Decreasing Riegel Exponent

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ukjmr Jul 2014 9:57pm, 1 Jul 2014 First-time poster!!	0 ukjmr This is probably a very dumb question, but if I want to decrease my Riegel exponent (that is, I think my pace drops too rapidly as run distance increases), where should the focus of my training lie? Longer runs? It seems my 5k is reasonable, but my 10k not great and my 10M dreadful. I want to do a couple of halves in the next few months so wondered how to maximise my training time. Ta for anyone's thoughts.
ukjmr Jul 2014 10:00pm, 1 Jul 2014 2 posts	0 ukjmr Oops - misclicked. Meant that for training. Can I move it?
Curly45 Jul 2014 10:34pm, 1 Jul 2014 2,339 posts	0 Curly45 Hopefully Gobi will be along soon, but in the meantime: run longer, run more but more slowly Usually applies for most people wishing to improve their conversions up the distances. It will be a case of building your stamina first, then adding some specific race pace running later to improve your lactate threshold i.e. your ability to run harder for longer. Build up slowly and make sure your long run is in proportion with the rest of your week (dont try to run 20 miles in one run if you only do 30 miles a week!).
Curly45 Jul 2014 10:35pm, 1 Jul 2014 2,340 posts	0 Curly45 Ideally you would work up the distances too, but that isnt always possible (say a HM is your next race), get the 10k in line first as its within your experience level if you are good at 5ks.
Dvorak Jul 2014 12:27am, 2 Jul 2014 8,783 posts	0 Dvorak Welcome to Fetch! Oh, hang on, you've been here a while. Welcome to posting As above ^^ A quick look at your training suggests you are training near to race pace? Slow it down - train easy, race hard. Although ... it didn't quite work for me. Off training for HM I then ran faster over 10k and 5K, so my Riegel number stayed the same
paul the builder Jul 2014 11:11am, 2 Jul 2014 4,634 posts	0 paul the builder A quick look at your training log to me suggests you don't run very much, would be my first observation. Perhaps that's not all your mileage, and you have more unlogged. But if that's it, then: - run more. Even 5k races need endurance, and 10k and upwards definitely do. Doing 5-10 miles a week won't get you there. - and run mostly slowly, conversational pace. If you get back home after a 5-6m run and think "that was easy" - that's the pace. Plenty of them.
ukjmr Jul 2014 4:40pm, 13 Jul 2014 3 posts	0 ukjmr Folks, thank you very much. I hadn't noticed replies initially (I was only seeing new Fetchmail). So I've been building mileage (and starting to log it all) as advised. I'm also slowing down a little. If Mrs UKJMR hadn't broken down so far from home this morning I'd've logged some more earlier too, but I'm just about to get out for my 'morning' run now. I think I'm an oddity in that I used to do 50-odd mile events in the Peak District and can go at a very slow pace forever. Or it seems I'm okay at 5k or so. It's in the middle that it gets tricky. I fancy having a crack at a half in just over two months so am following the Runners World plan that I found in the training section here.
ukjmr Jul 2014 8:01pm, 13 Jul 2014 4 posts	0 ukjmr Nine miles with headphones in and ignoring the Garmin and enjoying the music. Added around 40s per mile and whilst I didn't think "that was easy", I know I could have gone harder (for the first few at least)!
ukjmr Jul 2014 7:41pm, 28 Jul 2014 5 posts	0 ukjmr p.s. - It's working chaps. I've clocked up nearly 120 miles this month and my exponent has moved from 13 to 12. More of the same, I guess! Thanks again.
Dvorak Jul 2014 9:14pm, 28 Jul 2014 8,884 posts	0 Dvorak Keep up the good work