Running ten miles?

i your're athlethic anyways (and 5k(meters?) is quite ok) then i think with some training 10 miles won't be a problem within 12 weeks. but being in the top 25% might be, but it depends on your competitors, of course.

I'd guess doing a run with 2000 other people would be easier than doing it alone. There should be plenty of stuff to distract you along the way and make it go by faster.

I'm a bit skeptical of finishing in the top 25%. I'm not too sure how much people who participate practice, but if you're in good shape you should be able to finish it in a respectable time.

My best advice would be to make sure you get at least 2 full runs in before the event (10 miles each), and to rest completely in the 2 days before it. Other than that, try building up slowly, but not too slowly cause you don't have too much time.

Good luck!

No, but I know a fair number of people who sign up for similar, or longer, runs with less training, just to see how well they manage, and to be able to say "they did it".

That suggests two things to me. One, if you're in reasonable shape, you'll probably finish in the top half somewhere, at the least. And second, a lot of the participants don't *care* about whether they finish in the top 25%, it's the run itself they do it for. So why shouldn't you just do the same? Run, see how well you do. Make it a competition against yourself, not against the 1999 other runners. And then you'll know if it's worth aiming for the top 25% next year. Or if you should flat out refuse to run next year in the first place... [wink]

design your own training regimen with a logarithmic progression of distance over the next twelve weeks. It's logarithmic because the later progression is exponentially harder than the earlier progression.

My equation:
1 + log(w) * 9 / log(12)

week 1: 1
week 2: 3.5104865108601686
week 3: 4.979026978279663
week 4: 6.020973021720337
week 5: 6.829169161401972
week 6: 7.489513489139831
week 7: 8.047826663022515
week 8: 8.531459532580505
week 9: 8.958053956559325
week 10: 9.339655672262141
week 11: 9.684856413832093
week 12: 10


doesn't look too reallistic to me.

Here's a beginner's running schedule to go up to 5K in two months. It's not too difficult to up the times and distances quickly, because it's an easy schedule.

Absolutely possible. Look at it this way; if last year's results are any guide, you need to aim to beat Eliza Holland from Tucson (placed 478th). She was running 8:24s. Your current race pace for 5ks is under 7 minutes a mile, so 8 minute miles should feel EASY right? Now you just have to run 10 of 'em.
When I was running cross country in high school, our summer training schedule was about 12 weeks long. It would start with a "long run" of 6 miles, and build up to a long run of 12 miles. If you can run a 20 minute 5k I am positive you can run 6 miles, which means you could follow a similar regimen. This doesn't imply that you need to run 6 miles without breaking a sweat; six is the long run, it's supposed to be hard! If you can run 6 miles in something like 51 minutes, and keep your pace to around 8:30 even as you grow the distance of the long run, you will have NO problems breaking the top 25%.
Personally I would go for a progression that looks something like this:

Week 1: 2 4 2 R 6 4
Week 2: 3 4 3 R 6 4
Week 3: 3 5 3 R 7 4
Week 6: 4 5 4 R 9 4
Week 8: 4 7 4 R 10 4
Week 9: 4 8 4 R 11 4
Week 10: 4 9 4 R 12 4 <---peak
Week 11: 4 7 4 R 10 4
Week 12: 4 6 4 2 (RACE?)

R=rest day.

You can interpolate the weeks I skipped :-) The idea is that you have 3 low-milage days which are primarily to stretch out your legs and help you recover, 1 medium distance day, which you can mix in with other fun stuff like hills or intervals if you're feeling ambitious, a Rest day, and the epic Long Run. I recommend growing your long run to 12 miles if at all possible; it will give you an enormous sense of confidence on race day. This is quite similar to the summer schedules I ran in high school, except we had one extra medium-distance day (I don't think that would be helpful for you though--it was mainly to keep mileage high to provide a solid base for an extended XC season).

Other miscellaneous advice:
* If possible, do the long run on trail, and do it with a partner (your SO maybe?). It will make it go so much faster.
* Try to do at least some of your long runs at the same time of day as the race, and try to get a feel for what your body likes to ingest before a long run. Everyone is different so it's hard to say what will work best for you.
* On race day, try to get up early enough so that you can have some oatmeal or bread for breakfast 2-3 hours before the gun. Don't eat a lot, obviously :-)
* Keep hydrating until 15 minutes or so before the gun, although I find it helpful to taper down my water consumption as the hour draws nearer.
* Do a short warmup (even as short as 0.5 mile) 30-45 minutes before the race, just to get your body woken up and your juices flowing. Also, stretch.
* When the gun sounds, remember this sage wisdom: START SLOW! The pace over the first mile will FEEL 30-60 seconds slower than it really is, and a lot of n00bs will be racing ahead, caught up in the excitement. The less experience you have the more likely you are to overrun the first stretch of a long race, and doing so can compromise the rest of the run. It is MUCH better here to lose 15-20 seconds to a slow initial pace than it is to compromise your whole day. If you feel great at the 5k mark you can start ratcheting it up a little.
* Finally, feel confident in the training you put in and the strength of your own body. Maybe you it didn't go perfect, maybe you lost a few days, but if you managed to do the bulk of your training then you've cultivated a solid cardiovascular base, and having done that the real limit to your performance is psychological. It is about how much you want it, and how hard you're willing to push. You have two limits to your physical output: a mental one and a physical one. The physical you should leave alone, but you will encounter your mental limit long before you reach your true max, and THAT limit is made to be broken!

