DFW running club part 4!! ALL ARE WELCOME!!

becky_rtw

tirlittan wrote: »

The only goal that came into my mind after doing the park run and looking at the results was that I'd want to be able to do the 5k in 25mins. So that will be my one goal for the time being.

Thats a great goal , its just over a minute/mile improvement so not out of the ballpark but a nice challenge nonetheless - good luck!

tirlittan

And how long is it likely to take to improve over a minute/mile?

becky_rtw

How long is a piece of string might be the best answer to that!

Or have a look at peoples improvement in their wavas on the first page over the last year to give you an idea (ignore mine as I have been ill/injured and havent actually improved since January...)

Or in fact even better might be to pick some people who ran 25 mins in last weeks parkrun and see how their times have progressed over time

beer_tins

Yep, it depends on a lot of things. For a start, it's easier for anyone to go from 9/min miles to 8 min/miles than from 8 to 7! It also depends on your gender, age and the amount & quality of the training you're putting in. A vague answer of "a few months" would be about right!

tirlittan

Well, I'm only able to run couple of times a week plus the park run. Was just wondering what would be a good timetable to achieve my goal, don't want to make it too hard, but not too easy either. I guess end of March will do, not sure how much running I get done in December...And I think it might not be as easy as I'd like.

kmstuart

http://www.communigate.co.uk/ne/northeastveteransathleticsclub/page3.phtml

thats the map of the course, wind was bottom left to top right across the map roughly

RichOneday_2

kmstuart wrote: »

http://www.communigate.co.uk/ne/northeastveteransathleticsclub/page3.phtml

thats the map of the course, wind was bottom left to top right across the map roughly

It very similar to the way the Ufdance 1/2 was organised - that was 6 flat laps, yours was 5.

With lap courses there is more emphasis on getting the mental preparation right to prepare for how you're going to feel setting out on each new lap.

But the practical side of things suggests that once the times have started slipping relatively early in the race then you have to question whether its worth ploughing on and doing a lot of damage to come away with a time that would mean little to you.

I would have called it a day as well, as i did at Fleetwood, to save the effort for another day.

RichOneday_2

tirlittan wrote: »

Well, I'm only able to run couple of times a week plus the park run. Was just wondering what would be a good timetable to achieve my goal, don't want to make it too hard, but not too easy either. I guess end of March will do, not sure how much running I get done in December...And I think it might not be as easy as I'd like.

Who knows? - thats the fascination of the whole journey. What is your body capable of, how will it respond to training, how hard do you want to push it, how much satisfaction will you get out of reaching your target etc etc

But generally big chunks of improvement come quite easily early on and then you have to work harder and harder for each few seconds improvement as time goes on.......its all good fun though.:D

And when it clicks and everything is operating perfectly you wouldnt believe how comfortable you can feel at high speeds - its a great feeling but one that most people dont reach before giving up.

becky_rtw

I LOVE this:
http://www.runnersworld.co.uk/forum/forummessages.asp?dt=3&UTN=150393&V=6&SP=

Actually talking about specific types of speedwork and the amounts etc - wow!

RichOneday_2

He did well to persevere and not get the thread rubbished early on as being 'irrelevant' by the great RW unwashed.:p

But what are they trying to say about my ex-coach::rotfl:

For those interestesd in developing 5-10k speed there is a need for Vo2 development based on "speedwork" as prescribed by the likes of Daniels, MacMillan, Fitzinger and even (god forbid!) Horwill. Obviously this needs to be set in the context of the overall mix of training intensities to meet the need of the target distance.

Although I have to agree with this, I tried and got very fit but also disappeared into a puff of smoke in the process::o

I've read the Horwill articles and cannot believe that 95% of runners could do anything near what he recommends.


Although he's doing a good job of explaining the purpose of different sessions he did get a bit too involved with the definition of what constitutes 'Speedwork'. He is neither right nor wrong, his own interpretation is very rigid but speedwork is whatever you want it to be........we used to call it 'quality work' and I would certainly make the definition looser than what he is stating. But, as was said, what difference does it make?