TeamVA is gaining momentum! We now have eight team members on board for the Standard Chartered run in Nairobi in October. So far we have people willing to participate in both the ten kilometre and twenty one kilometre races and we have even managed to create a training partnership between two team members.
For anyone thinking of taking part in a run, it’s always a good idea to create a training plan…and try to stick to it!
As a former accountant and fan of numbers, I like to divide the number of kilometres I’m aiming to race by the number of weeks I have to train. This lets me see how many kilometres I need to add each month in order to build up the distance over time. When I started training a few months ago, I was running four kilometres (relatively) comfortably during the week and pushed myself to do six kilometres at the weekend. I calculated that I had to add two kilometres to my long runs, every two weeks. I’ve tried hard to stick to this and am now due to run eighteen kilometres this weekend in preparation for the Great Scottish Run on the 2nd September.
Some other things to take into account when you are planning your training:
- Don’t train every day as your muscles need time to recover.
- Mix your training – do short fast runs, long distances, hill work, speed work, go to the gym, cycle, swim….it doesn’t have to be all long runs.
- Focus – my brother studied Sports Science and always tells me that when you are running you either focus on distance or speed, not both at the same time. By doing long distance runs you build up endurance which also helps with your speed. Short fast runs get you used to running at speed and in time your speed over long distances will improve.
Please note, these are only my own tips from running over the past few years – I’m not a qualified expert! However, you can find some good training plans and advice on websites like Runners World or ask other team members to share their tips and what works for them. MapMyRun is a good site to plan out your runs and get an accurate idea of how many kilometres your routes are.
Plan well and you’ll be smiling as you cross the line on race day.
Whatever plan you follow, enjoy your training and keep us posted on Facebook or Twitter to let us know how you are getting on.
