What workout results can show sub 40 10k fitness?

There you are!

The workouts to look at are your most race-specific workouts. When I was preparing for a 10K, this meant:

4 x 1 mile

3 x 2K

3 x 1.5 miles

2 x 2 miles + 1 x 1 mile

These involved longish rests and were spread over 9 weeks. There were other workouts at 5K/tempo pace, etc. My pace on the 10K workouts went from around 15 seconds/mile slower than my eventual goal pace at the beginning, to around 5 seconds/mile slower on the last workout. The final mile rep was almost exactly my pace on race day. Over this time I averaged 45 mpw, with a high of 56 miles in one week. I also had 2 1-mile races during this time.

So what I'd be looking for in your case are workouts of 4-5 miles total rep volume with reps 1-2 miles in length, at a pace that's at least getting you from 6:40 to 6:30/mile, and ideally you'd want to be seeing 6:25-6:20/mile at least a few times to give yourself some cushion.

Mr Cup wrote:

Goal for this summer is to break 40 in the 10k and then eventually break 1:30 for the half.

Turning 40 in April and have never broke 40 in the 10k. I have ran a few pretty close off the bike in Olympic Tri's a few years ago but haven't ran an open 10k in a long time and I was younger/faster then.

What sort of track workouts/road workouts would show me that I'm ready to make a good attempt at this? Should I be able to do 800 repeats at a specific speed? Mile repeats with short rests? etc.

For reference on where I'm currently at. Running around 30 miles per week and the last workout I did was 5 x 800 at 6:04 - 6:10 per mile pace with a easy 400 recovery between.

Appreciate your thoughts.

50mpw with 0 workouts. 6-12 months.

I could run 6 x 800 at 5:50 pace with 2 mins rest, but I didn’t have the endurance to break 40 in the 10k. I needed longer reps, e.g.

5 x 1 mile in 6:20 with 2 mins rest

4-mile tempo at 6:30 pace

8 miles with first 4 at 8, last 4 progression from 7:00 to 6:30

Then I ran 39:20 (at 35 years old), breaking 40 for the first time.

+1 to Canefis. Get the miles up before you even consider track work.

Two girls wrote:

There you are!

I can't believe nobody appreciated this. Bravo.

Slow clap for you sir. Well played.

just run a lot, dont look at your pace...run run run run run

sometimes on your longer runs you could sprint a hill or 2 but thats it no more is necessary!

1 x 10K @ race pace.

Good luck!

I think this is probably doable for you. Sub 40 is a great goal, and I think many people can achieve it. It still depends on things like talent in regards to how easy it will be for some.

I got back to running a little over 5 years ago (I'm 40 now). I was a super mediocre high school runner (never broke 18 for 5k in XC), but I knew my dad did sub 40 when he was a hobby jogger in the late 70s, and I figured I should be able to do it too.

In high school we always ran hard. 400s and 800s over and over again. I could crush those workouts. But I could never translate that into a 5k, or even a 3200.

So like others have said, I knew I needed more miles. I got up to where I was averaging mid-40s a week, and some weeks I got into the 50s. This was almost all easy running. Like over 8 minute pace easy.

Most weeks I would do one workout. Either a fartlek (true fartlek, no measured distances or specific time segments), or a 3 to 4 mile tempo run. Some weeks I'd do nothing but easy mileage. In the heat of the summer I struggled to hit 6:40-50 for the 3 mile tempos. A couple months later I ran a 4 mile tempo in 6:29, 6:27, 6:22, 6:22 and it was a breeze. True tempo effort. I knew I was ready to go sub 40 then, and a couple weeks later I ran 38-high in some bad weather.

I think the long workouts (mile or 2 mile repeats) are excellent to tell you where you're at with your 10k fitness. But I think you need some miles under your belt to be able to do them in a controlled manner. I don't do those workouts much now unless they're closer to marathon pace. I just find they are too hard on me. I still find I get the best results running about an hour a day, sometimes a little more or a little less, do one workout a week, and try to go a little longer (90+ minutes) one day a week.

I do 5x1mile at 5 minutes and have no problem breaking 40 for 10k.

This is a good article by McMillan, and it contains a nice little outline for a training plan. Even so, when I was training for a 10K using a similar plan the 3 x 2 miles was more than I could handle and I did 2 x 2 miles or 3 x 10 minutes (which was nowhere near 2 miles at that point in my life).

Mr Cup wrote:

Goal for this summer is to break 40 in the 10k and then eventually break 1:30 for the half.

Turning 40 in April and have never broke 40 in the 10k. I have ran a few pretty close off the bike in Olympic Tri's a few years ago but haven't ran an open 10k in a long time and I was younger/faster then.

What sort of track workouts/road workouts would show me that I'm ready to make a good attempt at this? Should I be able to do 800 repeats at a specific speed? Mile repeats with short rests? etc.

For reference on where I'm currently at. Running around 30 miles per week and the last workout I did was 5 x 800 at 6:04 - 6:10 per mile pace with a easy 400 recovery between.

Appreciate your thoughts.

