Running - Two Questions

a1ex2001 · 5 Oct 2010 at 08:43

1. I'm running a 10K on Sunday at 10am (I know the whole world is!) I'm planning on a light ish breakfast around 7:30 what would you guys suggest I've been thinking a couple of poached eggs on wholmeal toast?

2. Is three weeks long enough training to up my distance from 10K to a half marathon? I'm reasonably fit and should complete the 10K in under and hour without the need to collapse and die at the finish line!

Admiral Huddy · 5 Oct 2010 at 08:47

1. Yes.. Wheatabix with honey, yoghurt and banana is better though
2. Can't see why not - plenty of good stretching before and after though, get into a comfortable stride.
3. There wasn't a 3. But get a gait test and buy some decent trainers that suit your running.

a1ex2001 · 5 Oct 2010 at 09:22

Admiral Huddy said:
1. Yes.. Wheatabix with honey, yoghurt and banana is better though
2. Can't see why not - plenty of good stretching before and after though, get into a comfortable stride.
3. There wasn't a 3. But get a gait test and buy some decent trainers that suit your running.

Thanks for the speedy reply, 3 is already taken care of after reading that advice on here so many times it seemed rude not too!

platypus · 5 Oct 2010 at 09:37

Breakfast before a race is a really individual thing. I often have half a bowl of porridge and some fruit, and not a lot else, otherwise, especially on longer runs, I can sometimes get the runs, no pun intended. It's more important (for me anyway) to hydrate properly.

emetic · 5 Oct 2010 at 09:42

stick to your usual diet, don't change it for a 10k. Just alloow plenty of time for your breakfast to digest. Drink plenty of water the day before and hydrate properly in the morning but don't drink too much.

a1ex2001 · 5 Oct 2010 at 11:04

I think I'll stick with the poached eggs on toast thats what I usually have for breakfast on the weekend.

Anymore advice on point 2? I'm not expecting to run an amazing time for the half marathon, I'd be happy with under 2.5 hours for a first go I'm just not sure 3 weeks is enough to get the extra miles in the legs.

platypus · 5 Oct 2010 at 11:08

Depends how much training you've done for the 10k.

Nelson Santos · 5 Oct 2010 at 11:12

The meals the night before are more important. Get carb loading

div0 · 5 Oct 2010 at 11:20

3 weeks is easy enough for training for a half marathon, after a 10k.

Training for a full marathon, you don't really go that much over 20k, even for the peak of your training.

I would suspect that working at around 10-15k would be ideal preparation for a half marathon. Just remember to pace yourself for the longer distance on the day.

emetic · 5 Oct 2010 at 11:48

div0 said:
Training for a full marathon, you don't really go that much over 20k, even for the peak of your training.

i'm not sure about that, 20k for a full marathon ? thats not even a hm. personally i'd be looking just the other side of 30k for longest runs during training as a beginner.

to the OP what's your longest run been to date ?

janesssssy · 5 Oct 2010 at 12:24

div0 said:
3 weeks is easy enough for training for a half marathon, after a 10k.

Training for a full marathon, you don't really go that much over 20k, even for the peak of your training.

I would suspect that working at around 10-15k would be ideal preparation for a half marathon. Just remember to pace yourself for the longer distance on the day.

You got miles and km mixed up?

13.1 mile for a hm (21km)

robotSocks · 5 Oct 2010 at 12:37

20+ miles longest run for marathon training, and you need to be comfortably running at least 30 miles a week

a marathon is a whole different ball game to a 10k or a HM...

3 weeks for HM training is gonna be a long shot IMO - remember you're gonna need a few days rest after your 10k race, and before HM race day too which will eat into that 3 weeks

div0 · 5 Oct 2010 at 13:33

janesssssy said:
You got miles and km mixed up?

13.1 mile for a hm (21km)

Ha, no not mixed up.

I think the furthest I went was about 16-18 miles during training. Most of the training was 10-15 miles, hence not much further than 20km.

Seemed to work ok for me, as I completed my first ever marathon in about 3hrs 45 mins. Having never even done a half marathon before.

robotCocks said:
20+ miles longest run for marathon training, and you need to be comfortably running at least 30 miles a week

We were specifically advised against running as far as 20 miles during training, as it takes too much out of your body to allow for consistent training.

Advice we were given was to work up towards 3hr runs, as your 'distance' training. But mainly concentrate around the 2hr mark, and work on sustaining a decent pace over that time.

Agree on looking to do 30 miles per week though, minimum.

robotCocks said:
a marathon is a whole different ball game to a 10k or a HM...

3 weeks for HM training is gonna be a long shot IMO - remember you're gonna need a few days rest after your 10k race, and before HM race day too which will eat into that 3 weeks

If someone is currently fit enough to run a 10k, then it's not that hard to push through to a half marathon imo.

Running a full marathon is a huge leap, but the 10k and HM should be within most people's grasp, as long as they're relatively fit.

