Plateauing?

[wellesleyprincess]

Hey everyone!

So this is going to seem like a dumb question but how do you know when you're getting close to your plateau? So here's my story. I started seriously running in mid-June at roughly a 10:30-11 minutes per mile pace. I've been gradually improving and now do my standard runs (3.5-4 miles; significant hills for the first 2 miles) at roughly an 8:30-8:45 pace and last night ran a 5k at an 8:15 pace. This has been over the course of about six weeks so I have definitely seen significant progress (about a minute off of each 5k time). I know eventually I will reach a point where my pace won't be changing and especially not changing as quickly. My fear is what it'll do to my mental game when I don't see as quantifiable progress. So, how do you know you're plateauing? And when you do how do you keep challenging yourself and changing your definition of progress?
I'm working on moving from a 5k to a 10k, so on a slightly different note is it unrealistic to think that in 8 to 10 weeks I could run a 10k at my current 5k pace?

Thanks,
Jennifer

 

[FireDancer]

Well Jennifer, being that you just started running I would not think you are plateauing quite yet. I have read many times that you should gain running efficiency for about 7 years from the time you start running. Of course this depends on many things like your health and the age at which you start running. And efficiency doesn’t always mean just lower times. It could mean less time lost on hills or heat as opposed to absolute time gained.

A change in the way you train can help you push over a plateau. Doing fartlek runs or shorter repeats instead of just the standard 3 or 4 or 5 mile training run can help. I can give you my experience over the last year as evidence. I was running constantly in the low 20 minute range for 2 years. I did 2 runs under 20 but almost all of my races in 2006 and 2007 were between 20:00 and 20:15. This past January I turned 30 and knew that if I wanted to continue placing in my age group I needed to get my times down. I did a lot more winter running so I didn’t lose as much of my peak fall fitness as in the past and concentrated on running faster on training runs. I also thought a lot more about form while I was running. Lastly, in the past I would reach what I was perceiving as my limit of discomfort and keeping pace. When I pushed through that limit I noticed I really could run faster longer than I thought.

Now, I run in the low 19’s and have even broken into the 18’s twice.

It is a total cliché but the longer I have run the more and more I think that most of our barriers are more mental than physical.

Oh, and Cross-train!!!!!

Hope this helps.

 

[windwalker]

Jennifer that's a fair question but unfortunately it's like asking what color is a flower. Everyone is unique and an experiment of one.

The rule of thumb is that you continue to improve for 10 years. But it's not a steady improvement. At first you improve quickly, just as you have the rest of the improvement will be slower and require some detective work on your part.

You have to keep challanging yourself with different stuff. When you get to a slick spot then you will need to change something. That's when doing speed intervals, hills, tempo runs and fartlack will help. Adding good cross training can help also since it builds strengh without tiring your running muscles.

Good luck with your training, I think you will be a super runner, but it takes a while and a lot of dedication and patience.

Walking Panda