Furman FIRST Program

I've decided to try the Furman FIRST training program as I'm working toward my goals of running a personal best in the 10k and in the half marathon this year. It's a running program that stresses doing only three runs a week but focusing on quality runs with specific goals/purposes for each run. The have a book that you can read more about the programs that is entitled, "Run Less, Run Faster."

Right now, I'm not where I'd like to be to actually start the 10k training. It calls funs of 8-10 miles just a few weeks after you start the 12 week series. I'd like to focus on losing weight first and then begin this program as I get closer to my goal weight. So, I'm going to start with the 5k training program. This seems to be close to the same mileage that I'm already doing, about 5 or 6 miles, three times a week. It does get up to 8 miles around week 7, but that'll be the longest distance. It's not really so much the distance that I'll be going, but the time that it'll take to run more than 8 miles. As a slow runner, if you start running 10+ miles, it kinda eats into your day, and I'm not quite ready to spend that much time training yet. Instead, I'll run a 5K race and set a personal best for that distance without a doubt (I've never run a 5k).

The program consists of three runs a week, with 2 cross training workouts. The three runs are broken down into Interval runs, where you run your 5k pace for 400m-1600m with rest intervals between sets. The second run is a tempo run where you do a warm up mile then 2-4 miles at a predetermined tempo that is close to your 5K pace. The last run is a long run which varies between 5 and 8 miles and is run at close to 5k pace as well. This will be challenging for me, because I have for the last couple years focused so much on endurance that I have neglected speed, but I am looking forward to the challenge.