Improving 5 and 10k times (Page 3)

Scout7 - 2012-10-12 9:56 AM There are lots of programs out there, almost all of which will lead to some sort of improvement. A program that you find in a book or online is generally focused on a specific race. Which means you should have a target race in mind when selecting one of those types of programs. Here are the underlying keys to improvement: 1) Consistency - It takes a commitment to improve, and that commitment starts with being disciplined about training. You need to train consistently, both in the number of times you train, and in how you train. That means that you follow the workout as best you can, that you are consistent with your assessments of effort and how you feel, and that you are consistent with your recovery. Make running a routine, and the rest will follow. 2) Frequency - The more you practice, the better you get. Lots of shorter sessions is better than a few mammoth sessions. It's like studying; cramming for an exam may work on occasion, but it is not a good long-term strategy. 3) Recovery - It ain't the mileage that breaks ya. And it's not any one run that produces an injury (except for those where you twist an ankle or fall and break your leg). Usually, people pile on too much, don't let their bodies absorb the stresses they are generating, and dig deeper and deeper. Recovery is the absorption period, where your body adapts, thus allowing you to increase the overall load in the future. To improve while avoiding injury, you need to constantly balance frequency with recovery, but you can help manage this balance by monitoring effort and volume, and allowing your body time and resources to recover and adapt. Think of a bath tub. Too much hot water (effort) or too much cold (volume), and you produce a flow the drain (your body's ability to recover) can't handle, and overflow the tub. However, when you get the flow just right, you maintain a level that allows the drain to work properly and effectively, and thus prevent an overflow. If you accidentally go over on or the other, you adjust back for a bit, let the drain catch up, and go on with training. If you overflow, you waste time mopping up water, have to shut off both valves completely, and lose valuable shower time. How much you run, how often you run, what efforts you run at... Those are often academic questions, and will change from person to person, and even from month to month for the same person. Remember, improvement means increasing stress, but in a fashion that allows you to do so repeatedly without going too deep to the well too often. So, no specific advice, or programs, sorry. Hopefully though you can take what I've written and apply it to your situation.