DFW running club mark 3!! ALL ARE WELCOME!!

tirlittan

Hi all.

So I went to the Friday thead and there was all this talk about running...And especially running this magical 4mile...So what is it about 4miles exactly? I usually run 5k and that's been kind of fine for me, not really want to run more than 10k. Just interested, is it just if you want to build up your distance?

Enemies.Closer

Becky

Did you complete the London Marathon this year? Do you have any pics?

becky_rtw

Hi Tirlittan,

Here's my post from pg 5 on the magic 4:
Ahh the magic 4 mile

Its the point at which you get serious improvements in training - once you can run this as your shortest run you never go back to any less distance (except maybe the week before a marathon ) and you will improve dramatically just by running this every run because you have enough time to warm up the muscles and work hard before you have to sto again - its also the minimum distance for other types of training - fartlek, intervals, hill reps etc

So yeah its good


Its also good to increase distance if you want to reduce your time for 5k - the best 5k runners (UK/World standard) all run regular training runs of 16-20 miles - dont panic though you dont need to go that far, but the idea is this:
5k is a speed event - in order to run 'full pace' (i.e. the pace you run 200m at) for 5k you'll need to build your strength by running over longer distances and then you can keep that 'full pace' speed up for longer

So what you do is up to you - but the 4 is still magic

becky_rtw

Enemies.Closer wrote: »

Becky

Did you complete the London Marathon this year? Do you have any pics?

I did indeed - there is one here:


Mile 18 when I just got out the hole I'd been in since mile 6 :eek:, I didnt hit the wall though (probably because I was so darned slow )

Enemies.Closer

Cool

What was your time if you dont mind me asking?

becky_rtw

In fact you can see the hole on my splits:
5 km 0:27:51 25 km 2:31:13 10 km 0:56:37 30 km 3:06:15 15 km 1:26:49 35 km 3:42:18 20 km 1:57:51 40 km 4:16:34 half 2:04:48 finish 4:31:06
First 10k at 2 minutes off pb (which is 54 minutes) then next 5k took 30 minutes and it went downhill from there until the last 5k ish

Sorry that doesnt display that well - why have they disabled tabs - arghhh

Finishing time 4:31 - I was aiming for just under 4 hours from my training plan, but I got sick about 4 weeks before the marathon and really struggled to run at any pace after that...

tirlittan

Thanks Becky,

I'm now thinking of trying to do 4miles in the gym...Don't know any 4mile routes outside so I'll try it inside first.
Will also try to have a bit more of a read on this thread.

becky_rtw

tirlittan wrote: »

Thanks Becky,

I'm now thinking trying to do 4miles in the gym...Don't know any 4mile routes outside so I'll try it inside first.
Will also try to have a bit more of a read on this thread.

I've never run in a gym :eek:

Make friends with mapmyrun.com - you can search for routes or make up your own - its great and the distances are very accurate (elevation profiles are sadly not but hey)

tirlittan

I know, it's not the best...just the lazy option, though I will probably get bored. If I need to do 4miles, it's going to take me some time...

becky_rtw

You dont have to do 4 miles - just do what you fancy for now

But when you get to running regularly the idea is to run this as your minimum distance - you can see from my discussion with E.C earlier that I started below that too - just build up slowly and enjoy

Also do you live near any of these:
https://www.parkrun.com

Free weekly timed 5k races for all abilities - very useful for beginners and experienced runners alike