Come on then,how am I going to use the hills in a constructive and structured way,in my training schedule.

I must get that sub 50 min. 10k this year.




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If Granty`s doing it ,so am I................................................. ..

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Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.

You'll never beat me twice in a row !!

Speedwork and hill sessions are the way to go...but I hate them!
Don't do too much too soon...usual advice...and only do either or once a week.

I'm convinced my sessions caused my groin injury and now I'm wary when striding out as I'm desparate not to pick up a groin injury again preFLM.

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One small step for man.....

Dave,
I think you are supposed to run up fast for about 200 meters so so and then jog back down and repeat 4 or 5 times. I've always been scared of speed and hill work because I'm so injury prone but I want to get a little bit faster.

It is difficult to do speed/hillwork SE but after the first 3/4 sessions it gets easier...sort of!

I'd suggest that you start by doing a session where you only go a bit quicker on each rep than you normally run..ie don't overstretch yourself....but do work that bit harder. Don't do too many reps to start with and keep them short...say 50metres.

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One small step for man.....

Granty.I would suggest that you get yourself a structured schedule for a half marathon initially. Get your self a good base mileage for 4 to six weeks before the schedule starts. There are many tried and tested schedules available for all levels.
I would recommend a schedule from Bob Glover's book (title escapes right now).I will find it if your interested.This book contains schedules at most distances for all levels.Alternatively any decent publication should point you in the right direction.
Keep your targets realistic and stick to your plan as religiously as possible and you can't go wrong. By following such a schedule you will not do to much to soon and you will notice marked improvements throughout.

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BE PATIENT NOT A PATIENT

FIRST THINGS FIRST

I will do that - feel really motivated at the moment to get that time down.

You've every reason to be!keep up the good work .

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BE PATIENT NOT A PATIENT

FIRST THINGS FIRST

I've tried speedwork too - as recommended, once per week only, and not overstretching compared to my normal slow pace. But I had to give up doing them because I found that I wasn't recovering from week to week. And as the weeks went by I was getting more and more tired and my running in general was suffering. And then I had an injury. I think it was all linked to my speed sessions.

So why can't I do speedwork? My current average pace is about 11:30/mile, and my average heart race is between 175 and 180bpm, peaking at 188 to 190.

Mind you, I'm just easing back into running now, started again this week. The whole of March has been WORKING 7 days per week, relatively long days, and there has been simply no time for running. Fortunately the days were pretty physical anyway, and now that this period of my working life is behind, I'm getting on quite well now that I've re-started running.

But I would just love to increase my pace. Does my high heart rate when running have anything to do with it?

Karen,
Have you actually tried training to your HR zones? I've been using it more for long runs admitedly. At first it was really slow 16 min miles, the 14 min miles now 12 min miles. I have noticed a difference when I race as well.

There has been some good advice on this thread, and I guess it depends on how you feel about speed work. I used to follow structured training schedules and always did my speed work sessions, but my times didn't improve and I couldn't even get close to my PBs

So that's when I decided that speed work wasn't for me, and substituted it for good quality regular hill sessions. That's when my PBs started to tumble down. My marathon time came down from 3.57 to 3.47 and then to 3.40.
My half marathon time came down from 1.46, which I hadn't got anywhere near for about 18 months, to 1.37.
My 10k time came down from 48.23, which again I hadn't got near for at least a year, to 43.44

I'm convinced that it was the hills wot done it


Granty... no I haven't been there.

I've done the Dartmoor Discovery 32 mile race a couple of times though, that's one of the hilliest distance road races you'll find

I'm trying a structured 10K plan just now, which involves one speed session and one hill session midweek, a sharp < 10k run on saturday, and a relaxed +10k on sunday. On week 7 of a 12 week schedule leading to Edinburgh 10K in May. I'm enjoying the plan, wouldn't say I've noticed a huge time improvement yet, but I do feel much stronger. I'm looking forward to seeing how it works out in the end - the Edinburgh course has a tough climb so I'm sure the hill sessions will prove worthwhile.

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Don

No actually - I haven't. I think at 16 min/mile, I'm not going to do much more than walk surely? And I don't want to walk, I want to run...

But, I lost that Joe Friel book about HR training, and so lost the thread on it too. I've recently re-bought the book, but haven't had time to read it yet. I hope it will make a difference. Meanwhile, Trinity's hill sessions sound worthwhile, except that there aren't many hills in Oxfordshire, including where I live.

Just because I was running 16 min miles doesn't necessarily mean that you will and I progressed quite quickly - depends which zone you train at. That was around 65% but recently I've been training at 75% - it has really enabled me to increase my mileage. For speedwork you wouldn't be training at 65% anyways.

just done my first speed session at club tonight and really enjoyed it. time will tell if it helps me improve.