6 miles and a mad dash to the bathrooms in the St Enoch Centre on the way back to the train!

Lesley
Don't do yourself down! You are doing great!!! I think you timing plans seem good - I always stay at the back of my waves as well - I am not going out to win anything., so I want to give myself the best chance of a good run!!

I would say that you have just about done the distance, which is great and will give you so much confidence that you will get round. Are you following a training plan?

I wouldn't add in hills AND intervals if you are relatively new to this. One of the major causes of injury is ramping up intensity and mileage too quickly. I was told actually that you should wait for about 3/4 months of regular running 3 or 4 times a week before adding in intervals or hills.

At this stage I would say that although interval training is great for cardio fitness, you want to feel more comfortable running, so run more. I reckon - though I am no expert - that at the moment you want to get miles under your legs. I would stick with a long run - slower than your race pace but between 8K and 12K ; a steady run say of around 30 to 40 mins at your 5K or race pace; a 20 minute fartlek run where are basically doing intervals, but not quite as strict as doing 400m so you jog for say 30 seconds then sprint as fast as you can between say 2 lamposts or trees then you jog again for a while then all out run for say 20s or between 3 trees or whatever you like. It is a way of spicing up your run.

I would say that for this race, don't avoid hills in your steady or long run, but don't specifically do hill repetitions. That can come later. You want a good fitness base first. You don't want to be so tired after your session that it takes 3 days to recover and you miss runs, so adjust your training if that is happening consistently.

I would say though that you want to be running 3 times a week for the 10K - even if it means that intensity or long run distance need to come down for the next couple of weeks. I would say that your midweek runs need to get longer than 3K to get any better especially as you run 5k regularly. Your knees are probably getting sore because you are running quite a long distance on the tuesday and then not doing anything till the Sat. Have you been to get your gait analysed and wear shoes that suit your running style?

Of course, if you have a plan you are following do that - trust the plan - it will get you there!!

I would also say not to say no to running in the heat on holiday. As long as you adjust your expectations and slow down as much as you need then you might find it makes you find your training easier when you get back! I run on holiday as much as I can - even in 33 degree heat - I am SLOWER than slow and you need to make sure you don't overdo it, but I love going for a run first thing in the morning on holiday - nothing better than feeling the warmth around your knees and needing little to no warmup!! Going out slowly for 20 mins a few times a week will help keep you ticking over!

Sorry for the long post - hope it is of some use, but just enjoy it - there is no pressure and you are a much better runner than you were before you started - and by just going out and doing something - by the vast majority of the population!!