10K in 45 minutes?

james197

I just have a target to run a 10K in under 45 minutes. I run the early part of races grand in and around 4:30 kilometer pace but come up short in the last 2-3K. As far as I've been concerned, I've paced myself ok and haven't gone out too fast but I guess I possibly will need to take in easier over the first 2-3K and hopefully run faster later in the race.

For a very average, below average maybe, runner, what's the best pace to set early on for a 45 minute 10K? I've ran 5Ks in under 22 mins and 4 milers in under 29 minutes. Should I be looking at a 4:45 pace for the first 2-3K, 4:30 pace for the middle part and under 4:15 for the last few kilometers?

Thanks in advance for any tips

Clearlier

Sounds like you're pacing fine but need a little bit more endurance. If you can up your training a bit you'll probably break 45 mins in a couple of months. If you want to give us some detail on what your training looks like at the moment we can probably give you a steer on how to up it but typically a bit more easy running will do the job.

james197

Clearlier wrote: »

Sounds like you're pacing fine but need a little bit more endurance. If you can up your training a bit you'll probably break 45 mins in a couple of months. If you want to give us some detail on what your training looks like at the moment we can probably give you a steer on how to up it but typically a bit more easy running will do the job.

Sound, thanks!

Tues: 6-8 400m interval run repeats at 5K pace and jog in between.
Wed: 4 miles comfortable pace run.
Thurs: 1 mile warm-up, 3 mile 10K pace, 1 mile warm-down.
Sat: 6-8 miles run at a comfortable pace.
Sun: 3 mile jog to recover from long run the day before.

From what I can see myself, I will up Wed running to 5 miles 3-4 weeks before a race and run more 8 and even 9 miles on a Saturday. I've been following an intermediate type scheduled, before upping it, I was curious in terms of race running if I might be approaching it incorrectly. I guess endurance is it?

I was very unlucky about 2 weeks ago. A race had a pacesetter for 45 minutes. The pacesetter wasn't the best. Got to 1K in 4 minutes and 2K in 8 minutes. Inexperienced pacesetter gone out too fast! I tried to recover over the next kilometers, hitting 3, 4, 5, 6 & 7 K marks on track for 45 minutes but it slipped away over the last 3K where I felt the first 2K exertions come back to haunt me! Ran a more consistent race this weekend up to 7K but lost a bit of pace again over the last 3K. I had the same issue towards the end of last year and early on this year before a summer break involved in other sports.

john mayo 10

Same thing semms to happen me in races.Start off too fast but struggle to get home over the last few k. Have a race coming up shortly so hope to approach it differently. start steady and increase the speed gradually. well thats the plan but it is so easy to get carried away at the start with runners zooming by

Clearlier

james197 wrote: »

Sound, thanks!

Tues: 6-8 400m interval run repeats at 5K pace and jog in between.
Wed: 4 miles comfortable pace run.
Thurs: 1 mile warm-up, 3 mile 10K pace, 1 mile warm-down.
Sat: 6-8 miles run at a comfortable pace.
Sun: 3 mile jog to recover from long run the day before.

From what I can see myself, I will up Wed running to 5 miles 3-4 weeks before a race and run more 8 and even 9 miles on a Saturday. I've been following an intermediate type scheduled, before upping it, I was curious in terms of race running if I might be approaching it incorrectly. I guess endurance is it?

Some of that terminology rings a few bells. Is it a Hal Higdon or runners world schedule? Endurance will definitely do it for you although to be honest for most people a sub-45 min 10k can be attacked from a multitude of angles.

5 days a week is a good basis to start from and the structure of the week isn't too bad with 2 quality days, 2 easy and 1 long run at an easy pace. Yes, you should go longer for your long run. Increase it slowly, 1 mile per week is plenty or better still just do it as a time on your feet run, add 5 mins per week and you'll be running for half an hour longer in 6 weeks. Don't bother too much about the pace other than to not make it fast. I'd advise consistently adding small amounts to the other easy runs too.

I was going to make a series of suggestions about the quality days but actually the first post on this thread has an 8 week plan of quality sessions that would be good for you. The only note of caution I would sound is to make sure that you don't go faster than the suggested paces.

Good luck and let us know how you get on!

avfc1874

Clearlier wrote: »

Some of that terminology rings a few bells. Is it a Hal Higdon or runners world schedule? Endurance will definitely do it for you although to be honest for most people a sub-45 min 10k can be attacked from a multitude of angles.

