The 10-km run is a real classic. It is a part of almost every running event – the New Year’s Eve run, fun runs, and charity events – or even major marathon competitions. There is a reason for this: recreational and ambitious runners alike love this long-distance discipline. Compared to other races, the list of participants in the 10-km race is almost always the longest.
However, the participants’ goals could not be more diverse. While some simply want to reach the finish line, others want to improve their performance – or even get on the winners’ podium.“Whatever personal goals runners have,” says David Harmer, “they can often achieve them in a few weeks with proper preparation.”
David Harmer knows the different goals runners have all too well. For 14 years, the current True Motion Tech & Brand Representative coached professional athletes.Most recently, David was the national coach of the British running team for seven years. In 2016, he coached the team at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, and he also coached British runners at World and European Championships.
It is actually impossible to create a universal training plan for a 10K. Too much depends on the individual performance level and goals, explains David.Nevertheless, there are tips that can help us prepare properly for a 10-km run– according to individual performance levels. The result isa guideline for three running groups.
The finisher group: Runners in the finisher group have the goal of finishing their first 10K. The goal is not to run the ten kilometers in a certain time, but to cross the finish line at the end. Especially runners who are new to running and have set their first personal goals are part of this group.
The get-faster group: The get-faster group includes runners who have already run their first 10Ks. They know the distance and have a first feeling for how long it takes them on average to run ten kilometers. Their goal is to improve their previous performance in a 10-km race.
The competitive group: Runners from the competitive group have already participated in several 10Ks. As ambitious runners, they now have the goal of running the next 10-km race with a competitive mindset.
In our guide, David Harmer explains what good 10K-training for these three groups can look like.
Finish: train for your first 10K
Even as rookie runners, we can be ready for our first 10-km run relatively quickly. What ultimately matters is our level of performance, says David. “To start training for a 10‑kmrun,runners should be able to easily run for 20 minutes at a time twice a week.” It is not about how fast we run – but we should be able to sustain the load well over such a period of time. David adds, “If that’s the case, a runner is ready to prepare for a 10K.”
In concrete terms,this means that in order for us to ambitiously run a 10-km race, we need to train not only our anaerobic threshold, but also our aerobic threshold.“In addition, there are shorter training segments where our pace is at the threshold of maximum oxygen uptake – the so-called VO2max,” David explains.We usually reach this VO2max threshold at our 3-km or 5-km pace.“If we also plan faster sessions like this, we’re training to run more efficiently over the 10-km distance.”
When we are ready for a 10-km race
For eight weeks, we need to train at this intensity to prepare well for a 10-km run at a high level.“If you can find an additional race with shorter distances after six weeks of training, you should participate,” says David. Because that way, we prepare our body even better for a 10‑km race.
For ambitious runners in particular,the right tacticsare also important in a race. In a 10K, it makes sense to run a little faster for the first one or two kilometers and then find a steady pace for four kilometers. At kilometers seven and eight, the speed is reduced a little – to accelerate on the next one to two kilometers and run the last 500 meters at almost the highest race pace.
“To ensure that this also works out in the race, we should simulate this approach in training beforehand,” says David. The best way to do this is to run the first kilometer and the last 400 to 500 meters fast in training every now and then. “That way, we get used to such a high load.”
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