So basically what you're saying is you have absolutely like literally no clue how to calculate anything within your own training and you need letsrun to figure this out for you because it's so diffulcult to use a calculator or something like that?

Am I hearing this correctly?

And then you state your 5 by 800 times ratio based on a mile time and not the actual damn 800 time that you actually ran ? Wow.

That's so cool. I mean you could have just told us your ACTUAL 800 time of basically 3:01 per 800 but no you doubled it and told us your mile pace for whatever dumb reason.

I mean really? Based on all of this info yeah you're not coming anywhere near breaking 40 in the 10k let alone breaking 50.

This is just so funny to read.

+1 :)

Mr Cup wrote:

Goal for this summer is to break 40 in the 10k and then eventually break 1:30 for the half.

Turning 40 in April and have never broke 40 in the 10k. I have ran a few pretty close off the bike in Olympic Tri's a few years ago but haven't ran an open 10k in a long time and I was younger/faster then.

What sort of track workouts/road workouts would show me that I'm ready to make a good attempt at this? Should I be able to do 800 repeats at a specific speed? Mile repeats with short rests? etc.

For reference on where I'm currently at. Running around 30 miles per week and the last workout I did was 5 x 800 at 6:04 - 6:10 per mile pace with a easy 400 recovery between.

Appreciate your thoughts.

Another workout collector/hero.

Dude just bump miles to 50mpw you do not need any workout to reach 40.

No, ego says must be workouts... it is so stupid.....

If you can do these 2 workouts, your are ready. Good Luck/.

4 mile tempo @ 25 min

6x1mile@6:30 with 60 rest

Mr Cup wrote:

Goal for this summer is to break 40 in the 10k and then eventually break 1:30 for the half.

Turning 40 in April and have never broke 40 in the 10k. I have ran a few pretty close off the bike in Olympic Tri's a few years ago but haven't ran an open 10k in a long time and I was younger/faster then.

What sort of track workouts/road workouts would show me that I'm ready to make a good attempt at this? Should I be able to do 800 repeats at a specific speed? Mile repeats with short rests? etc.

For reference on where I'm currently at. Running around 30 miles per week and the last workout I did was 5 x 800 at 6:04 - 6:10 per mile pace with a easy 400 recovery between.

Appreciate your thoughts.

This is a question people ask a lot and it's not a particularly useful question. It depends on how hard the workout was and how close to race effort you were running. Part of learning to run is learning to listen to your body and assess that for yourself. During the workout - ask yourself if your body is relaxed, ask yourself if it feels like a pace you could hold for 5k? 10k? Longer? That sort of internal feedback can help your body figure out its paces.

But more generally, I think you are going about this the wrong way. Focusing on a time goal within a certain period can increase your risk for injury and disappointment, but it can also be a limiter.

What you should do is train to run the best 10k you can - whatever that may be. Maybe that'll be 41 minutes, maybe it'll be 37 minutes. Train to improve your 10k fitness, and your fitness will come as it comes - you cannot force it.

Don't worry too much about specific workouts at first. Get some miles in. Run a longer run once a week (maybe increase the length of this run to 12-14 miles over your build up). Once a week, pick it up to a harder effort for 20-30 minutes. And do some strides once a week. As you get fitter you can add in fartleks run by effort then more specific track work. Don't worry about your time goal or where your at, let your body tell you.

As you get closer to race day, THEN start to get a feel for the numbers: in workouts try to get a sense of what pace you can honestly sustain for 10k. You may end up surprising yourself so don't limit yourself with numbers.

And at 40, make sure you recover on your easier efforts - you will find injury comes easier and recovery comes a bit slower than when you were younger.

Canefis wrote:

John_James_413 wrote:

So basically what you're saying is you have absolutely like literally no clue how to calculate anything within your own training and you need letsrun to figure this out for you because it's so diffulcult to use a calculator or something like that?

Am I hearing this correctly?

And then you state your 5 by 800 times ratio based on a mile time and not the actual damn 800 time that you actually ran ? Wow.

That's so cool. I mean you could have just told us your ACTUAL 800 time of basically 3:01 per 800 but no you doubled it and told us your mile pace for whatever dumb reason.

I mean really? Based on all of this info yeah you're not coming anywhere near breaking 40 in the 10k let alone breaking 50.

This is just so funny to read.

+1 :)

No, you morons.

Just because you are unaware of how things work with other people it doesn't mean they are dumb.

The OP gave us his 800m rep pace and not time probably because he is a newcomer to the sport and he uses his GPS watch to time his efforts - and what you morons don't seem to know is that many, MANY people who are newcomers to the sport don't know that it's customary in our sport to take total time per rep and not pace per rep.

But he is not wrong. Moron John misread it and moron Canefis also misread it. The OP didn't give us any mile times, he gave us his pace for the 800m reps.

Do you really want to call people dumb? Then why not start with yourself, Mr VDOT 71 but only ran 9:25 for 3000m?

No, ego says must take 0.1% incline deductions in my interval training times.

Seriously, if you don't want to help and just want to insult others, look in the mirror first.