Working towards my first sub 45 10K

[johanbakx]

Hello TheEd,

I have been training very consistently the past 10 months. This has resulted in PB’s of 45:43 for the 10k and 1:50:20 for 21k. Pleased with that, but I know I can go faster and I am very determined to go below 45m and 1:45h this year! I have basically been making my own schedules and now decided to start following a schedule from this site to get to the next level.

First up the 10k. My next race is March 31st. I started the sub 45 schedule some 10 days ago. Today I completed day 10 (easy 1 hr) and completed it in 72 min at a pace of 5:21. Felt very controlled. The schedule now gives me a resting day, and then the 5k paced run. However, tomorrow being Sunday, I would like to skip the resting day and do the paced run. Will the skipping of the rest day affect my performance of the paced run? I did have 2 rest days before today!

Chances are you will not be able to reply before tomorrow, so I’ll go ahead with my paced run. Still looking forward to your feedback!

Thanks, Johan

[TheEd]

Hi Johan, and welcome to the forums

thanks for the feedback

your race is on Sunday 31st March which is a Sunday

normally day 1 starts on a Tuesday

however you can place the paced run on the Sunday instead of Saturday

so after the Thursday session, put a 20 to 30 minute easy recovery run in on the Friday and Rest the Saturday

please ask more questions

TheEd

[johanbakx]

Thanks for the quick reply Ed. I will do so on the next cycle. Today I’ll do the paced run without a resting day, unless you would advise not to. I will be aiming at 23:10 (4:38). I still have some time till March 31st. I will let you know the result.

Also, at the end of the cycle almost right up until race day, there are a lot of sessions scheduled. Normally people advise to seriously cut back on training 1 or even 2 weeks before the race. Is that a misconception?

Thanks, Johan

[TheEd]

Hi Johan, take a look at this:

Thoughts behind the Programs - http://www.time-to-run.com/theed/10k-tra...e-programs

that may help understand the cycle a little more

the run down over the last few days is mild and with you doing the workload prescribed, you should go to a new level

TheEd

[johanbakx]

Hi Ed,

Had a very pleasing session! Went for 23:10 and ended up finishing in 22:35. After a good warm-up I ran the 5k. Here are my splits:

4:29 (whoops, I thought. Slowed down just a bit for the 2nd K, but then ended up quite easily maintaining this pace)
4:35
4:30
4:33
4:27

A demanding pace certainly, but I felt very much in control, which was the most pleasing about this session. I must say I am pretty amazed by this pace. My fastest 5k in training to date. Very confident about this schedule and I only started 2 weeks ago! í*½í¸„

Thanks for the link, too. The biggest difference with when I was making my own schedules is that I only did (semi) paced runs and intervals. Got me pretty good results, but now I feel I can improve quite a bit more!

I’ll take a rest day tomorrow, then continue with day 13, 1 hr easy.

Day 15 is ‘start with 3x5m 10k pace’. Is it just that?

Thanks already, Johan

[johanbakx]

Hi Ed, I have a quick question. I have a bit of a time issue tomorrow. My wife gets home late, approx. 21:00. Can’t go running before that because our little girls aren’t old enough yet to be home alone (7 and 5 í*½í¸Š) I’m supposed to do the 1hr easy tomorrow and the day after that 30 min. easy. Does it hurt my schedule if I switch those around? I’d rather do the 1hr if I can start earlier.

Update: schedule got saved, my wife was home earlier í*½í¸ƒ.

11k easy in 60 min.

Johan

[TheEd]

Hi Johan, in this case you can change it around

do monitor your fatigue

TheEd

[johanbakx]

Day 14 done. Quite slippery and snowy here in The Netherlands but also quite enjoyable these conditions! Bit too soon after dinner, so had to stop after 16 min. After a short walk felt much better already. Super easy 33:06 at a pace of 5:27.

Tomorrow the 3x5m at 10k pace. After that I’ll asses my fatigue as you mentioned. I’ll let you know the result!

Johan

[TheEd]

Good to hear of the enjoyment despite the weather

onwards

TheEd

:yes:

[johanbakx]

That wasn’t a nice session at all. First the bad stuff. Forgot my lights at home, then ran somewhere where the road wasn’t lit. Had stomach problems all the way and trouble keeping the right pace. Went too fast or too slow. Any tips for finding a certain pace and keeping it?

Anyways, considering the above the result was ok. Next Monday is my first 10k at race pace. My fastest 10k in training is 47:25 so I will be aiming at 47:00 (4:42). So for this session (3x 5 min 10k pace) 4:42 was my aim. Splits:

1st 5 min 4:35
2nd 5 min 4:41
3rd 5 min 4:35

I just had to work very hard for it and felt a bit all over the place. As for my fatigue, I do feel a bit stressed. Mostly from work I think, but what would you advise? Run or rest tomorrow?

Saturday I’m having a whiskey night with fellow whiskey enthusiasts �*���� This will probably not do a lot of good for my 10k on monday, but saturday will be fun and I’ll give it my best shot anyway.

Johan