sub 40 - Training - Runner's World

dean101

07/01/2012 at 19:54

Any top tips for going sub 40 for my race in 4 weeks?

Current 10k time is 40:44 set in Nov.

An example of my current training would look something like this: (This is my plan for next week)

Mon: 2m warm up, 6 x 800m @5k pace, 1m cool down

Tues : 9m

Wed: Rest

Thurs: 2m warm up, 2k at hm pace, 1m at 10k pace, 1k at 5k pace, 800m at 3k pace, (400m jog recovery between each) 1m cool down.

Fri: 8m

Sat: 5m

Sun: 13m

Thanks

Stevie G .

07/01/2012 at 20:01

if you've been training like that for a few months, bearing in mind that's not too far off 50 miles a week, you should be in line to beat that 40mins comfortably.

i think 4 weeks is too little time to see any changes, but run the race and report back!

Also, is 10k your priority distance? If so, you only do 1mile of 10k work a week.

dean101

07/01/2012 at 20:11

Not been too different to this for the past few months but starting to put more intervals in now.

It is my priority distance until this race, then half marathon will become priority for my race 7 weeks later.

Sub 40 and sub 90 are my main aims for the year, but if I can crack both by the end of March then it will take some pressure off other races later in the year.

I can only do 10k pace work at my club or in a race, I really struggle to even get to half marathon pace when training on my own.

Stevie G .

07/01/2012 at 20:39

Dean, that last line is interesting. I used to struggle to hit higher paces in training.

What might be good for that, as well as working a different fitness zone, is for you to move one of those hard sessions to incorporate Marathon pace (MP).

Sub 1hr 30 is 6.52 pace. We work to your current fitness, so call it 6.55, and thus your MP would become around 7.20.

The session would eventually become 3miles warm up, 5-6miles at MP, 1/2mile cool down.
You might need to build from 2-3miles MP to start with, but over a few weeks, you'd handle the full 5-6.

You'd then make your other hard session, specific to the aim.
If half marathons are kicking in soon after, I'd perhaps do something like

3 x 2miles at HMP, off 2min recoveries.

This way you have the classic tempo and intervals added in your schedule.

dean101

10/01/2012 at 21:03

Thanks Stevie!

As an idea of how bad I am at running quickly on my own, I had to re-jig my plans for this week so just did 6 miles easy instead of the 800m intervals so I thought I would do a progression run tonight. 3M warm up, 1m@MP, 2m@HMP, 1m@10K pace, 2m cool down - so not the most challenging of progression runs.

MP ended up being 7:35 so that was ok, HMP was 7:10 and 7:13 so not too great and the 10k pace ended up being 7:08, so pretty disasterous.

Not ideal times for someone hoping (albeit optimistically) to go sub 40 and sub 90 in the next 3 months.

Stevie G .

10/01/2012 at 21:13

Dean, I'm not sure what you think would be a challenging progression run then!

At your stage, I'd suggest trying to shoehorn a 10k mile onto the end was asking for disappointment! I can't imagine why you'd do longer at HMP then MP either.

I would definitely think more at trying to run at MP for longer before trying to merge it in with HMP and 10k! MP is certainly no doss to run at for 5-6miles, but once you've consistently been able to handle that, it makes adding the faster stuff seem easier.

Use the other hard session of intervals to hit the harder paces. for now.

Edited: 10/01/2012 at 21:15

dean101

05/03/2012 at 18:22

Well, Dewsbury 10k went ahead yesterday after it was postponed last month due to the snow and I kept my entry.

I did 39:35!!! Very pleased now and feel relieved that my main target for the year has already been achieved.

Now I have a new problem. I have another 10k on Sunday (Trafford) which I had always had planned in but as Dewsbury was postponed that now falls a week after my last race. I also have a half marathon in 3 weeks which I would like to do sub 90 on (I should be capable now). The problem is that I have no desire to race Trafford now that I have my time I wanted so I have a few options. Race it as planned and try to beat my time from Sunday, not bother at all and do a long run in prep for my half or do a long run on Sat and just use the race as a recovery run.

Any opinions welcome, Cheers!

Yorkshire Rob

05/03/2012 at 21:41

dean101 wrote (see)

Well, Dewsbury 10k went ahead yesterday after it was postponed last month due to the snow and I kept my entry.
I did 39:35!!! Very pleased now and feel relieved that my main target for the year has already been achieved.
Now I have a new problem. I have another 10k on Sunday (Trafford) which I had always had planned in but as Dewsbury was postponed that now falls a week after my last race. I also have a half marathon in 3 weeks which I would like to do sub 90 on (I should be capable now). The problem is that I have no desire to race Trafford now that I have my time I wanted so I have a few options. Race it as planned and try to beat my time from Sunday, not bother at all and do a long run in prep for my half or do a long run on Sat and just use the race as a recovery run.
Any opinions welcome, Cheers!

Race it man, you should be able to recover nicely from a fast 10k in a week so could well be another PB. IMHO racing a 10k is probably more beneficial to HM training than a long run would be. I would add a 4-5 mile recovery run on sunday afternoon/evening after the race to keep the mileage up. That way you get to have your cake and eat it.

Congrats on sub 40 btw, you'll find it's easy to break 40 mins now you've done it once and I wouldn't be surprised with a sub 39 before the years out. I ran sub 40 for the first time on the 2010 abbey dash (39:25) and last years time was 36:29

dean101

12/03/2012 at 20:03

Cheers for the advice which I followed. I did 39:30 so knocked another 30 seconds off my PB - not bad in a week!

Also done 4 miles after to make sure I did a decent amount of miles for the day with my half in mind.

DASH RIPROD

13/03/2012 at 07:14

dean, your maths are wrong!

dean101

13/03/2012 at 17:40

Oh yeah, did 39:05 so knocked 30 seconds off. Well spotted!

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