10KM race strategy?

ebixa82

Hi,

What's the best strategy to run a 10km. I'll have a garmin to track my speed.

If I was running a longer distance I'd chose a pace based on planned finish time and stick to it from start to finish.

Is this the same for 10km races?

I remember asking that before my first 10 km, how much for the first km, the second and so on. A very experienced runner looked at me and just said "it's 10km, just do it". Think you'll only find out from "just doing it" and not overthinking it. Even the finest 10,000m runners in the world running races for fortunes vary strategy, so think it would be wrong for me or anyone to tell you how it's done as if it's a set way. Try it and see what works for you.

ebixa82

Deleted User wrote: »

I remember asking that before my first 10 km, how much for the first km, the second and so on. A very experienced runner looked at me and just said "it's 10km, just do it". Think you'll only find out from "just doing it" and not overthinking it. Even the finest 10,000m runners in the world running races for fortunes vary strategy, so think it would be wrong for me or anyone to tell you how it's done as if it's a set way. Try it and see what works for you.

I would hope to do 38-39 minutes but am not long back from injury.

I just don't want to crash and burn before the final km.

ebixa82

ebixa82 wrote: »

I would hope to do 38-39 minutes but am not long back from injury.

I just don't want to crash and burn before the final km.

I'm afraid I have nothing to say to you, my expertise is mostly reserved for the 41 minute mark!

Itziger

Depends a bit on the course. Is it track or road? (I'm guessing the latter). As I know nothing about the profile I won't say "Hold a bit for the hill at 7k!" If you have doubts you could go out at a tiny bit under 4min/km and see how you are with say 3 or 4 k to go. I agree with the first response too though. Run it and see what happens.

You wouldn't be the first to crash and burn and you won't be the last.

TFBubendorfer

ebixa82 wrote: »

I would hope to do 38-39 minutes but am not long back from injury.

I just don't want to crash and burn before the final km.

Even if you crash and burn in a 10k, it's not far to the finish line.

There is no real strategy, you're overthinking this. Just go out and do it. If you want a hint at what pace you should aim for then use Macmillan's calculator and get your projected time from a previous race result over a different distance.

BeepBeep!

For 38 minutes make sure that your passing the half way point at 19 minutes...not before or later. Breaks the race into 2 halfs and means that in the second half you can really push the pace on. My rule is to go flat out on 5k or less and negative splits on 10K plus, works for me but everyone is different.

ebixa82

TFBubendorfer wrote: »

Even if you crash and burn in a 10k, it's not far to the finish line.

I realise I'm not going to be stuck half way in the middle of nowhere if I do burn out, but at the same time, I'd rather finish 2-3 minutes slower than my planned time than not finish at all.

Will have a look on McMillan. Thanks

ebixa82

Itziger wrote: »

Depends a bit on the course. Is it track or road? (I'm guessing the latter). As I know nothing about the profile I won't say "Hold a bit for the hill at 7k!" If you have doubts you could go out at a tiny bit under 4min/km and see how you are with say 3 or 4 k to go. I agree with the first response too though. Run it and see what happens.

You wouldn't be the first to crash and burn and you won't be the last.

Docklands 10km- 2 laps of 5km, 100% flat. Would think it is a fast course.

spurscormac

ebixa82 wrote: »

I realise I'm not going to be stuck half way in the middle of nowhere if I do burn out, but at the same time, I'd rather finish 2-3 minutes slower than my planned time than not finish at all.

Will have a look on McMillan. Thanks

It's only just over 6 miles, if you crash & burn at halfway or slightly afterwards, you'll be ok to finish the remaining 2/3 miles.
Aiming for 38/39 minutes, then don't worry, you'll get around.

Sounds like you haven't raced a 10k before. What's your training like?
If its all on treadmill, then revise that 38/39 min back a little, rolling roads & wind are something you don't face on the treadmill.

As suggested, get your goal pace from McMillan or similar, don't go too fast at the start (do not try to stay with the ~33min leaders), and try to keep it even throughout the race.

Ceepo

ebixa82 wrote: »

I would hope to do 38-39 minutes but am not long back from injury.

I just don't want to crash and burn before the final km.

What are you basing your predicted finishing time on.
Have you run times similar to this before you got injured ?

Most people i know who run times like you are hoping to are experience runners. With the odd exception of the blessed ones.

Run comfortable hard for the first few k and you can go wrong.

ger664

ebixa82 wrote: »

I'd rather finish 2-3 minutes slower than my planned time than not finish at all.

You will learn a lot more by going out to hard and not finishing. Finishing 2-3 minutes slower still won't answer whether or not you can make 38-39 for 10K.

ebixa82

Ceepo wrote: »

What are you basing your predicted finishing time on.
Have you run times similar to this before you got injured ?

Most people i know who run times like you are hoping to are experience runners. With the odd exception of the blessed ones.

