Planning for the 10K

So, running a 10K in May. From pretty much sedentary now.

The biggest question for me is "how not to overtrain?" I've been doing start-stop training for the past couple of years. What seems to happen is that I start off reasonably, then I remember how I used to run when marathon training and I start overdoing it. This is really frustrating because I like running.

So, walking home from work today, I came up with a plan so cunning in its simplicity, I was astounded. :)

I'm going to plan to Calories for the next 5 - 6 weeks and then re-evaluate. What I'm thinking at the moment is do a minimum of +1200 calories / maximum of +1800 calories a week, spread over at least three days per week. Each session should be a minimum of 200 calories and a max of 600. My goal would be to do this in 4 -5 sessions, preferably just by walking home from work. This is a 45 - 50 minute walk, yielding 380 calories. If I take the train to Kensington station, that cuts it down to about 30 minutes and 220 calories. That leaves quite a few combinations that will work.




Check back later, we'll see how it goes.

2009-11-23: Small clarification / update: Reduce the minimum number of calories per session to 150. That seems to be where I can definitely "feel" something. Max of 6 days of exercise per week. Max of 600 calories per day, not just per session.

Step 1 to the 10K in May

I'm a poet and didn't even know it :)


First step for me, is replacing my existing shoes. The problem is for the last while, my fav shoes, the Asics Gel-Kinsei2s (I suppose there are more expensive shoes - but I've yet to find them) wear out at the inner padding of the heel-glove (left two pics)(well - what do you call that part of the shoe?). Very frustrating as I feel like I don't get my moneys worth as the tread (right two pics) is still in fine form. Mind you, they do last 6+ months before this starts and when I was marathon training I was lucky if a shoe made 4 months before the tread was hooped.

So, that is me.

First step for my sweetie, apparently, is discussing the wisdom of setting a time goal with me. I don't know - I see the wisdom of her advice: "Just go out and have fun running, for goodness sakes!". The problem is, (and this would probably better fit in my other blog, Angst in the 50s) I like having a time goal. I like pushing myself a bit. If I don't have that specific goal, I'm likely to just laze around and get nowhere.

Goals, goals, goals

As I reflect on the last few months and my spotty / sporadic running during that time, I asked myself: "Why can't I seem to get some consistency"?

I've come to believe the biggest reason is a lack of goals.

I started running in my early thirties, somewhat as a response to a divorce and wanting to get fit - but then it lead to just a sheer joy of running. After about a year of on again / off again running, I bought some books and set a goal for a Marathon.

Naturally, I ignored a lot of the advice about first marathon goal setting (Biggest one is - only goal should be to finish). The nice thing is that I created a plan, followed it reasonable closely, modified the plan as needed and actually reached my modified goal (Initial goal was for a 3:30 Marathon, modified it to 3:45).

The big thing about the goals for me is to be Specific, Measurable and Achievable. Specifically, I'm going to run a 10K next year. Currently, the one I'm considering is 10K associated with the Calgary Marathon.

What I don't yet know is what time I should set? (This is the Measurable and Achievable parts). What can I achieve in the next 6 months of running? Right now, I think 10K would take be about 2 hours :), most of it walking. If I remain injury free in my training, I'm likely to be able to run it in under an hour.

Given that I really don't know what is achievable now, how long will it take for me to get a good sense of what is achievable. Am I just creating a tempest in a teapot - perhaps the right answer is to set the goal, work towards it and then modify if required. Hmmm - sounds like a good way to go.

The goal is:

• Run the 10K on May 30, 2010.
• Stay injury free throughout the training period.
• Focus on finishing rather than speed.
• Plan for an under 60M 10K, revise this number in January and April.
• Blog weekly or better about my plan, approach and progress.
  

All of this should be quite doable. I remained substantially injury free for my first three marathons, it was just when I did the 4th a few months after the third that problems started occurring.