Small Gains Best Way to Add Distance

By GIBBS, Peter

In the past few weeks I’ve had several emails about training for summer events, but two in particular were so similar I thought it was a conspiracy.

It saved on the response time, though, because I was able to send them the same reply.

Here’s one of the letters: “My partner and I are thinking of doing the 10km Mahana run. We have been jogging for the last month or so and are jogging about 4km three times a week (unless pouring with rain) on the flat.”

And the other: “Do you still have running training schedules you can email? I have been running for a couple of months and would like to do a 10km run in November and the Buller Half in February.”

Here’s the reply I sent to both: “I’m not sure of your speed, but I’d guess you’re going out for about half an hour at the moment.

“You have eleven weeks, just enough time to get a decent platform of fitness. The goal over that time will be to raise your training runs to three of 45 minutes during the week, plus one of an hour at the weekend.

“The increase in distance needs to be gradual, so just add five minutes each week until you get to those levels, which you should reach by the beginning of October. After that, it’s just consolidation. The intensity should still be reasonably gentle – you should still just be able to have a conversation as you run.

“Towards the end of October, early November, you might think about trying one or two of the Wednesday night 5km runs organised by Waimea Harriers, which start about then. That will give you the experience of running in a group, so you’re not so tempted to go out too fast on race day.”

A further question, which came later, was whether the trainees should do some hill or speed work.

If you’re a beginner, your performance under stress will be limited by the amount of base work you’ve done. The more base work you’ve done, the faster you’ll go. However, trying to go quickly too soon is self-defeating, in many ways.

Because your base is limited, not only will you not go very fast, but you’ll take a long time to recover. In fact, your next training session won’t be so good, because chances are you won’t have recovered from the intensity session. Not only that, but you’ll be a prime target for injury, because your body won’t have much experience of the sharper workout.

So the message to all new runners and walkers is to take it easy. To become competitive and to be able to compete injury-free will take a regular habit and will be destroyed by pushing into intensive training too early.

If you check the event calendar on the Fitness Zone blog at www.nelsonmail.co.nz, you’ll find that the Smiths Sports Shoes Mahana Half Marathon and 10km is on Sunday November 23. That’s now nine weeks away.

If your goal is one of these distances and you’re starting from a low base, save your intense session for race day. You’ll do more harm than good by trying to sharpen with sprints or doing hills at more than an easy pace.

As well as the Smiths 10km and half- marathon, there are plenty of other 10km and half-marathon events, all of which you’ll find on the event calendar, together with links to the appropriate websites.

If, along with hundreds of other Nelson runners and walkers, Buller is your thing, I’ll have detailed training programmes available from the beginning of November. Until then, follow the advice above and work on building a base.

Much closer is the Rabbit Island mountainbike duathlon this weekend, run by the Nelson Tri Club. Online entries are flowing in at a brisk rate, with some businesses getting in on the act to enter en masse as well as family entries. You can log in tonight, or turn up on Sunday before 9.30am and race anyway.

If you’re more adventurous, the Musselman is an odyssey that will take you from Picton to Nelson via kayak, road bike, mountainbike and foot, or a combination of some of those options, and it’s just a week away on October 5.

You’ll also find both those events, together with links to their home websites, on the Fitness Zone event calendar at www.nelsonmail.co.nz.

Happy training.

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