Advice on achieving my 10k goal

philip32

Hi,

I'm looking for a bit of advice from all you experienced runners please. Just some background info, Breaking 20 mins for 5k was always a goal of mine. This season I completed two half marathons(first time) one in nov (1.42) and another in apr (1.39). Since the 2nd one I've struggled with niggly injuries that have prevented me from doing long runs. However I was very surprised to run 19.39(previous best 20.20) for 5k recently. Training since April has been frustrating and I've been confined to a lot of interval running/tempo runs <5k, so I think it is my half marathon training that has stood to me for helping me break the 20 min barrier?

My next goal is to break 40 mins for 10k, and I know it's a big jump. My plan is to do one LSR of 15-17km (5 min/km pace) interval session 1k/800m (3.50 min/km pace) repeats and one tempo run of around 7km (4.15 min/km pace) Problem is I'm only guessing what I should be doing from my limited experience and from bits I've read. I am limited to 3 sessions a week. I would love if someone reading this could give me some advice from their experience. I'd really appreciate it. Sorry for the long post and thanks in advance.

Philip.

ThePiedPiper

Philip,

Most of the above looks pretty solid. But, if I was to make one suggestion, it'd be that the tempo run is a bit slow. I wouldn't be an expert on 10k, but I would definitely say that the tempo pace should be as fast, if not slightly faster than planned 10k race pace. Maybe if you structured it like 2k warm up at 5 min/km pace, 5k at 4 min/km pace, 2k warm down at 5min/km pace.

If you look at your plan as detailed above, you have no running at your goal pace, depsite having the interval sessions at a faster pace. Make sure that you get a few miles each week at your goal 10k pace. Y

ecoli

I would say your paces look relatively ok (I am guessing taken nearly straight from McMillan)

The outline plan you have is a relatively good one and contains main parts of most basic 5k/10k programs. In terms of niggles I would imagine this to be down to having no easy/recovery runs so you need to pay attention to your stretching and supplementary work. 5-10 min stretching each night while watching tv or what ever can make a huge difference

If you wanted to add some variety to your sessions I would suggest the following

1) Intervals - Every other week switch to 10k pace and do slightly longer reps -1k to 1 mile off moderate recovery (roughly half rep time). Another option would be to shorten reps from 800-1k and run at same effort but reduce the recovery (roughly 25%-30% of time taken to run the rep) This sort of running allows your body to get used to running at a rhythm while the recoveries are short enough to make you work aerobically in the latter stages of the session something like 12x400 jogging 100m recovery

Tempo - Alternate this between Tempo pace and running longer tempo runs at MP. The longer ones will really help your 10k as endurance is most likely your biggest stumbling block

Long run - dont be afraid to shorten this every 2-3 weeks and have a hard medium length run (roughly 75% in distance your usual but at pace just slightly outside MP). These sort of runs are great for endurance

These are just a few tips to add variety to your plan. Do too much of the same thing and you dont get diminished returns but by working on various facets your stimulate your energy systems to get the best from yourself

philip32

Thanks a million for the input runforestrun and ecoli, I really appreciate it.

Your advice about the tempo runs make sense. I presume MP means marathon pace? Ive never done one but id be aiming for 5 min/km if I were. The reason I'm limited to 3 sessions a week is because I will be swimming twice and biking twice too. I'd be interested to know if I was running only where would people take their rest day? After the intervals I would guess?

With regard to my niggles, I had glute trouble related to back stiffness and of course just as soon as that was coming right, I got ITB. Doing a lot of stretching and strengthening now and trying to ease back in to this plan.

So I'm trying to fit this plan into an overall plan and stay injury free and not overtrain. Im sure there are many others trying to do the same! Hard to get the formula correct! Anymore ideas welcome folks!

dna_leri

See also this thread - Best 10K workouts by Greg McMillan

Ceepo

philip32 wrote: »

Thanks a million for the input runforestrun and ecoli, I really appreciate it.

Your advice about the tempo runs make sense. I presume MP means marathon pace? Ive never done one but id be aiming for 5 min/km if I were. The reason I'm limited to 3 sessions a week is because I will be swimming twice and biking twice too. I'd be interested to know if I was running only where would people take their rest day? After the intervals I would guess?

With regard to my niggles, I had glute trouble related to back stiffness and of course just as soon as that was coming right, I got ITB. Doing a lot of stretching and strengthening now and trying to ease back in to this plan.

So I'm trying to fit this plan into an overall plan and stay injury free and not overtrain. Im sure there are many others trying to do the same! Hard to get the formula correct! Anymore ideas welcome folks!

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