The Ilford publication also says 5-10 mins in running water or 10 changes of water in the tank? I am not being argumentative, I am only reading what the sheet says. I guess when it come to washing a little extra will not hurt???
Unless you have a water shortage or water is expensive in your area, that is exactly the case.
If you have hard water, after the wash you might want to let the film sit in some distilled water and Photoflo (half strength) before hanging it up to dry (maybe 3-5 minutes, but more won't hurt). If you do this with film still in the reel, you might want to scrub the spirals of the reel with a toothbrush and cleanser afterward, as some report Photoflo contamination creating problems. Or else it might be easier to take the film out of the reel before you give it the soak. My own practice is to transfer the film to another container entirely for the final soak in distilled water and half-strength Photoflo.
Finally, don't worry too much. Developing black and white film is hard to screw up in a big way, as long as you use the correct time for the temperature of the developer. Later on, you can work on fine-tuning the amount of contrast that you want.
Another piece of advice that you didn't ask for: do things the same way every time, and only change one thing at a time if you want to experiment. Don't change the kind of stop bath or fixer that you use at random. It doesn't really matter whether you agitate 10 seconds every minute or 5 seconds every 30 seconds, for example, but stick to one regimen consistently. Then your results will be predictable, and if you change one thing only, you will know that that thing accounts for any differences that you see.
Have fun!
