Sub 60 10 mile training

sample #49 wrote:

You're already capable of running sub-60 for 10 miles. I'm a) old and b) not that fast, and I went through 10 miles in sub-59 in my last half marathon. It was a great race for sure, but I can't touch your PRs right now. (Recent mile in a peak race: 5:12; 3 miles in around 17:15.)

I'd say you'd need to increased your mileage, but you're already doing that. And I'd say do long intervals, but you're already doing that, too. If you can keep extending your endurance, you'll easily break 60. If you could find the right race or TT situation, you could probably do it today.

Guy isn't close to being able to run 60 right now

Listed PRs:

4:46 for 1600

10:30 for 3200,

(as well as 29:30 for 8k, so probably definitely better at shorter stuff) .

Guy struggles to stay on 60 pace for 5 miles. He isn't hanging on for another 30 mins at that pace. Obviously we are looking at some one with poor aerobic endurance (i.e. 30s/mile from 1600 to 3200 and then from 5:15 to 6:00 from 2 miles to 5 miles).

Now could he be a 60 min guy in like 12 weeks? Probably. Going from 50-70 should do most of the trick. The other part is just getting used to running at a quality aerobic pace. I would definitely go for volume over speed (i.e. 4x2 miles in 12 mins is much better than 2x2 mile in 11:30). And maybe doing 30 min runs (start like 6:30 and crank it down as you get used to them) to get used harder aerobic efforts.

My advice: get older. When I w as in HS in about the same shape as you I would have struggled with a sub 60 10 mile. Now, like some other old guys here I can run sub 6 for a long time and I'm just another 17:xx guy. Can I trade you a 59 for a 4:46?

Not true. My 5k pr is 16:58. 10k pr is 34:23. I could easily run sub 60 for 10 miles. Only have broken 5 in mile 3 times.

I was running 40 mpw as a high school senior. That spring ran 16 flat for 5k and 58:30 for 10 miles. As you up your mileage you should be able to get close to your goal. You are running much more than I did at your age.

You don't need to be sub-16 5k to get sub 60 for 10M. When I was somewhere around that kind of shape, I ran 55:40s. I first broke 60 when I was in maybe low to mid 35 10k shape.

Workouts I tended to do during the years I was well under 60 shape, in addition to 80 mpw and up:

3x2M at 10k pace on 400 jog

5x1M at 5k-10k pace on 200-400 jog

last 9-13M of a 20+M at MP

4M tempo (but fast)--usually 21-22:00

12-16x400 at 1M-5k pace (100 jog)

6-8x800 anywhere from faster than 3k-5k pace (200j)

I know that JD doesn't garner much respect but 59:59 on the VDot calculator is 17:28 5k equivalent.

As others have said, just up the mileage. You have good speed so just need the aerobic base. Doing 40 to 50 mpw consistently will work. I dont even think you need 70 mpw to do it. I was under 60 for 10 miles during half marathon training on about 50 mpw. My times were 17:0x for 5k, 27:4x for 5 miles, 35:5x for 10k, 59 for 10, and 1:19 for half.

One workout that helped me (a bit in the speedy side) go longer was a lot of 400s about 2 mile pace with a jog 100 between. Maybe 6to8 per set with two sets. I just could never mentally do long tempos or 2 mile intervals when I was young but knew I could force one more 400.

I ran sub 59:58 for a 10 miler in 2018. I was in like 17/5k, or 35:00/10k shape, maybe a little slower.

lots of tempo workouts ranging between 5:55-6:05 did the trick :) As did having track club teammates who were right around there fitness wise.

I averaged like 40 MPW over a 10 week period including that race.

not 'sub 59:58', just 59:58, my bad

5K time equivalents for a <60 10 miles depend on your relative strengths.

You're probably looking in the 17:00 - 17:30 range, with support from good mileage.

