Can I run 10k in 40 minutes with this training schedule?

Been a while since i've seen this thread up there.

I managed to go sub 40 at the weekend, 38.52 in another Salford based 10k, only my second 10k race.  Was in the middle of marathon training so had no taper and no 10k specific training.  Anyone think there should be some fairly comfortable room for improvement there then?

Kind of feels weird now as I always saw the 40 minutes barrier as the main aim for 10k so not sure entirely where to go from here!!

How's everyone getting on with their persuit?

That's a very nice 10k there SB. A lot of people I speak to seem to get pb's at other distances when training for the marathon, I'll have to get involved! What's your target for the marathon and which one are you doing?

I'm running my second 10k in May in Bristol and am hoping for something in the region of 37:30, based on an 18:17 5k I ran about a month ago. I think the plan then will be to try and concentrate on some speedwork over the summer to improve the 5k, then doing the Cardiff Half Marathon in October.

Mattl very nice 10k at Salford, unbelievable time considering how long you've been running seriously. (I'm always lurking on the SG thread!)

Hi Iwan, how's it going?

Thanks for the reply and cheers, I was very happy with it.  What a feeling coming into the last half mile knowing you've done it, eh?  As I got close to the line a bloke shouted "still under 39 minute pace".  I couldn't believe it so near sprinted for the line when I thought I had nothing left   I honestly have no idea whether i've kind of peaked or got close to peak now or whether I can still improve a lot.  I've been running for nearly 5 years but only above 15 miles a week since August last year.  All I did before was run 2-4 times a week, 5 or 10k blasts (just running as hard as possible).  Since structuring the training, it seems to have helped but have I just improved on what was already close to my peak performance or have I still got room to grow?  God only knows, I guess time will tell!

Your times are now very impressive.  Reckon you can push under 18 for the 5k?  Only 18 more seconds to go but they'll hurt like like to take off.  What's the target time for Cardiff?  I ran a 1.28 at Blackpool but i'm now certain I can get that down after the recent 10k performance.

Hard target for Manchester - finish it  Soft target, sub 3.10 would be amazing and i'd be so happy with that.  Some calculators are teasing me saying that I am capable of sub 3 but honestly, i've only been seriously running for 8 months and don't believe I have the endurance base for that yet.

I reckon you still have plenty of improvement left if you have only been training seriously for 6 months, but I know what you mean regarding not really knowing how good your performance was. Since I don't race regularly at the moment when I get a pb I don't know if I nailed it or whether there's 15/30/45 seconds more in the tank on a different day/conditions.

I'm hoping I can get comfortably below 18 minutes over the summer if I avoid any more injuries, and for Cardiff I have put 1:23 as an estimated time but this might be a bit ambitious! I've been consistently over 50 miles a week this year so I'm hoping that the uninterrupted training will start to pay off.

3:10 sounds like a reasonable target, I think a marathon could be very painful if you go out too hard, probably better to finish your first marathon thinking there's a bit more to come than hitting the wall and putting yourself off for life!

Dead right about the marathon, it's my first one and I really don't want to be in a world of pain as I enter the unkown territory of the last 4 miles/glycogen wipe out.  I will probably readjust my aim/pace from mile 15 on, depending on how I feel I am but I strongly suspect i'll be between 3.05-3.25.

I can relate to your sense of the unkown too.  Last 10k, the fact that I was suddenly able to find a strong sprint finish told me that although I felt I was pushing hard as hell, perhaps not quite as hard as I thought.  I'm learning to try and embrace the pain and not succumb to it.  Ok. embrace is stupid word really but i'm at least trying not to let it dominate my thoughts as I get tired.  That's hard but also a big key to good times I think.

1.23 sounds very do-able to me, given your MPW.  As always, a lot will depend on the "on the day" factors but from a pure pace perspective, your time suggest that it should be achievable.  You then start to get close to the sub 1.20 class and you'll be signing up for the next one before you know it!