WE’RE now halfway through our exclusive Babcock 10K Race Series training programme with 2018 Helensburgh winner Katie White – and for novice runners who might be starting to find the going a bit tougher, Katie has some important words of encouragement as the programme moves into its next phase.

Remember that there’s still time to sign up for one or all of the events in the three-race series – taking place in Helensburgh on Thursday, May 9, Dumbarton on Thursday, May 16, and Glasgow Green on Sunday, May 26 – by going to entrycentral.com.

You can also find out more about the series at babcock10kseries.co.uk.

Beginners, week 5: The runs are continuing to get longer to help you build up the stamina needed to complete 10K.

On Saturday the aim is to spend one hour running.

Although you might be finding some of the sessions hard, don’t give up. There will be days when you find the training really difficult, but don’t worry, everyone has bad days.

Try to complete the session as best you can – because completing the run will make you stronger and prepare you both physically and mentally for the 10K race.

Intermediate/advanced, week 5: Hopefully now that you have completed nearly half the schedule you are in a regular routine to fit in the runs and have a good understanding of what paces you should be targeting for each of the sessions.

Don’t worry if you don’t always achieve the target pace – not all runs will always go to plan, just try and maintain the effort to complete the session.

If you are really struggling, then consider reducing the number of intervals on a Tuesday or reducing your target pace; don’t continue trying to run hard and risk injury as maintaining consistent regular training is the key to improving your race time.

Beginners, week 5: Monday – rest; Tuesday – 2mins easy run, 2mins faster run, 1min walk x6; Wednesday – rest; Thursday – 12min run, 1min walk x3; Friday – rest; Saturday – 15min run, 3min walk x4; Sunday – rest.

Intermediate, week 5: Monday – rest; Tuesday – pyramid 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 minutes of effort with half the time recovery; Wednesday – rest; Thursday – 2 miles, 4x1 mile with 3min jog; Friday – rest; Saturday – 4 miles easy; Sunday – 10 miles.

Advanced, week 5: Monday – rest; Tuesday – pyramid 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 minutes of effort with half the time recovery; Wednesday – 1 hour steady; Thursday – 2 miles, 4x1 mile with 3min jog; Friday – rest; Saturday – 1 hour with 20min tempo; Sunday – 12 miles.