I want to be a top-athlete in long distances

[Ric]

Age:17

Length:1.68m (meters)

Gender: Male

Weight:59-62 kg

Nation:South Africa

Region:Gauteng

Location in Region: North Gauteng

Running Background

Minutes:Seconds(Rating,when)
800m: 02:15(below average,2-4 weeks back)

1200m:03:45(below average,6-10 months back)

1500m:04:38(average,1 month back)

3000m:10:07(average-couldn,t break the 10-minute barrier,3 months back)
BUT in training I broke the 10 minute barrier on 9 April this year with a 09:48-09:55 when I was running a 4.5km very fast on road. There were some inclines but declines as well but not hard.
Did it with my Brooks Pure Gift(exellent training shoes) R1250.00c

5000m:never ran

10000m:never ran

10k(road):36:50(above average or average,3 months back)I ran 37:00 BAREFOOT at a time on road.

15k:60:10(below average,1+ year back)

25k:150:00(no rating,8 months back,I accidently did this,I wanted to run the 10k not half-marathon so in beginning I was at the front. When I found out it was a 25km then I jogged the rest of the way)

42k:never ran before

6km(cross-country):21:03(above average,10-12 months back)BAREFOOT


Current training program:
Monday:hard 10k(BAREFOOT)

Thusday:medium pace inclined 10k,8 hills,more uphill than downhill and a lot sharper(one inclined road witch I call the Green Monster warm up is so inclined that when you look straight ahead you onle see the road-its like a wall and 400m-450m long)

Wensday:easy 10k

Thursday:recovery run 6km

Vryday:6 1000m,s (CROSS-COUNTRY-sharp corners,hilly setion,small stairs,thick grass,unbalanced ground at a certain point,200m track,200m road)Rest between is 170 seconds

Saterday:Track 6k but I always make this intresting and fun
Sunday:CORE-training(about 12 sets of 25-30 reps each,circuit-based training meaning very little rest)but my legs rest here.
Have been following for 2-3 weeks now.only remember the last two.

Results:week 1

Monday:20:30 first 5km,22:00 second 5km

42:30 (legs were tired)
Thusday:48:00(felt easy enough)
Wensday:rest

Thursday:recovery run 6km-24:50(was fun but I pushed myself in the last 3km)

Vryday:easy 10k 45:30(felt ok)

Saterday: core training,6 1k,s,rest in between 170s(I wanted to enjoy it and not get that tired,I never push myself much in the 1k,s)
03:08(pushed myself,didn,t like it)
03:18(Felt tired but controlled)
03:24(Felt tired but controlled)
03:37(decided to go slower and build up for last one,controlled and enjoybable enough)
03:34(controlled)
03:55(my last one is my cool-down run and my rule is to just keep it under 4 minutes)

Sunday: watched the Cross-country Championships so I wanted to be like them and chose to run a fast 3km on the road witch begins with a sharp incline of 250m.I ran 03:02 on first km,03:07 BUT got in third km negative(I was looking so good) and ended with a 10:30(I BEGAN TO FAST)
second week:1 april- 7 april

M:fast 10k- 6km:22:50(was tired that,s why I stopped),stopped and completed later that day 4km: 15:30(I was tired at the 4km)BAREFOOT

T: the incline 10km 46:08(was quite tired at finish)

W:easy 10k-39:45, First 5km(held breath only with my nose,I never opended my mouth) was 22:30 and second one was 17:15(it just came but I was very tired)

T:recovery run 6km-27:00(actually felt a little tired)

V:Rested

S:1k,s 170s rest BAREFOOT

03:21
03:24
03:27
03:36
03:34
04:02
Didn,t enjoy it,was tired but not that tired
Sunday: 6km on track. CROSS-FIT training with push-ups,pull ups and so forth.My first 1000m was 3:30,second about 3:40 then I decided to go slower but I wasn,t tired though.
Current week:
NOTE: I,m running 6km saterday in TRANSNET or something but I found out its going to be a 8km for me and I don,t think I can hold a strong pace(like 03:10-03:20 per km)for 8km but I always stay positive atleast.Its going to be very flat so insane times are expected.What thrills me is I may be running with the best.

Monday: 6km recovery-24:30-24:50(wasn,t tired actually but it was a fast route)

Thusday: 9km fast first-half then resting the second.I couldn,t believe myself here with a 14:30-4.3km but I was training with the school so I didn,t want to look slow as this year is where whe will have the strongest team ever.The other fast guys didn,t decide to follow(they said its dumb to go so fast but there are sometimes when I want to SUFFER and feel the burn).I wasn,t too tired(no throw ups or feeling dead at the end) but I was tired.I never skip corners because it helps you at cross-country.The children at the school don,t believe me.The coach was on an Important school meeting Unfortunaly.I had to go slow over a road once and to watch for cars.I was in control for 4km but after that I got tired.
NOTE:It was a more incline than decline route with a sharp incline at the end and then a fast decline.