Good luck; kick Eliza's ass, will ya?

Are you kidding me? 3months is more than enough time..... If you can run run 5miles, you surely can run 10miles in 3moths if you traing... just run and train you're stamina a little bit every day.....

I run about 5miles everytime I have training (rowing) in a slow pace, and its the easiest thing to do... one day I decided to do it in a fast pace.... still rather easy to do.... I would say I need 1 month to make 10miles in a good pace..

If you're fit, you shouldn't really have a problem with that.

Quote:

Original post by kSquared About 12 weeks from now is my town's annual ten-mile run. It's one of the most popular regional events and draws about two thousand entrants every year. My significant other insists that I do it with her this year -- she is a running fanatic and easily does 40 miles a week, for fun. (Had I known forced labor would be part of my side of the relationship-compromise equation, I might not have entered into this so readily.) Although I go to the gym on a regular basis and would consider myself on the athletic side, I have never done a 10-mile run. I've done about a half-dozen 5k runs in two years and generally finished with respectable 20-minute times, but 10 miles is more than three times the distance of a 5k. Only about a third of my time at the gym is spent on cardiovascular exercise; most of it is strength training. The cardio is also almost never running (it's usually the erg machine or the stationary bike). Is finishing in the top 25% feasible with twelve weeks to go? Most of the training programs I've seen assume that you can already run 6 miles without breaking a sweat, which is not true of me since I've never even tried to run that much. I'm absolutely willing to stick to a dedicated training regimen, but I don't want something that will be totally draining or completely sap my energy. Has anyone done something comparable or known someone who has, and if so, what was your/their training program like? Your advice and comments are welcomed.

Getting into top 25% of course depends to how much other runners train. I doubt more than 25% are as determined as you are and start 3 months ahead.
I'd just try running this much and see how bad it gets. You need to plan your speed so that you don't get over-exausted in beginning.

As for distance: 10 miles that's 15km, right? I don't do running except casually, but i think if i run rather slowly i can run 15km easily (once i walked over 30km in day just for fun).

I'm going to be a naysayer here.

I used to be a runner, and 10 miles is rough, especially if you are not used to running long distances. Also, if the quoted time was accurate, averaging 8 minute miles for 10 miles will be REALLY rough. Sure, doing 7-8 min miles might be feasible for the first 3, but after that you will get a lot slower. 12 weeks isn't a long time to get yourself into running shape. I can't remember seeing anyone improve that much in that timespan.

My best advice would be to run 5 times a week. Take the weekend off. Don't kill yourself to be in the top 25%, aim for the top 50% (or even just finishing, because 10 miles is a big accomplishment. Don't forget, studies show that most Americans can't even finish running ONE mile).

Good luck either way!

I have some experience with running, and I think that even if you are in good shape you'll have to push yourself hard to average < 8 min/mile even over just 4-5 miles.

The fact that you are already well trained is good, but it also means that further improvement is harder and takes long time.

Anyway, whether you will be able to run 10 miles in 80 minutes after 12 weeks of training I have no idea. It all depends on your effort and ability. But if you do your best I'd say you have a fair chance.

Hey, man, your gf is *supposed* to be better than you at *something*. Otherwise you could do better. :)

Quote:

Original post by ktuluorion Also, if the quoted time was accurate, averaging 8 minute miles for 10 miles will be REALLY rough. Sure, doing 7-8 min miles might be feasible for the first 3, but after that you will get a lot slower.

That may be true. It's really up to K^2; if running 8 minute miles, even for just 4-5 miles, feels really grueling then I wouldn't kill myself, just relax and try to build mileage so as to have run at least one 10 miler before the race.

After evaluating your advice, talking to some friends, and seeking out an acquaintance who is a personal trainer, I've come to the conclusion that finishing in the top 25% is probably unlikely, unless I strenuously pushed myself and adopted a rigorous training regimen. That's not something I care to burden myself with right now.

Instead I've decided to settle for just doing the best I can and attempting to finish 10 miles, period. I'll let you know how it goes. :)

thanks,

Ive been doing track and field for roughly 6 years now. With 3 months to go you have a shot, being your already a physical person. What I would recommend is stay off the heavy weights as that will actually weigh you down in a distance rance, If anything do some light weights, one excersise i would recommend is run in place with like 3 lbs-5 lbs dumbells for a bit, as when your running that long your arms will start to feel like steel balls after a while. Do alot of stretching itll help you not cramp up and give you more endurance cause you will be running mroe fluently. I recommend stretching after doing like 30 minutes on a treadmill. Run EVERYDAY!, always set a goal for yourself one day and then the next day add half a mile to what you ran the last time. this prepares the body because if you run the same distance everyday youll body will be accustommed to running that same exact distance, now unless your already doing 10 miles on the treadmill daily, which I doubt... just work your way up to 10 miles or less since it is a treadmill. Another word of advice running on a treadmill and doing a long distance run are very different, since of the terrain curves, rough/soft surface at times, and atmosphere this all actually really makes a difference. So do some long distance run's outside from time to time, and thats all my advice for today if you fallow it you should be relatively well prepared for the race.

[Edit] If you got any thoughts or questions feel free to message me.