5 days a week is a good basis to start from and the structure of the week isn't too bad with 2 quality days, 2 easy and 1 long run at an easy pace. Yes, you should go longer for your long run. Increase it slowly, 1 mile per week is plenty or better still just do it as a time on your feet run, add 5 mins per week and you'll be running for half an hour longer in 6 weeks. Don't bother too much about the pace other than to not make it fast. I'd advise consistently adding small amounts to the other easy runs too.

I was going to make a series of suggestions about the quality days but actually the first post on this thread has an 8 week plan of quality sessions that would be good for you. The only note of caution I would sound is to make sure that you don't go faster than the suggested paces.

Good luck and let us know how you get on!

i did my first 10k today , did it on a treadmill, i did it at 13.5k hr pace. did it in 45 mins. even tough i hadn't planed on doing 10k just thought i'd do a good half hour run but its surprising how steady a 13k hr speed is. because sometimes when your road running its hard to judge your speed and you go off too quickly. so it might be a good idea to try a treadmill at a gym so you know what pace to keep at

Clearlier

avfc1874 wrote: »

i did my first 10k today , did it on a treadmill, i did it at 13.5k hr pace. did it in 45 mins. even tough i hadn't planed on doing 10k just thought i'd do a good half hour run but its surprising how steady a 13k hr speed is. because sometimes when your road running its hard to judge your speed and you go off too quickly. so it might be a good idea to try a treadmill at a gym so you know what pace to keep at

There's lots of good training done on treadmills but all other things being equal I'd prefer to stick to outside if you're looking to run a 10k in a race.

avfc1874

Clearlier wrote: »

There's lots of good training done on treadmills but all other things being equal I'd prefer to stick to outside if you're looking to run a 10k in a race.

i'd agree with the road running being better(tougher) but its good to figure out the speed you need to do on the treadmill, so you can find out the pace you need to stay at when you're road running. (that makes sense in my own head anyway ,,, ha:p

snailsong

Its a useful exercise to get a feel for the pace required. However you must bear in mind that the effort required to maintain this pace on the road will be quite a bit higher. This is because of wind resistance, inclines, uneven surface, the difficulty of keeping an even pace and other factors. It is often suggested that you can compensate for this by using a 1% incline on the treadmill.

On the other hand you'll usually be able to push harder and go faster in a race environment. I reckon most people who can run a 45 min (or any other time) 10k on a treadmill could replicate it in a reasonably flat race. I'm pretty sure I'd be faster in the race.

Btw, well done on that. Its a good workout.

james197

Clearlier wrote: »

Some of that terminology rings a few bells. Is it a Hal Higdon or runners world schedule? Endurance will definitely do it for you although to be honest for most people a sub-45 min 10k can be attacked from a multitude of angles.

5 days a week is a good basis to start from and the structure of the week isn't too bad with 2 quality days, 2 easy and 1 long run at an easy pace. Yes, you should go longer for your long run. Increase it slowly, 1 mile per week is plenty or better still just do it as a time on your feet run, add 5 mins per week and you'll be running for half an hour longer in 6 weeks. Don't bother too much about the pace other than to not make it fast. I'd advise consistently adding small amounts to the other easy runs too.

I was going to make a series of suggestions about the quality days but actually the first post on this thread has an 8 week plan of quality sessions that would be good for you. The only note of caution I would sound is to make sure that you don't go faster than the suggested paces.

Good luck and let us know how you get on!

Came across the schedule online. The first 10K I ran over a year ago was following a 10 week training schedule suggest by the organiser of the race. I found similar schedules online then which were the same but also suggest 3 more, advanced beginner, intermediate and an advanced plan.

Race pace really seems to have been the issue for me. Though going out at 4:30 pace seemed ok and pushing myself, it seems it was.

I ran a 10K yesterday:
1K - 4:45
2K - 9:45
3K - 14:00
4K - 18:30
5K - 23:00
6K - 27:30
7K - 32:00
8K - 36:20
9K - 40:40
10K - 44:55

I noticed a benefit today from going out just that bit easier, steady enough mid-race and increased pace for the last 3K.

My plan from here will be to try and get to 43 minutes, 7 minute mile pace. I'll probably run 5 miles midweek from what I've been doing and add a mile or 2 on the weekends. I won't be running a 10K for a few weeks now after having one every two weeks over the last two months, just down to no races coming up around my area. There's a good 5K series on every Thursday, so I'll look at running those to help my pace, with a mile light run before an after to it has a near affect as the tempo runs. There's a running club who do good interval training as well on a track early in the week. I'll probably check that out as well. Could do with getting away from individual training a few days a week.

Thanks for your suggestions, appreciated.