All just about pacing yourself accordingly.

a1ex2001 · 5 Oct 2010 at 15:53

emetic said:
i'm not sure about that, 20k for a full marathon ? thats not even a hm. personally i'd be looking just the other side of 30k for longest runs during training as a beginner.

to the OP what's your longest run been to date ?

I've just run a little over 9k today and I've done that sort of distance a few times, I know I've got the miles in my legs to get passed 10K on Sunday I've just not wanted to kill myself training and then have nothing left for race day.

Current training is three runs a week which has generally been a 5k-rest day-7/8k-rest day-5k and I've been doing that consistently or about a month. Before that I ran sporadically and played footy for an hour once a week.

I can't make my mind up on the half marathon, I want to step up the distance for the challenge and I need a goal after the 10k to keep me focussed. The timming is tiht but I think as long as I don't set my sight on a silly goal like sub 2hrs then I should be able to achieve something.

emetic · 5 Oct 2010 at 16:33

yeah ease off on the distance now before the weekend, if your just looking to complete it and you've run 9k today 10k will be no problem, the rest of the week will have little impact, just maybe do 3k thursday and go for a gentle easy run the day before just to loosen up maybe 1.5-2k max.

As for the HM personally I'd skip it and enter another with a bit more prep time. you are looking to double your mileage in 3 weeks, given you should take it easy the few days after the 10k and the week leading up to the HM i don't think you are allowing enough time.

robotSocks · 5 Oct 2010 at 19:41

div0 said:
We were specifically advised against running as far as 20 miles during training, as it takes too much out of your body to allow for consistent training.

Advice we were given was to work up towards 3hr runs, as your 'distance' training. But mainly concentrate around the 2hr mark, and work on sustaining a decent pace over that time.

it depends on how much you can cope with then, and how experienced you are as a distance runner - personally i recently completed a marathon in 3:05 and was running a total weekly mileage of around 46-47, with 23 miles as my longest training run, and would run the half marathon distance at pace 2 days before the long 20+ mile run.

i'm currently training for an ultramarathon (31 miles "mini", not the 50 mile "standard" distance) and as part of the training plan for that i have planned peak weekly mileages of 55+ and with back-to-back runs of 15 miles one day, and then 20 the next in order to train on "tired legs"

running for 2 hours at pace won't put you anywhere near hitting the wall, which is - when training to run a marathon - the whole point of doing the long runs themselves. You just won't be able to expend enough calories (average 2000+) in that time.

Richie · 5 Oct 2010 at 20:34

May I ask a running question if thats ok ?

I started to run a few weeks back and find myself actually enjoying it now (used to be a hard to get the motivation). The problem I have is that I did a 5 miler about 2 weeks ago on tarmac (mix of pavement and road) and it went fine.

The following day I noticed one of my knees was slightly sore. I put this down to the big distance (for me) I ran the day before.

I have since done about 3 runs which are about 2-3 miles each and my knee gets sore again and remains sore the following day before the pain goes away completely within 2 days.

Now I am not looking for medical advice as I realise this is a no-no here but just looking for some advice on what I should do.

I know the answer would be to not run for about 10 days then start again but build up the distance slowly e.g. start at 1 mile and see how it goes but I am loathed to stop running for fear of my fitness level going down....

Any advice or is what I said the best ??

BlackDragon · 5 Oct 2010 at 20:38

It depends on the pain you are experiencing. I've had pain on the side of my knees which were attributed to tight muscles pulling on tendons and ligaments.

I'd advise seeing a sports therapist for more advice, that did the trick for me every time!

div0 · 5 Oct 2010 at 22:28

robotCocks said:
it depends on how much you can cope with then, and how experienced you are as a distance runner

Absolutely, but I'm talking in relation to the OP. He's not looking to break any half marathon records, as by the sounds of things this would be his first half marathon.

His training would be more effective running regularly over a 10k sort of distance and building up to one or two runs towards 10 miles. Rather than trying to train at 10-12 miles as a major part of his preparation.

Once you're at at stage when you're really looking to push your times down, then obviously you start to need to train closer and closer to the distance you're running at.

If I ever get round to doing another marathon, I'm aiming for sub 3:30 and would be pretty happy with that. Good luck with the ultramarathon

firstborn · 6 Oct 2010 at 00:01

a1ex2001 said:
1. I'm running a 10K on Sunday at 10am (I know the whole world is!) I'm planning on a light ish breakfast around 7:30 what would you guys suggest I've been thinking a couple of poached eggs on wholmeal toast?

2. Is three weeks long enough training to up my distance from 10K to a half marathon? I'm reasonably fit and should complete the 10K in under and hour without the need to collapse and die at the finish line!

Fairly late to this thread, but you need not worry about brekky before a morning 10k, just do what you do normally a few hours before if you really need to eat. I wouldn't even worry about hydration if you have a normal diet to be honest.

A half should be achievable in 3 weeks following, just get some 6-8mile slowww runs the next couple of weekends following the 10k, with some mid week shorter distances and you'll be fine. Likely to be uncomfortable in the last few miles, but that's part of the fun!