From somebody on the "T-shirt" thread: "You's guys about ain't got no sense!"

This is my very first post. I have been lurking for a while (an ugly word but i guess thats what I've been doing). My stoopid question revolves around being prepared. I started running in August and did my own version of the C25K. I am a 21 year old male and have successfully gone from 250 to 225 through diet and exercise. I ran my first 5k at the end of september with a time of 27:51 which blew my mind because I have never been very athletic. I signed up for a 10k on Nov 11th. I have been increasing my long run to 7 miles (successfully done that 3 times), but I still feel like im not that fast. It takes about 1 hour 20 minutes to do the 7 miles. I am afraid that I am pushing myself to hard and will finish last at the race. During the week i run 4 runs, 3 at either 4 or 5 miles and then the long run of 7 miles. I am just wondering if this is enough to be ready for the 10k or if im just setting myself up for disappointment. My goal is to run a HM in april and a full marathon this time next year. Any thoughts or suggestions are really appreciated. Before I forget, the other big thing is I have rheumatoid arthritis so I am really trying to be careful with my joints but havent really had any problems so far. Thanks for any info.

& on that note, (yes, you're doing awesome!!) I'm not so sure that speed should be your 1st concern! build distance slowly - your connective tissue & joints will thank you for it! think of it this way, it's gonna take you ALOT longer to reach your goals if you get injured!! & by building distance, thereby stamina, the speed, to some degree, will take care of itself....& I 2nd: See a good sports med Doc about your RA...

Mugulian, trust us that at your current speed you won't be anywhere near last. Somewhere in mid-pack would be more my guess. That's a friendly place to be - many might say the best place to be, though everybody wishes they were faster.

The one red flag I see in your expectations is too fast a progression to marathon. I would hazard a guess that with those expectations your training schedule is more likely to cause you problems than the RA. I would suggest you think about really getting comfortable at 1/2M before going onward. A typical marathon training program is 5-6 months, you might think about running several 1/2s before starting that brutal ramp-up. In my experience, the marathon training programs flatten a lot more people than the marathons do.

FWIW, I have OA like someone 25 years older. Running may actually improve it a little. Don't know if that relates to RA at all though.

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-Hippo-

We went to face our demons, but all we found were angels.
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Hi, I guess I've been lurking as well. I too am fairly 'new' to running in that I run fairly consistently over the spring/summer and fall but seem to shut down over the winter I've run some 5k's coming in each time between 28 -29:30 which I'm perfectly happy with. Ok, you're thinking where's the question. Here goes, in late June I was almost hit by a big rig - idiot saw me but decided that he had the right to go. I stopped just in time but the result was pain in the outside of my left knee Went to my Primary doctor and she referred me to a specialist (which the appt was in Sept) she said if the pain did not go away to keep the appt if it did go away just cancel. Well it seemed to go away after only doing some pool running and maybe some walking for most of July and some of August. Since then I've run, altough not consistently and then yesterday I ran 3.5 at a 9:10 pace got home and the outside my knee is killing me. No swelling but it does hurt. A guy I know (has run numerous marathons) said that if I can get into a catcher's squat with no pain then it is not actually my knee but more likely my hamstring or calf. I can do that without pain. What do people think? and, if it is does turn out to be hamstring/calf do you all know of any really good stretches? thanks, Cherrie

Thanks for the replies! I'd heard that about not stretching cold muscles.....I guess some habits are hard to break. I guess I'll just head out and start with the brisk walk for the warm up and see how that feels.

For such a "simple" sport, there sure is a lot to learn!

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