Review; Furman Institute of Running & Scientific Training (FIRST) 10k plan

At face value it would seem a bit odd to write a review of a training plan, but several people have emailed me with questions and so under the heading of ‘does it work’ here we go.

A couple of caveats up front all of this comes from the Runner’s World Book Run Less Run Faster, you can follow this link or click in the side bar and go to Amazon where you can get a used copy a paltry $12 or $8 used and I will earn a staggering 16c, additionally this is only a review of the 10k plan, the half marathon and marathon plans call for four runs a week.

So as a reminder the basics of the FIRST 10k plan are three runs a week; Intervals, a short Tempo and long Tempo run, interspersed with cross training for which I used swimming and cycling.

The basic science behind the plan is that the volume of running is decreased but the intensity of the runs is increased. Each run is designed to improve vo2Max; the measure of an athlete’s ability to produce energy aerobically; through the use of oxygen. Increasing Lactate Threshold; Lactate is an organic byproduct of anaerobic metabolism; an improvement in the LT is an improvement in the muscles ability to do endurance work. Finally an improvement in running economy is expected, running economy is expressed either as a velocity achieved for a given rate of oxygen consumption or the vo2 needed to maintain a given speed. Improvement in running economy generally takes the longest period of time for measurable improvement.

As you can already see this is different from you typical plan which tends to have a long(ish) slow run at the weekend, even 10k plans have long runs, all of these runs are fast. So the first question is how fast, well there are a lot of tables, each run is based on a different pace and the pace is derived from a recent 5k race time. I used an old 5k race time which was also my most recent from November 2008! I used that as a baseline and then backed into the times I needed for my goal time of a three hour marathon, when you put it all into a table it looks like this:

Intervals	Pace	400m	600m	800m	1000m	1200m	1600m	2000m
19:45 5k race PR pace	6:21	1:26	2:11	2:56	3:41	4:29	6:07	7:44
2:59 Marathon pace	6:51	1:28	2:14	3:00	3:47	4:36	6:17	7:56

Short Tempo	Pace	Short	Mid	Long	Easy
19:45 5k race PR pace	6:21	6:38	6:53	7:08	8:13
2:59 Marathon pace	6:51	7:03	7:18	7:33	8:38

Long Tempo	Pace	Long
19:45 5k race PR pace	6:21	7:08
2:59 Marathon pace	6:51	7:33

The runs are broken down over the week over varying distances, as you can see there are multiples distances used during the Intervals and they are all used in varying multiples and combinations, an example of a simple set would be:

• 10-20 minutes warm up; I would usually split difference and run 2 miles
• 5 x 800m (@ 2:56 (5:54 pace)) with a 400m Rest Interval (RI) in between
• 10 minutes cool down; again I went 1 mile

A more complicated set would be:

• 10-20 minutes warm up; I would usually split difference and run 2 miles
• 1600M @ 6:07 (6:07 pace) 400 RI
• 1200M @ 4:29 (6:00) 400 RI
• 800M @ 2:56, (5:54 pace) 400 RI
• 400M, 1:26 (5:36 pace) 400 RI
• 10 minutes cool down; again I went 1 mile

Now this sounds all very complicated and when your hauling ass around a track or up and down the beach path trying to remember how fast, what, when is nigh on impossible, this is where your Garmin Forerunner is essential, you can program all the intervals in and it ends up looking like this:

For the short and long tempo runs a similar approach is used. The short tempo runs are much more your typical tempo style with a warm up and cool down bookending the tempo time in the middle, examples of this could be:

• 1 mile warm up / 4 miles @ mid tempo pace / 1 mile cool down

Again a more complicated version would be;

• 1 mile warm up / 2 miles @ short tempo, 1 mile easy, 2 miles short tempo / 1 mile cool down

Longer tempo runs are much simpler with just one pace, although be prepared to over distance, the longest run is 10 miles, nearly four miles longer than you’ll be racing and you will be running that 3 times.

So that’s all the theory lets’ look at the practice. I wrote about my results halfway through the plan back in January and as expected the majority of the improvement was measured during the first 6 weeks. Conveniently week 1, 6 and 12’s intervals were all 400m based so the quantitative analysis is made somewhat easier, here are the numbers:

Week 1 Day 1

Week 6 Day 1

Week 12 Day 1

The numbers speak for themselves, even taking into consideration that the first six weeks were recorded after coming back from injury so the expected ramp down would be steep the improvement is more than significant with the intervals between 20-25 seconds faster per 400 meters; that’s 80-100 seconds faster over a mile. Compare that to the second six weeks where the decrease was approx 3-4 seconds faster per 400 meters. That being said as you can see by the time I was reaching the end of the program I was under my target pace. Of course there is a world of difference between running 400m and running 26.2 miles but it should all play out over time and training.

Qualitatively there are positives and negatives to this plan. The positives; low mileage, flexibility within the plan from only 5 days of training, clearly prescribed workouts – both distances and paces. The negatives; it’s very prescriptive, despite the low mileage it’s a hard plan, every run is hard there are no junk miles, there is a bigger opportunity for injury and over time you can expect to feel a little beaten up.

So the question you’re probably asking is, is this the plan for me? Well maybe, the maybes are based on what your end goals are and what your running history is, while the book contains some C25K (couch to 5k plans) it’s the faster plans that have the main focus in fact there is a whole chapter dedicated to qualifying for Boston. If you can stick to a plan and don’t tend to get bored following something this prescribed, if you are prepared to hang up your shoes a couple of days a week and cross train and if you want to run fast then this might just be the plan for you.

Finally, and what it’s all about, the results. I bettered my 10k PR time by nearly four minutes and I am now a shade off 44:00 (my previous 47:53), I still feel there is more left in the tank to reduce that even lower and I’ll be looking to improve that time as I race train during the coming months.