A 40+ female runner's journey to the sub 50 minute 10K

[Mistral]

Hi TheEd,

Thank you for all the amazing resources you provide on this website! I’m very excited to join the forum crowd, and will use this thread to document my journey to the sub 50 minute 10K.

Background: Woman born 1971, active childhood and youth (hiking, cross-country skiing, soccer), but no regular exercise through my 20s and 30s. Took up running in 2011 at the age of 40, initially just to get a little fitter and keep my weight under control. Got bitten by the bug and now I'm having a lot of fun trying to improve my performances before my age inevitably catches up with me!

PBs:
10K: 52:15 (May 2015)
Half marathon: 1:59:49 (September 2014)
Marathon: 4:18:04 (April 2015)

I look forward to seeing where this program can take me. Thanks again!

[Mistral]

I started the first cycle of the sub 50 minute 10K program on May 13, as my target 10K race is on May 31. I didn't do a 4K trial before starting (life got in the way), and it turned out that the interval paces were a bit too challenging.

3 x 2000 (target pace 9:50):
1: 9:41
2: 9:53
3: 10:05

5 x 1000 (target pace 4:45 - 4:50):
1: 4:41
2: 4:47
3: 4:50
4: 4:55
5: 4:56

3 x 5 min at 10K pace:
Lap Pace Avg HR Max HR Rest HR
1: 5:01 173 178 149
2: 4:53 176 183 152
3: 5:00 180 186 153

Clearly I'm not quite ready for sub 50 yet. I ran a very hilly 10K race at 52:15 last Sunday (instead of the 5K in the program) and will aim for 51:30 in the May 31 race which completes this cycle.

After May 31, I will do a 4K trial and adjust interval paces accordingly.

[Mistral]

Question: After May 31, the next suitable 10K race is July 5 (summer is low season for racing around here), five weeks later. I would therefore like to start the second cycle on June 17.

How would you suggest I train in the two intermittent weeks? I’m keen not to lose too much of the endurance I built up when training for the April marathon, so perhaps I should focus on some longer, slower runs?

[TheEd]

Hi Mistral, and welcome to the forums, thanks for the compliments directed at the site.

great to see you have cross-country skiing

I also note you have run a marathon this year, so you should have a decent aerobic base to work from, always handy

the pace is often the difficult aspect to cope with after coming off a marathon, however from your 1k session you seemed to cope quite well there

if you run the race this weekend, do not look to do a 4k time-trial, we will take things from there

let's see how the race goes this weekend and then we can plan forward

What distance did you get up to in training for the marathon, your longest run?

we need to be cautious, the feedback comes across as highly motivated and keen, so we need to 'temper' this with lots of recovery & a relaxed approach as well

as for the cycle to the other events, we can balance things according to how you adapt to the programs, and how we plan forward to the events

hope this is good for starters

nice to have you aboard

TheEd

:jive:

[Mistral]

Thank you for the feedback TheEd. Yes, my aerobic base is decent; I’m definitely built for endurance rather than speed!

During marathon preparation I did 2 x 24K, 2 x 28K and the longest run was a 30K trail race three weeks before the marathon. I followed a MyAsics training program and the long runs were faster (for my level) than in most other programs I’ve seen – around 5:35 min/km pace.

I’ll let you know how this Sunday's 10K goes. And I'll make sure to keep things fun and relaxed.

[Mistral]

Very happy with today's 10K! My goal was 51:30 and I have 51:21 on my Garmin.

The race effect is quite extraordinary. This pace which can be so painful in training was mostly easy and fun today. Conditions were good; the course wasn't quite as flat and easy as I expected (there were hilly bits, windy bits and paved bits) but the temperature was perfect.

My quads started to feel a bit tight after 4K, which surprised me. My legs usually feel nice and fresh; cardio is always the limitation. It didn't get worse though and they feel fine again now.

Splits:
1 5:08
2 4:53
3 5:13
4 5:02
5 5:14
6 5:21
7 5:02
8 5:23
9 5:03
10 5:02

[TheEd]

nice going .. do read this article
[URL="http://www.time-to-run.com/training/10k/race-your-best-10km.htm"]
Race your best 10km
[/URL]
http://www.time-to-run.com/training/10k/...t-10km.htm

as you develop further on the program, you will be able to apply various aspects to your race strategy

so what planned now, should we start with the 2k session come this Thursday?

TheEd

[Mistral]

Yes, I've read the article already, lots of good stuff. Going out fast wasn't really an option on Sunday as I started in the middle of the pack and was dodging a lot of other runners for a while. But I was very pleased with my last km, which was a good deal of uphill.

Let's go straight on to a new cycle, with 2K sessions this week. Should I aim for 4:55 pace again (it was a little too hard 3 weeks ago), or would I do better to go a little slower still?

[TheEd]

start the first one 5 seconds per km slower and take it from there

onwards

TheEd

[Mistral]

Cycle #2, Day 3:

3x2K LHR AHR MHR
9:44 145 173 180
9:45 133 177 184
9:48 142 180 187

Unlike three weeks ago, today I managed to keep the pace through all three laps (I lost a few seconds on the last lap because of a careless cyclist, so it was even more regular than it looks). It was very warm (25°C) and it got pretty tough at the end, but I'm super pleased with the session.

What pace (or heart rate?) would you suggest I aim for on the Day 5 1hr45min long run?

Thanks!