Fitness planner: Beginners' guide to running 10K in eight weeks - Part 4

In these, your last, weeks of the Moneycontrol Couch to 10km training plan, start stretching a tad bit more and increase your water intake, suggests Arora. “If you can, also do some foam rolling and eat healthy, and make sure you get plenty of sleep. If your body is not well-rested, it is likely to make things a bit more tough.”

When the time comes and you run your first 10km (it is unlikely to be at a race, given the pandemic), it is not unusual to be a bit nervous and anxious. However, do not be negative, warns Dharmendra Kumar, running coach and co-founder of Proton Sports in Bengaluru. “Win all the mind games. Visualise your run. You have been running for almost two months now and you know how your body behaves, and what it needs when. So, plan when you would drink water, when you would pick up pace, when you’d slow down and at what point you are likely to tire and have a contingency plan of walk-run routine or slow jog if that happens. You have nothing to lose,” he says.

Pune-based corporate communications manager Murli Pillai, 38, started running in 2013 because he got curious at the sight of people running around at the Pune Race Course while he was enjoying his morning walk. The first day he couldn’t run from one lamppost to the next. But he kept at it and ran every day. Soon he was doing 6km and then decided to run a 10km.

“I just ran every day and didn’t follow any particular plan. I just kept increasing the distance and duration of my run according to what my body felt and then I got confident and signed up for a race. I knew I could get up to the 6km mark because I had covered that distance many times and knew that I’d reach 7km if I pushed myself a bit. So, on race day I managed 7km without walking or stopping. The last 3km was a challenge I hadn’t prepared for. But I adapted… I took walk breaks; once I got my energy back, I would start running again till I couldn’t anymore and switch to walking again… so on and so forth, I finished the 10km,” he recalls of his first time.

For intermediate runners, the plan includes running distances greater than 10km at slower than target pace. This helps make the body develop greater endurance and strength. This improves your performance over shorter distances, say both Arora and Kumar.

Pillai did have doubts, and there was the fear of the daunting distance of 10km when he first started running. But the doubts and fear faded with every training session till they weren’t there anymore. Soon, he started doing longer distances and has also run ultra marathon now. “It was the delight of completing a physical challenge and discovering new levels of determination that left me elated at finishing my first race despite everything I went through during the run itself. There was a genuine sense of achievement and that’s what inspired me to push myself further and cover bigger distances,” he says.

After your maiden 10km, treat yourself to a massage. More than relaxation, the massage helps to loosen your overworked muscles. “It will relax your muscles that you have put through some rigorous training over the last few weeks,” advises Arora.

Couch to 10K: Last two weeks

Intermediate runners

This is the fourth article in a six-part series on preparing for your first 10km run if you are a beginner, or increasing your pace if you are an intermediate runner. The first three articles in the series can be found at: Fitness planner: Beginners' guide to running 10K in eight weeks - Part 1, Part 2, Part 3.

Our next fitness planner series will be on cycling.