Wensday:decided to train with school.They did 15 200m on track with 00:45 rest.It was easy for me and I enjoyed it a lot but the fast runners wern,t there that day?
00:34
00:36
00:35
00:33
00:31
REST 2-3 minutes
00:33
00:35
00:31
00:30
00:31

REST

00:31
00:30
00:33
00:36
00:27(YEAH)
BAREFOOT

I have no spikes or racing shoes.

I am a mild overpronater and I,m aiming for a 26:00 saterday. I hope this is not being overconfident.

If you have any advice you can give me on my current training then that will help a lot.If there is a better program I can follow for my running you need to tell me because I wan,t to hear it from you.I don,t like training by coaches because you never get better fast enough.I ran 42:00 last year on 10k and look at me now.I never used the coache’s program because even though it works it unfortunaly works to slow for me and I want to get better fast.I got the reward of BEST PROGGRESSION(like when you get a reward for going to Provionsional Championships)

SORRY I WRIGHT SO MUCH BUT I DON,T HAVE MANY OTHER THINGS TO DO.

[TheEd]

Hi Ric, welcome to the forums and thanks for your solid info

please give me a day to go through this more thoroughly

much appreciated

TheEd

[Ric]

It didn,t go well on the saterday cross-country race. I didn,t get near the 26:00 minutes.I,m going to run a 10k this weekend because I think I can do better on flat surfaces.I want to have some advice on how to prepare(Right before race) for a 10k and I need to know when you should go faster or slower(pacing) because I think by using tactics I will get a far better time if I don,t use them at all.I have alot of trouble starting slow and I useally burst out in the beginning wich isn,t good but I want to change that for this race.I can take my time every 3km because that,s when they hand out water bags(this happens two times on a 10k)so any advice will be very helpful.

[TheEd]

Ric .. do consider me creating an adapted 10k program more suited to your development, this may take a little while to do however running another 10km to assess yourself is not ideal

do consider doing a 4km time-trial on the track and then providing me the data from that so that I can formulate things quicker

cheers

TheEd

[Ric]

ok, i,l do it on saterday/sunday/maybe friday.I trained hard this week but i,l stop now so I can build up for the 4km time-trail on track and I checked the upcoming races on the internet and did not find a 10k race so I was going to do another 8km(cross-country)but not anymore.

[TheEd]

how are things your side Ric?

TheEd

[Ric]

after the last time I posted everything just seemed to go from bad to worse.
Right after that I still trained for a While then I stopped (3 weeks). It was vacation and then I founded God again serving him fanaticlily in my own way again for 3 weeks(I still ran sometimes). Then it was school and I decided I was an academical person so I did 4 large projects in 4-6 weeks( I was one of the first to hand them in and none of them was below 70%, usseally I get just around 50% for everything and it is useally late) I also did some recreational running in this time. Then one morning in the school hall they showed a movie
where Athletes were competing so that made me wanting to go running again because my academics was looking good. I started running again and training with the school. I never trained so hard in so short peroid. I ran in the morning to school(1.7km), I ran in school,I ran between switching of peroids, I ran out the classes, I ran in brake to my eating spot or to where the kids were playing soccer or throwing ball, I trained with the other kids after school and since by now the older kids were all National level(I couldn,t believe it) so I suffered.(they run 1k in 3:00 and have 1:30- 2:00 rest in between). I ran home again and that was it. This went on for 2-3 weeks then I decided to go for a morning run on a vryday. I wanted to run a easy 8:10 on a 2km but I strangely failed and that was the trigger for my mental breakdown( I also ran a few races wich I could never get under 22:00 for a 6km). I decided I didn,t want to live and if i,m going to skip running then everything else will be skipped with it. I didn,t go to school for 2-3 weeks then I sorta got behing with my above 70% academic score and I left school(my parents allowed it). I went for homeschooling but I didn,t want to have lower grade maths but the standard grade so I went for extra math classes witch was 10km from my house and decided to run there and back or walk. That ended up me doing 65-70km a week and I sometimes ran 1km,s for fun and I did it pretty fast.I still ran most of the time barefoot. Now my extra math classes are finished(but I won,t lie I began burning out in 1.8 months) and I decided to rest a week then I,l begin slowly again because I accept who I am and that I can,t train for longer than 2 monts or so except "back then" and I need to focus on my academy so I can go to university or something like that because i,m tired of living in this pit not because I have no friends, don,t speak to my family or don,t socialize with almost anyone but because 3-4 years back I said i,l get to national level or above and this is the time but i,m not there. I go high and low and I feel bad when i,m not running but I know its more than just a stimulant for me. the way I see it is get alot of money, get a bloody good Personal trainer, train my ass off and then hopefully I will achieve something with it.... and staying just fit enough for it when the time comes.

[TheEd]

Hi ric, you need to back off from the intensity and build on the enjoyment of running at first

set achievable short-term goals and build upon that slowly

train every 2nd day, with only 1 quality type run a week

once you have done this for a few weeks then you can reassess things to go forward

good luck

TheEd