Run comfortable hard for the first few k and you can go wrong.

My last 10km was 39.30 but feel like I've improved since then.

Last half marathon was 1.27.

Both were in good conditions.

I did a 5km sprint on threadmill last week in 18 mins flat but I realize threadmill times are meaningless.

TJC

Go out at ur planned pace... if u feel good at 5k then pick it up a little.
If u struggle the last mile or so you'll get by.

I ran my first 10k in a few years last yr...went off way too fast for first mile...the second half of race was hell!! If its ur first race back then better to have a decent run and then aim to improve on that!!!

Itziger

ebixa82 wrote: »

My last 10km was 39.30 but feel like I've improved since then.

Last half marathon was 1.27.

Both were in good conditions.

I did a 5km sprint on threadmill last week in 18 mins flat but I realize threadmill times are meaningless.

Ok, I'm a small bit ahead of you on times, not much. My 10k earlier this year I used some of the "Best 10k workout" sessions. There's a thread here about it. And for my latest Half.... well that's not really the point here.

As a poster just said, crashing and burning in a race of this distance means losing a couple of minutes. No real biggie. Pick a decent km pace and go for it.

mrak

"go out hard, attack the middle and finish strong."

(c) Seamus Power when asked about his tactics after one of his many national titles.

hypersonic

I've run maybe 5 10k's over the last 18months.
What I've noticed is if I race at ~max hr I have a bad positive split and a poor over all result.
If I race at max hr-5-8% I would have an even split and may be a PB.
My experience above would chime with what JD wrote in his running formula book, where on pg 47 Fig. 3.2 he give a % VO2 max for different event duration and pg31 Fig. 2.5 he shows a decent correlation between hr and VO2.
I'm not running that long so this is just my 2c.

Itziger

hypersonic wrote: »

I've run maybe 5 10k's over the last 18months.
What I've noticed is if I race at ~max hr I have a bad positive split and a poor over all result.
If I race at max hr-5-8% I would have an even split and may be a PB.
My experience above would chime with what JD wrote in his running formula book, where on pg 47 Fig. 3.2 he give a % VO2 max for different event duration and pg31 Fig. 2.5 he shows a decent correlation between hr and VO2.
I'm not running that long so this is just my 2c.

You have time to do all that in a 10k????

I look at the time at 5 and decide.

hypersonic

Itziger wrote: »

You have time to do all that in a 10k????

I look at the time at 5 and decide.

most of this I've learnt the hard way,
but it the best advice I can give, as I said just my 2c.

Itziger

hypersonic wrote: »

most of this I've learnt the hard way,
but it the best advice I can give, as I said just my 2c.

Fair enough man, but at my age I can barely make out the HR while running at pace. Then again I don't normally wear the monitor

I think the 10k is the perfect example of fast, planned pace and longer stuff in training. You can't really do the "longer than race distance" for marathon training and that so far has been my downfall. Whereas in 10k and Half I find having done much longer runs in training gives you the base and the confidence to push on near the end of race.

crisco10

Having read this thread, I took its advice and went out hard last night for the 10k in a race. (I also left the Garmin at home) Didn't stress about finishing, just went as hard as was comfortable to see what would happen. I actually did one of my quickest 5km of recent times over the first 5km.

Had a bit of a slog to get through km 6 and 7 but in general it was actually okay....and I hammered my PB. Dropped it from 45.30 to 40.30. I really wasn't trying previously it appears!

Thanks guys! lurking on this thread (and the other thread on a similar topic) gave me the push I needed to actually push myself. I would recommend others who sort of feel like they are in their shell push themselves out of it!

Itziger

crisco10 wrote: »

Having read this thread, I took its advice and went out hard last night for the 10k in a race. (I also left the Garmin at home) Didn't stress about finishing, just went as hard as was comfortable to see what would happen. I actually did one of my quickest 5km of recent times over the first 5km.

Had a bit of a slog to get through km 6 and 7 but in general it was actually okay....and I hammered my PB. Dropped it from 45.30 to 40.30. I really wasn't trying previously it appears!

Thanks guys! lurking on this thread (and the other thread on a similar topic) gave me the push I needed to actually push myself. I would recommend others who sort of feel like they are in their shell push themselves out of it!

Can I say "Told ya!"?

Well done. Do you think your training was better/more focused as well?

That's a fair old improvement and now you have a great target for the next 10k.

crisco10

Itziger wrote: »

Can I say "Told ya!"?

Well done. Do you think your training was better/more focused as well?

That's a fair old improvement and now you have a great target for the next 10k.

of course you can say that!

In fairness, I'd say a lot of that improvement also came from a better training regime, But it was a positive cycle on that front, it was better because i enjoyed doing it therefore i concentrated more.

I want to enjoy this improvement, but it won't take long until I look at that and aim to knock 31 seconds off!