Seeking advice

stmochtas

Hi,

I am currently into my 4th week of training for a 10k at the beginning of June. I am a 33 year old male with a general level of fitness, 5 11", 12st.

My training regime is as follows (had to replace day 5 with an easy run last week due to being on hols.)

Day 1 Rest
Day 2 35 Min Easy Run (4 miles +)
Day 3 6 * 1K at a faster pace with 2 min rests
Day 4 Rest
Day 5 10 * 500m at a faster pace with 1.5 min rests
Day 6 Rest
Day 7 50 Min Easy Run (5-6 miles)

I believe I can just about break the 50 minute mark for the 10k right now but would like to achieve a much better time (sub 45). Can anyone offer me advice or additions to my plan that might improve my speed. With six weeks to go and without injury. Is my goal realistic?

B.

--amadeus--

Hello and welcome!

How long have you been running? Advice often varies according to your experience and - in particular your running and racing background. Specifically if you have run 10ks in the past. Likewise we can't advise on teh reality of your goals without knowing how fast you currently run, past race performance, etc

The most obvious thing from your plan as posted is that it is too biased towards speed and you are pretty much ignoring endurance work. A really common mistake is to assume that to get faster you just have to practice running faster. Which is fine (to a degree) over short distances but even a 10k requires you to be able to sustain speed and maintain an intensity of effort over an extended period of time.

The easy run on day 7 is the closest you get to any kind of endurance work - I would increase the length of that run so that you are overrunning your race distance, perhaps as high as 12 miles but keeping the pace very relaxed. This will build the endurance you need to sustain a near maximal effort on race day.

Apart from that looks fine to me, although you may want to vary the intervals. While they seem (from what I know) to be at the right distance you will get bored doing the same sessions over and over again (monotony is figured as a factor in over-training). You might want to alternate the sessions week on week and swap day 3 for different speed work; strides, fartlek, hills or whatever.

stmochtas

Hi,

Thanks for the response. I have been running for over a year now but have yet to try any events. Training hasnt been that focussed to date however in the last month I have tried to get a plan together. I suspected that I would need to up the distance on Day 7. So I will add a few miles this week. Also I take your advice on varying the training for one of the days, (need to think about that..)