What will be my next goal?
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Seeing as I ran 5K on Monday I have decided to treat this as my final week on C25K. On Friday I should finish the program so I need to decide what I will do next. One of the goals I have set myself is to do the Quarter marathon at the Auckland Marathon this year. The quarter is 10.2 km so I need to train myself up to run 10K. Fortunately this is in November so I have some time to get there but I think it would be good to start training for it early.
I find I tend to do well when I can follow a program so I’ve decided that I will follow another training program to get me to 10 km.
There seem to be two major programs recommended to take you to 10K (or one hour of running).
The first is Hal Higdon’s Spring Training. This takes 12 weeks to get you to 6 miles (approx 10K) but it involves running most days and that might be a bit awkward.
The second is Cool Running’s The One Hour Runner. This takes a minimum of ten weeks (depending on how you go you can add weeks in) and involves running 3 times a week.
I quite like the routine of running 3 times a week only so I’ve decided to go with that.
The One Hour Runner program is as follows:
Weeks 1 - 3: Right now you are running 30 minutes a day, 3 days a week. Your weekly commitment of time is 90 minutes. Continue doing this for three weeks.
Week 4: Run 30 minutes, 29 minutes, 35 minutes. Weekly total: 94 minutes
Week 5: Run 30 minutes, 32 minutes, 38 minutes Weekly total: 100 minutes
Week 6: Run 30 minutes, 33 minutes, 41 minutes Weekly total: 104 minutes
Week 7: Run 30 minutes, 34 minutes, 45 minutes Weekly total: 109 minutes
Week 8: Run 30 minutes, 36 minutes , 49 minute Weekly total: 115 minutes
Week 9: Run 30 minutes, 38 minutes, 54 minutes Weekly total: 122 minutes
Week 10: Run 30 minutes, 40 minutes, 60 minutes Weekly total: 130 minutes
So what I will do is finish C25K this week and then launch straight into OHR as the first 3 weeks of OHR are the same as the last week of C25K.
I’m also going to run all of the Run Auckland series races (circumstances permitting). These are 5K or 10K races so I will aim to run them on my 30 minute days as I’m planning on doing them as 5K races. Having said that I may do the last one as a 10K if I have managed to run 10 km by then. Of course, this all assumes that I enjoy the 1st 5K event which is about 3 weeks away
Boy, times have changed for me. A few months ago I would have said you were nuts if you told me I’d be pondering which running program to take.
It’s amazing how our lives change! I’m planning on starting C25K when I hit 100 kg. And I will enter a 5K race. Me!
You are doing an amazing job!
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I’m pretty sure that I read somewhere on the Run Auckland site that the Takapuna race is a 6K-12K one, instead of 5K-10K?
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Congrats on doing the 30 minutes, that’s totally rad!
And good luck with your new programme as well, that sounds so hard!
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Hanlie, I strongly recommend it. I never thought I would run and here I am.
Marshmallow: You are right. Eeks 12 km. Maybe I’ll aim for the one before that then. That seems quite close though.
Wundalucy: Thanks! I thought C25K was very hard at times so hopefully I can do OHR as well. I’m planning on taking it easy as I really don’t want to get injured.
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Hey Andrew - quick question, how much exercise do you do in total each week? You run three times a week, do you do any other exercise on other days of the week?
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Since I’ve been sick I’ve been slacking off a bit to give my body time to get used to running. I found doing heavy squats and running 3 times a week didn’t go together that well. Normally I do weights and cardio 3 times a week.
From next week I will probably do running 3 days a week and crosstraining and weights 3 days a week. I just want to establish a base of 5K before I incorporate my weights again.
I’m thinking of running on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday and doing my other workouts on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
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Awesome plan! It will be fun to watch you reach for (and achieve) your goal!
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Thanks Cammy.
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Great plan, Andrew. I think you’ll be surprised how quickly you are able to build on your base running time.
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