10K predictor workout

Try this one:

1k @ 5k effort (3min jog)

20min tempo (5k pace +20-30sec/mile) [3min jog]

1k @ 5k effort (3min jog)

2k @ 10k effort

If you can get through that 2k feeling smooth, you should be good for race day.

shzhsh wrote:

Try this one:

1k @ 5k effort (3min jog)

20min tempo (5k pace +20-30sec/mile) [3min jog]

1k @ 5k effort (3min jog)

2k @ 10k effort

If you can get through that 2k feeling smooth, you should be good for race day.

Thanks - 2 weeks out? 1?

no closer than 10 days out

The repeat 600s come in, where you're going to do 5 to 8 of them, and in that first 400 you might run mile pace and in that last 200 you're going to CUT IT DOWN. It's workouts like that, or it's workouts like 4x1000 or 4x1200 with 90 seconds in between so you get into that "my legs are BURNING, my heart is GOING" and you're at that threshold.

Repeat 1600s out in lane 3, really try to turn over and get that speed going so you can feel in in the race.

older than Webb wrote:

shzhsh wrote:

Try this one:

1k @ 5k effort (3min jog)

20min tempo (5k pace +20-30sec/mile) [3min jog]

1k @ 5k effort (3min jog)

2k @ 10k effort

If you can get through that 2k feeling smooth, you should be good for race day.

Thanks - 2 weeks out? 1?

How are you going to know what your "5k effort" and your "10k effort" are, if you are asking that question in the first place? (Rhetorical question, which I don't want an answer to.)

Listen up. I'm going to give you an UNCOMPLICATED, yet QUITE TELLING (i.e., accurate) PREDICTOR WORKOUT for your race. If you have put in the requisite volume of aerobic training for a 10k, (i.e., at least 35-50miles per week), then this PREDICTOR WORKOUT will provide an answer that is quite close to what you can run in a race, if the conditions in which you perform the predictor workout (i.e., weather, course, shoes, time-of-day, etc.) are close to what they will be during the race.

So here is the UNCOMPLICATED, yet QUITE TELLING (i.e., accurate) PREDICTOR WORKOUT:

The 12-min Aerobic Cooper Test. You cover as much distance as you can in 12 minutes, and then you plug that value and time into the Jack Daniels Calculator to get an equivalent 10k time.

You will likely cover 2miles (give or take) in the 12 minutes. I would perform this workout 10 days out from your race...maybe as close (but no sooner) than 7 days out.

Do a hard 5k 10 days before the race. If you run alone and don’t go all out, it will help a lot in giving you a feel for the correct pace, and will blow the rust off to prepare you for the race

Have the tempo runs felt like the right effort? If you have something like Daniels available, you could reverse engineer it. Your tempo pace is the training pace for a certain VDOT (or whatever it is labeled). See what the 10K race time associated with that VDOT.

The question is misguided and most of the answers are not providing good advice.

OP: Look, you're 58 and your workouts have consisted of tempo runs. That's fine, but what you need right now is not a "predictor workout." Those are workouts involving long intervals with little rest to simulate race-like effort. That's a terrible idea for you right now because there's a high risk of injury or failing to recover before race day. Don't introduce a wholly new type of workout in the last 2 weeks before your goal race.

You're right to wonder about how to pace yourself, though. The penalties for estimating wrong can be steep.

So here's where you're at. You have time left (like maybe 1-2 days at this point) for exactly 1 significant workout before you need to taper. That workout should take you from where you are now in the direction of where you want to go. It should be more specific to your 10K race pace.

So where are you at? What was your last tempo workout? How far at what pace?

For example, let's say you were doing 3 miles at 7:00/mile in your most recent tempo run. A good way to progress that workout toward a 10K race might be to do the same workout, then immediately go into 4-5 minutes at 6:50/mile, or around the theoretical 10K pace. It will be a challenging but doable peak workout and let you get a feel for your target pace when you're somewhat fatigued.

Then you taper and race. The other thing that you have to work with at this point is your pacing plan for the race itself. If you're unsure about your fitness, start off slower, say at your tempo pace, for the first 1.5-2 miles. Still feeling okay? Then ease into your 10K pace. Still feeling good at 4.5-5 miles? Then keep pushing the pace. Feeling bad? Back off a bit.

But DON'T run an all-out "predictor" workout with short rests just so you can predict your 10K pace 10 days in advance. You're 58 and your body won't put up with that crap any more.

older than Webb wrote:

Old runner here (58)

I've got a road 10K in 2 weeks. Been doing some tempo runs plus easy mileage

What's a good predictor workout I can do in the last 2 weeks that will give me a decent target pace to go after, but not empty the tank too much ahead of the race itself?

Thanks

What you could try is to go on a track, warm up and then go 3 labs at your designated 10k race velocity. Then stop.

If you can imagine to keep that velocity for further 22 labs then you are on a good way. Also if that 3 labs were too fast, reduce the tempo. Use your gut feeling.