10 K is a distance we've probably all targeted as a runner.
Maybe it was the first race that you signed up to after you'd done a few
parkruns, or maybe it's the distance of your weekly long runs.
But what happens if 10K is a distance that you're targeting
to run in a specific time? I'm Kate, and today, along with Anna,
we're going to be looking at how to break 45 minutes for the 10K distance.
We'll be looking at the maths of that time. We'll be tackling training tips,
and we'll be looking at race day preparation to get you underneath that barrier.
First, though, if you haven't already,
please do hit subscribe and tap the bell icon,
so you get notified when we upload new videos, all about running,
which we do every single week.
Before we even start to tackle this challenge,
take a moment to review your weekly mileage and your weekly training schedule.
The 10K is an aerobic event,
so you will need to be aerobically fit in order to tackle this particular goal.
So that means that your weekly mileage and your long run are going to be an
important part of your training.
If you're an experienced runner and you're targeting a specific 10K time,
then your focus on training may need to be more about the types of run that you
do each week.
And we'll go into that with some specific sessions in more detail later on in
this video. However, if you are a newer runner, that's targeting a 10K time,
then perhaps your focus may need to be more on the overall mileage that you
do in a week.
So now for the maths, in order to run under 45 minutes,
you need to be hitting four minutes and 30 seconds per kilometer or less.
If you prefer to work in miles, that's seven minutes and 13 seconds per mile,
or another way to look at it is 22 minutes and 30 seconds for a 5k.
If these numbers sound achievable to you, that's fantastic,
you can crack on with the sessions that we're going to run through in a minute.
If however, they do sound a little bit daunting, don't panic,
and definitely don't switch off.
These sessions are designed for all abilities of runners.
You can adapt them in order to work towards that sub 45 minutes 10K
goal, or just improve your PB, whatever your level is.
If you're trying to work on your 5k time though and 10 K,
maybe is a little bit of a stretch right now,
then don't forget to check out our other videos on The Running Channel,
all about how to run a faster 5K.
The types of training that we'd recommend for a sub 45 10K are very similar to
those for improving over any distance just at specific times and paces.
So that means you're looking at interval runs, threshold runs,
long runs and recovery runs.
So first up let's talk about intervals.
So intervals are a number of hard efforts that you do with recoveries in
between them.
So you should be looking to practice your 10K race pace with the intervals that
you do for 10K training.
And the overall volume of that session should be 10K with your recoveries
in between. As you progress with your intervals,
you should aim to cut down the amount of recovery time needed in between each of
the intervals with the overall goal of then being able to string together all of
those hard efforts into one continuous 10K at race pace - so your race!
If you're just starting out with interval training,
you should look to include one of these sessions once per week into your
training and you can mix up the types of session that you do every week.
You can even come back to one of the previous sessions that you've done in the
weeks prior and see how you're improving with your times.
So here are a few examples of some sessions that you could do;
8-10 times q kilometer
reps at 4:30 minutes per kilometer with two minutes rest in
between aiming to reduce that rest to close to one minute,
as you get more comfortable with that session. 3
sets of 4 x 800 meter reps at 4:30 kilometer pace
with a 90 second recovery and 3 minutes between your sets.
5 sets of 3 minutes, 2 minutes,
1 minute with 60 seconds recovery and three minutes between those sets.
But those three minutes at 4:30 kilometer pace,
the 2 minutes at 4:20 kilometer pace and the 1 minute at 4:10
kilometer pace. 4 sets of 5 x 400 meters,
60 seconds recovery, and 3 minutes between the sets.
Now try again to reduce the pace,
so set one will be at 4:30 minutes per kilometer ,set 2 at 4:20
minutes per kilometer,
set 3 at 4:10 minutes per kilometre and set 4 try and
aim for 4 minutes per kilometer.
The next type of run that we're going to look at is a threshold run or a tempo
run. So this is a harder run than your usual easier effort,
so you should still be working quite hard on these runs,
but not running them at race pace. If you think of an out of 10 efforts,
then we'd put it around 7-8 out of 10,
so you can say a couple of words if you were to talk during this effort.
Now threshold and tempo runs don't need to be exactly the same all the time.
You can mix them up. And we've got a few ideas of that coming up as well.
Just remember with these runs not to run them at race pace.
That's not the intention here.
The intention instead is to really work on your aerobic fitness so that you're
practicing running at a pace that is just slightly below what you're
aiming for for your 10K. So here are a few examples of some threshold sessions.
You could do 8 kilometers at 5 minute kilometer pace,
3 x 3 kilometers,
at 4:45 kilometer pace with a four minute jog recovery,
8 kilometers at 4:50 kilometer pace. 2 x 5
kilometers at 4:45 kilometer pace with a five minute jog recovery in between.