I'm an old far who tends to be stronger at shorter distances, e.g., 5K >> HM. When I ran 59:35 at age 46 a few years ago, I was probably in 17:10 - 17:20 shape for 5K, though I didn't race that distance at that time, alas. Since I'm better at shorter distances, I really didn't need to do any speed work. For me, just getting in the miles (60 - 80 mpw) and losing weight made all the difference. (The 10M PB was an unexpected time in the middle of a marathon taper.) But speed may be more important if your strength is longer distances.

huh thats weird. I only ran 16:38 for 5k but I've run sub 60 a few times.

If you run 16'30" sub 60 for 10 miles should be a moderately hard tempo, nothing too hard, not a walk in the park either.

I ran 55:42 for a 15K race at age 34 in very windy conditions last december (was shooting for a sub 55). So that's about a sub 60 ten miles I guess. My 5K PB is only 17:34 though.

I would just do a lot of long runs for a couple of weeks (I did 4 or 5) at 06:45 - 07:00 for 15-16 miles. I think that builds your endurance to do it.

My personal recipe: 1 long run a week, 1 recovery run (1.5 hour at 09:00 pace keeping my form, cadence never below 180), 1 threshold for 45 minutes. And weekly mileage around 50 miles. And then a small taper before the race for a week, watching my resting HR at night to go as low as possible.

Might as well finally post something useful (I hope), cause I got a lot of useful info on this forum.

Little background info: I started from scratch (turning the switch in my head) with running in the middle of 2016 with an extra 44lbs, never did a sport in my life.

Friendly greetings Jürgen.

For me it came down to mileage between 50-60, a steady long run (14-16), tempos, and strides. I'm sure I could have run a bit quicker if I spent some more time on the track, but I didn't see the risk/reward as worth it - although it would have been nice to dip under 58...

Here are a few of the workouts I did leading up to 58:10 this past January.

2mile, mile, 2mile, mile (90 seconds rest)

6mi tempo (6:15 down to 5:55)

8mi tempo (6:15 down to 6:00)

6xmile (6:14, 5:58, 6:00, 5:48, 5:39, 6:00 - #4 and 5 intentionally fast then run a 6 on tired legs for #6)

6x300 4 days out - this was the only workout I did on the track.

TheXCrunner wrote:

you need to be sub 16 on 5k to be able to run sub 60 10 miler.

also what is your schedule like, how far/fast are your long runs?

Yeah right.

I was thinking of my response and then read your post. When I’ve been in sub-16 shape I’ve run a 55:30 10-miler. This is on 40-50 miles per week. I was also in 1:12:40’s HM shape.

You should be able to do 3-4 x 2-mile at goal race pace on 2 minute jog race by yourself without too much strain. Tempo runs 4-6 miles around same pace. 5k should probably be under 17 depending on what type of runner you are.

Talent matters a lot in this conversation too.

Good luck

In hs, I had similar prs in my last year of training. pbs were 1:58, 4:40, and 16:25. I was on higher mileage for hs-ers at 80mpw.

After another summer at ~80-90 miles, I ran 57:40 in a 10 mile tempo run in the fall. If it is any helpful, after another couple years on higher mileage (avg 85-90, up to 110), I maxed out at 55:40.

You're still growing. Keep putting in mileage and doing long runs and it's just a matter of time. You'll get faster.

Wow, dirt dog, did you not run the 1600 often in HS? Pretty high mileage for HS with a 1:58 800. I am shocked at 4:40. I would have thought that would lead to close to 4:20! Interesting stuff.

I ran 54 minutes for 10 miles in college -- not a race, just a good hard run. Don't think I was in sub 15:30 shape at the time, and very well may not have been able to run 16:00 for 5k (XC).

OP -- don't focus on what you need to run for 5k to be able to run 10 miles in 60 minutes. As dirt dog shows, you don't need to run certain times to be able to run certain times at other distances (within reason).

Run more miles and try to run many of them at a steady pace.