anyone went from a 36 min 10k to a 34 min 10k in one year, if so how do you go about doing it, please post some advice
anyone went from a 36 min 10k to a 34 min 10k in one year, if so how do you go about doing it, please post some advice
Monday 6 mile tempo: 3 mile @ AeT and 3 mi@ AnT. Follow with 6 x 150 at 800m pace.
Tuesday AM 5 miles easy
PM 4 miles easy
Wed. 10 miles at Steady pace
Thursday 6 x mile at 10k pace with 90 sec rec.
Friday AM 5 mile easy
PM 4 miles easy
Saturday 16 x 400 @ 5k pace w/50 sec. rec.
Sunday long run 15 miles
Alternate Wed. workout weekly with 3 x mile @ 10k pace + 3 x 1200 at 5k pace.
The guys & gals on this board will require some background info. Please post the following:
Gender
Age
Recent running weekly mileage
Recent Performances (we'll assume a 36 min 10k?)
Past performances if they are substantially slower/faster than your goal.
# of days you can consistently train
Goal race - Track/Roads/XC
oh, and your 400m pr in 9th grade, some seem to love that...
However, without all of that, I'd say yes, you can drop 2 minutes off your 10k in a year.
oasis wrote:
anyone went from a 36 min 10k to a 34 min 10k in one year, if so how do you go about doing it, please post some advice
i went from sub-34 10k to a 36+ 10k in a few weeks...
If you have enough basic speed and train consistently then it can be achieved. I'm at a similar standard. Early this year I was sick and came back running a 38:45 10km (not flat out all the way). After 12 weeks of very good training (twice most days but short sessions) I ran 34:22 on a fairly hilly course (compares to about a 33:30 on track). How old are you? If you're over 35 then you will find it harder to get improvement. Focus on some shorter distances. You need to be running a bare minimum of sub 9:30 for 3,000 m, sub 16:30 for 5,000 m, etc. There are different training strategies which can be undertaken, just depends on what works for you. You might want to do a lot of longer (10 mile runs) runs, or do a lot of speed sessions (8x400, 200, etc). Probably best to mix things up a bit.
I\'ve gone from 35:55 to 34:05 in about 7 months. Bad news is a lot was down to losing 2kg although some of it was from more consistent mileage. I average 60km a week which isnt great, but I do a lot of races and about every 2 weeks I do speedwork on the track, usually if I havent had a race on the weekend. There\'s a series of 5 km races where I live which helps keep me sharp. Generally though, I\'ll do one hard day and one race day a week. If no race then I\'ll do a harder than usual workout to make up for it. Most other days are just a 9km run at about 75% Heart rate.
But I should start doing a more specific schedule because I\'m winging it at the moment.
Years ago when I was in college, went from 35:52 to 34:35 in one season. However when I ran the 34:35 it was after a huge training week, no taper, and I firmly believe I was in sub 34:00 shape. Here's what I did, starting in early May for October peak:
May:
Long run: 13 miles easy on Sunday
Tempo run: 8km in 31 min on Monday, not too hard
Tuesday: track work 8 X 400m in 1:12-1:13 w/1:30 rest
Wed: easy 8km in p.m.
Thursday: another easy day, 8-10km
Friday: something a little faster, maybe fartlek or a 2km done at 5km-10km pace
Saturday: off
Also every week day 5-6km easy in morning at 8:00min/mile pace
Total mileage 80km
August:
Long run: Sunday 15 miles (longest was 20) at 7min/mile
Tempo: Monday 13km in 46-47min (5:45-5:50 mile pace), this was a pretty quick workout and I think the bread-and-butter of my training
Tuesday: easy 10km in afternoon, 40min
Track: Wednesday, 12 X 400m in 1:10 with 60-75 sec rest, the last couple were done in 68, 66
Thursday: easy 10km in 40ish
Friday: more speed unless a race on weekend. 3 X 1km on road in 3:05-3:15 depending on how I felt with 2-3min rest. The fastest I did this was 2:54, 2:57, 2:59 with 4min rest. Once or twice I ran a hard 3km TT instead of reps, best was 9:18
Saturday: easy bike ride or off
Weekdays also did 6km easy in morning with coach, 7:30-8:00
Total mileage 110-120km
Also raced a lot of 5kms in the middle of training weeks, or on a weekend followed by long run. Most of them were 16:30-17:00 and run at 10km effort although they hurt like heck sometimes since I trained through all my races except a fall HM and a few XC college races. My coach thought I was in close to 33:30 shape after 5 weeks of the above training.
Year ago I was a 36-37 minute 10K runner training 35-40 mpw. Over the next year I raised my mileage very gradually to 60 mpw. After a year of doing this I ran a 4:31 mile on the track during a series of all comer meets and then went back out on the roads and was able to break 34 minutes for 10K.
My training was generally 8 miles a day with a sunday 12 miler. I worked at getting my pace down for these runs going from about 7-7:30 per mile to 6:30-6:45. I was never a big speed work type of runner but I was able to string together races at various distances that told me that I was improving. The key was running more miles and getting comfortable at a faster training pace.
I did all of this very gradually. I didn't force it. Once I got "there" I stayed at that level of training often experimenting with 70 plus miles a week.
Eventually I ran in the high-mid 32's for 10K but that took a few more years.