Depending on your previous running experience,
a long run can mean different things to different people.
If you're an ultra runner,
then your long run will be completely different to whether you're training for a
10K, for example. So there's no right or wrong here. In fact,
a 10K long run might even feel really long to you,
if you're coming to the 10 K distance from running 5k, for example.
The key here is that long runs should really be around
70 minutes and you should aim to do a long run once a week during your
training for your specific 10K target.
Don't feel any pressure to run any particular pace in your long run,
just run how you feel.
But if you do find those long runs kind of boring and you need more of a focus,
then why not try progression run. That's where you gradually through the run,
pick up the pace, perhaps every 10, 15 minutes,
making a conscious effort to just go up a little bit,
but still never reaching to a pace that's harder than your threshold run.
These kinds of runs are really great for building up endurance and strength over
those shorter efforts. So finally,
the last type of run to include into your training is a recovery run.
And if you haven't heard of recovery runs,
that might sound a little bit counter intuitive. Why would you run to recover?
If you want to find out more about what recovery runs are,
then do check out our video on The Running Channel,
all about what they are and why they are important.
So briefly though, recovery runs should be a shorter run,
probably around 30 to 40 minutes in duration.
Don't go any longer than that because it will add extra stress onto your body,
which then ends up not being a recovery run, it then becomes a session.
And don't worry too much about the pace of this run. Just go with how you feel.
You can adapt all these sessions to meet your training needs and how your body
feels. Don't worry if you have a run where you just feel,
you can't hit that target that you've set yourself and need to take it a bit
easier. Everybody meets their targets at a different rate.
But equally if you're having a recovery run and you're suddenly feeling
absolutely amazing, why not throw in some strides at the end of your run?
Those are just short bursts of around 100 meters or less,
where you put in a little bit more effort, not flat out sprinting,
but just turning the legs over quicker,
and that should leave your run feeling nice and fresh at the end.
So now you know all the different types of runs that you should be doing in
order to train for your 10K target, how do you fit it all into a week?
Cause it does sound like a lot! Well,
let's say that you train 4-5 times per week,
we've got a weekly structure coming up next that you can have a look at and work
into your own schedule.
It's important to note that you don't have to stick to the exact days,
but make sure that where there are recoveries or rests that's because they come
after harder sessions, so do try and keep that in that order. If,
like we said at the beginning,
your level of training isn't up to this intensity just yet, then don't panic.
And definitely don't do too much too soon.
Start off by trying to switch up some of the sessions that you're already doing
by including maybe some intervals or a longer run,
if they're the things that you're not currently doing and then aim to gradually
build up your mileage.
The rule of thumb is to add 10% onto your weekly mileage each
week so that you don't end up doing too much and putting yourself at risk of
overuse injuries.
Sunday is most people's choice for their long run day and for this schedule,
we've put her on of around 70 minutes, but there is no particular pace for that.
On Monday you'll take a rest day.
Then on Tuesday we put intervals and for that,
you can use one of the interval sessions that we've suggested earlier.
Then on Wednesday, we've added an easy recovery run.
As we said before, there's no specific pace target for this run,
just aim for around 30 to 40 minutes and run at the pace that feels
comfortable to you on the day.
Thursday is a rest day followed by a tempo or threshold run on Friday.
And then Saturday can either be another rest day or a
recovery run day with some strides thrown in at the end. Just remember though,
you've got that long run to do on Sunday.
So, you've done all the training and you've got to race day.
So let's talk a little bit about that. Now,
as we always say nothing new on race day!
Now is not the time to try out a new hydration pack or a new
gel.
You do not want to ruin your race through a blister or something that you're
just suddenly doing that you've never done before in training stick to what you
know, it's what you practiced in.
Don't let the adrenaline of race day get to you and be tempted to go off too
fast. At the beginning,
you'll be surrounded by other people who are all running their own race,
and they might go off too fast too. But just remember this, you can't bank time.
And if you do go off too fast, you might find yourself fading at the end.
Instead,
you should feel comfortable with what your race pace feels like to run at
because that's what you've been doing as part of the training that we've
outlined previously. So stick to what you know,
make sure that you are keeping a track of your own pace and don't get too
excited. If you have got some left in the tank, though, at the end,
then you can feel free to kick on and push in those final few kilometers.
So hopefully that has given you a good idea of how to train for a sub 45, 10 K.
And all of these workouts can be adapted to achieving a 10 K PB,
whatever your time is. What is your 10 K PB?
Are you going to aim for a sub 45 soon?
Let us know in the comments below and we'll see you next time on The Running
Channel.