10K Tips

I'm signing up for a 10K for November 21st. It's something that will be really fun, I think, and it preceeds a big parade. A 10K, to me, seems different from both a 5K and a half marathon... so what are some training tips?

You are such a good runner...  I could see you having an awesome race if you trained with the FIRST training plan...  You could do this on the treadmill :-)

Thanks Wes! Is a month enough time considering I have been running for a while?

I would advise you to put some miles in trying to run at the same pace you plan to run the 10k at. It seems that a lot of people, including me, tend to go out way to fast at the start. While you can sort of get away with that in a 5k, it hurts your time more in the longer race. Running each mile at a steady, consistent, pace seems to work the best. Besides, you want to be passing people at the finish line, not being passed!

Original Post by bsh0611:

Thanks Wes! Is a month enough time considering I have been running for a while?

A month...  Hmmmmm....  I would say that you don't need to do anything to get ready then, other than what you have been doing.  You can run 6.2 miles in your sleep :-)

I'm running a 10k race this weekend (after doing 5 and 8 km races the last 2 weekends), and as far as pacing goes, here's the advice I got...

Run the first 2 km at a fairly slow pace, like 10 to 20 seconds per km slower than your 5k race pace.  Run the next 6 km at 5 to 10 seconds per km slower than your 5k pace.  And then for the last two km, let it go.

You could also one of the on-line race time calculators, like:

http://www.runningforfitness.org/calc/rp.php

I'd enter your time in for your half, and for your 5 km, and take the average estimate for a 10k.  Then use that for the first 7 or 8 km, and let yourself go for the last 2 or 3.

As far as training/preparing goes, you should be pretty much prep'ed from your half training, I'd guess.  But I've never trained for a 10k specifically, so I can't comment too much on that.  It seems that the trick for you will be to pick an optimal pace, which is why I'm trying to help with that. :)

Clint

Did the Nike+ Human Race this weekend.  Ended up with a pace about 10 seconds per km slower than my 5k race pace.

I've run relatively few 10+ km distances, and the race wasn't that difficult, so I don't expect you'll have any issues.  Just a question of finding a good pace.

Clint

Original Post by johnpetersmith:

I would advise you to put some miles in trying to run at the same pace you plan to run the 10k at.

It seems that a lot of people, including me, tend to go out way to fast at the start. ... it hurts your time more in the longer race. 

Very true and good advice.  Pace control is important when you run longer races.  I fight myself on this in marathons.   It is important that you NOT go out too fast.  For me, that means not running the early miles of a marathon at my half marathon pace.  For you, it might mean not running the early miles of your 10k at your 5k pace. 

Hey guys,

Thanks so much for all of the input!

I'm doing Sunday rest day, M longer run, Tuesday Thursday Saturday speed run, and Wednesday Friday slower but longer run with hill training. I always run on an incline now, though, seeing as hills were so integral!

I trained on a flat treadmill at 7.2 mph for my halfer, but I'm up to 6.9 mph on an incline so far for this. I'm really hoping the speed workouts help becuase I didn't alternate speed enough when I trained for my half!