10K Pace?

Your splits add up to less than 40:00...? Something not right...

Are you training at sea level?

Remember that Bolder Boulder is at elevation, so that will slow you. And it's not a terribly fast course, in my understanding.

I've run sub-39 recently (on a very fast course at sea level), and the workout you posted would be doable but challenging for me. So I'm surprised at the combination of your posted workout and your 90% time trial - they don't make sense to me. The time trial seems slow, and the workout seems fast.

My hunch is that if your 90% time trial was at sea level on a flat course, you'll run a similar time on a hard course at elevation at 100%.

Just take the first 5k out in 21 minutes, if you still feel pretty good by mile 4 then finish the last 2.2 in at 6:25/30 pace.

also, isn't a "time trial" by definition all out? :) I'm a bit confused by the concept of a "90% time trial" - I mentally translated that to "a tempo that was a bit too hard..."

I think a 10k TT gives a decent indication of 15k-HM pace, and you ought to be able to shave at least a minute, maybe two minutes, off the TT in a real race on a flat course (or on the track) in good racing weather.

darkwave wrote:

also, isn't a "time trial" by definition all out? :) I'm a bit confused by the concept of a "90% time trial" - I mentally translated that to "a tempo that was a bit too hard..."

Fair enough. Been awhile since I've actually trained for anything.

another way wrote:

Your splits add up to less than 40:00...? Something not right...

I think it added to about 39:30. But I had the 90 seconds rest and it was on a track, so I certainly can't run 39:30 in a race environment (as shown by that time trial--I am in better shape than I was that day now, but not 3 mins better..)

darkwave wrote:

Are you training at sea level?

Remember that Bolder Boulder is at elevation, so that will slow you. And it's not a terribly fast course, in my understanding.

I've run sub-39 recently (on a very fast course at sea level), and the workout you posted would be doable but challenging for me. So I'm surprised at the combination of your posted workout and your 90% time trial - they don't make sense to me. The time trial seems slow, and the workout seems fast.

My hunch is that if your 90% time trial was at sea level on a flat course, you'll run a similar time on a hard course at elevation at 100%.

Thanks for the help.

I am training in Boulder, so no issue there. The time trial was on a dirt road, out and back, so no net elevation gain. The BB10K is a slight net elevation gain.

Some poster wrote:

Just take the first 5k out in 21 minutes, if you still feel pretty good by mile 4 then finish the last 2.2 in at 6:25/30 pace.

smart. thanks.

v6 wrote:I think it added to about 39:30. But I had the 90 seconds rest and it was on a track, so I certainly can't run 39:30 in a race environment (as shown by that time trial--I am in better shape than I was that day now, but not 3 mins better..)

Ahhh.... I see this was an interval workout, with rests. Sorry I read too quickly, and assumed when you wrote 10k time trial, you meant 10k time trial... (i.e. continuous 10k run).

5 x 2k with 200 m jog rest is a pretty decent 10k pace indicator, if you finish knowing you "could" do one more 2k repeat. Not "would volunteer to run another" but physically could. The fact you dropped from 2k repeats to 1k repeats to 500 m repeats shows this pace is not sustainable for 10k.

From this workout I'd guess your 5k pace should be better than the average of this session, and your 10k race pace ought to be between 1-2 minutes slower than 2 x 5k (depending on how well trained you are, or how FT vs. ST you are), so I'd make your 10k fitness to be probably no worse than 41:30. If you want to verify that, go down to the track, run a good long warmup, then do 5 x 2000 with 200 m jog rests in 70-75s aiming for that pace (1:39.6/lap), and see how well you survive the session. If you can pull it off and finish knowing you've got one left in the tank, you're golden.

Good luck!