Heather Fell: Have you recently completed your first 5k? Are you maybe now left feeling
a little bit lost? That is understandable but a 10k could be the perfect next goal for
you to target. Whether you are quite new to running or you've never run close to that
distance, we're here to guide you to your first 10k.
[music] Heather: I'm going to presume that you're
already capable of running 5k. If you're not, don't worry, we have made a video on couch
to 5k, so check that one out. Stay with me right now because I reckon you'll be at this
stage pretty soon if you're not already. It's going to come as no surprise that you're going
to need to start increasing the distance of your runs as well as increasing the weekly
mileage total. Let's say you're running around 20k a week at the moment and you're maybe
splitting that over three runs. You can look to increase that by about a couple
of k in the next weeks. We're going with this 10% rule which we've talked about plenty in
the past. It's just making sure you increase gradually. As you do start to increase this
distance, you can split your runs over, say, up to four days and then it gets a bit further
up to five or even six. Just do make sure you have at least one rest day a week.
[music] Heather: Breaking up your runs into these
smaller rounds spread over the week are going to still give you that overall total workload
but just make it feel a little bit easier. Then we need to look at the time frame for
this and it will vary if you've been running for a long time or several years, but you
haven't actually upped the distance then it's not going to take you as long as maybe if
you're quite new to running. Allow at least five to six weeks until you target your 10k
goal. It's a good idea to actually have something in the diary whether that's actually a race
or it's just a planned date that you're going to go and run your 10k time trial. It'll help
to keep you motivated and really measuring your progress.
[music] Heather: Your actual training structure isn't
going to change too much from your 5k plan, but obviously the long run is going to need
a substantial increase in length and your tempo runs are also going to need to get a
little bit longer. As you get closer to your 10k event, we're still going to need to add
in some speed sessions, but it's going to be sprinkled a little bit more thinly. Now
the long run actually needs to ideally get up to a distance of more than 10k, which might
sound a little bit daunting, but it's going to be at a much lower intensity than your
target 10k. It's about building that aerobic base and
getting the conditioning into your legs as well as giving you that mental belief that
you can actually cover this distance. If you have just come from the 5k and you've maybe
only run say 5 or 6k, this could seem like a massive challenge and you might be saying
to me, "I just want a complete 10k," but stick with me on this one. It's okay if you're struggling
on your longer runs. You can say run for 1k take 30 seconds to walk and build it up this
way. If you can reach 12 to 13k on your long run no matter how you do it, when you come
to your target 10k in one go, you'll not only feel more confident, but you'll be also in
a far better shape to do it. [music]
Heather: This might fill you with fear but don't worry we're not actually talking about
sprints here. We're just talking about running at or a tiny bit quicker than your target
10k pace. The whole idea of this is to get your legs used to moving much quicker, give
you that confidence, but also when you do actually come to the 10k base, it's going
to feel that much more comfortable. A session could be something as simple as 45 minutes
of running with 10 lots of 60 seconds running at a strong pace with 30 to 60 seconds walk
recovery and then top and tail that with a warm-up and a warm-down.
If you live somewhere hilly, then you can do the equivalent on a hill. This will help
with your strength which will certainly benefit you in those final few kilometers when you
come to your 10k event. [music]
Heather: You're going to be pleased to hear that you still need to have some nice easy
runs in your program. If you do live somewhere hilly, then it's entirely fine to walk on
the uphill just so you can keep it all at a low intensity, but just try to continually
run even if it's really slow, it doesn't matter. It's about getting that conditioning in your
legs and letting your mind have a little bit of a break as well as your legs to recover
from those more structured sessions. If you look at the overall week, you're going to
have one long run, one speed or tempo style run, and then the rest needs to be just made
up with your recovery easy runs to add in that overall mileage.
[music] Heather: One of the most significant differences
between the 5k and stepping up to the 10k is nutrition. It's obviously going to depend
how fast you're running it as to how long you're actually going to be running, but you
might well want to consider actually taking on board some fuel whilst you're running.
If you're somewhere really hot or you're a heavy sweater, you'll also need to think about
hydration. Your long run is the perfect time to practice taking on nutrition whilst you're
running. You might want to walk for a few seconds when you're first trying this but
try to keep a gentle jog if possible. You've got options of gels or something simple
like jelly babies for quick releasing easy-to-digest energy. Bars and other whole foods are options
but do bear in mind that these are harder to swallow and digest when you're running.
[music] Heather: We've covered the training and the
hard work so it's now time to look at the race strategy. You want to make sure that
you've had an easy week leading into it and a few days of rest as well. Basically, you
want the training you've done to have sunk into your legs but not still be there if that
makes sense. You want to be feeling really fresh and ready to run. Then when it comes
to the actual event itself, this is where you're going to actually need to just control
yourself because if you have tapered enough and you're feeling fresh, you're going to
want to go out really fast. Hopefully, after your training, you will have
got an idea of the pace that you can do. If you've done some tempo runs they will have
given you a really good idea of that pace. If you have a pace watch then do obviously
keep an eye, use it to help you. If you're doing an event or even if it's just your own,
you might have quite a lot of adrenaline at the start and it's really tempting to go out
too fast. You're going to feel good or at least hopefully you'll feel good, so you really
try to actually run a little bit slower than you even want to at the beginning. You'll
benefit from that much later on in the 10k. If you're doing an organized event and you
don't have a watch then try and find a pacemaker that can really help guide you to your 10k.
I know 10k might still seem like a long way and, of course, you need to respect this distance,
but you still need to warm up. Obviously, don't tire yourself out but make sure you've
given your legs a bit of a light jog and some ability work to raise your heart rate and
get you physically warm and a final bathroom visit is always a good idea too.
[music] Heather: If you do have the time and the energy
to do any additional training, there are certain sports that can really complement helping
you build up this base for your 10k. Swimming, for example, is a great tool to help your
legs recover because they're floating, they're not doing too much, but it's still going to
build that aerobic base. Cycling can help, but just be aware that too much cycling will
start to make your legs feel quite heavy, but again it can just really work well to
build that endurance. Something that can be really specific and
cross over really nicely into your running is strength and conditioning, but make sure
you build this in gradually if you are going to do any work in the gym.
[music] Heather: I think that is pretty much everything
covered so good luck with your 10k. Just make sure you go and put a date in your diary and
you stick to it and you will find that motivation really helps. Then next step, you'll be on
the way to a half marathon. Hopefully, we'll see you back here for that one. Give us a
like if you've enjoyed this video. You can follow us on our social media channels and
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