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Saturday, February 25, 2017

Transitioning to 10k training

With the Crescent City Classic scheduled as my next race, it's high time to shake off my flats and get some speed work in. Doing nothing but marathon training and resting for nine months has sapped my speed!
I kicked off the transition to the 10k with the Power Milers' workout last week, but I don't have a specific 10k training plan in mind. I will continue to complete Tuesday speed work, do a short long run on Saturdays (probably ten miles; maybe twelve on days with a lot of free time), and perhaps one more hard day. Suggestions? I can't do hill repeats; there are no hills here. Perhaps a fartlek or tempo? I've never done tempos for anything but Hanson's, so I am not sure what pace I should run for 10k training (your advice is welcome!).
A wrench in my plans? It's also really hot for this time of year! 

I've had some scares returning to running after my unwise pair of marathons this winter. First, my pes anserine tendon was terribly irritated, and while time off, scraping, and quad work helped, I can still feel that it is not 100%. I have to be careful to stretch and strengthen.
Then, I started to have some foot pain. I'm 99% sure the cause is not running related: I've never had a running-related foot injury, and I'm not prone to foot pain. I may have wide feet and bunions, but I also have strong, high arches that protect my feet to an extent. However, there are two culprits that could have caused pain in the front of my foot:
1. I had to do a ton of walking in wedges all day Thursday. I'd originally planned to be quite sedentary that day, but unfortunately I had to do a lot of walking around the hospital all day (long story, but a tech called in, and I basically ended up taking her place because we were so short-staffed). My top front of my foot started to hurt that night.
Or,
2. It's the Altras I just bought. Any time I have a weird pain and I just started running in new shoes, I assume the shoes are a factor. So the Altras stay off for a few days, then I'll make sure to reintroduce them slowly. Just in case!

Otherwise, I'm feeling good, a little heavy right now (thanks, king cake) but otherwise fairly fit. I just need that speed back. Any suggestions for good 10k training plans would be most appreciated!

4 comments:

  1. Altars are like zero drop so that might be the cause of your new foot pain. The track work you did with the fast guys last week sounded intense.

    If tempos scare you try running for time as opposed to distance. Try 4x 5 minutes at 10-15 seconds faster than goal pace with 90 seconds active recovery 2 miles warm up and 2 miles cool down.
    400s and 600s are great too.
    I'm feeling old and slow so I'm just embracing long runs at a relaxed pace

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  2. I hope the foot pain goes away... I always get nervous when I get random pains. And since I had a stress fracture in my foot, I freak out when I have any pain in my feet. But I have RA so foot pain could also be related to my RA.

    Good luck with your 10k training! I have never tried to train for a shorter race. I kind of hate the 5k and 10k distance because it's just so different from half and marathon training!

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