If you’ll be running the 10-kilometer for the first time, you should be healthy and in good shape. Moreover, you must have previously engaged in some walking or jogging.If you find if difficult in running 4.02 kilometers, just start by walking rather than by running.
You also need to develope a long distance capability to beef up your endurance. According to www.Bnet.com doing two 19.3-kilometer roadruns is a good step to beef up your endurance The workouts can be done either inside a track and field station or an auditorium/
After deciding that you will run the 10K, Hal Higdon of the 10-K Training: Novice, recommends that you implement an eight-week training schedule to develop you into great condition.
Higdon further recommends a participant to conduct stretching and strength training after a long run on Sundays. Stretching is important to ease your running muscles especially after a run. This must be complemented by strength training could consisting of push-ups, pull-ups, use of free weights or working out with various machines at the nearest gym.For runners, combining light weights with longer repetitions is the most viable for runners.
During the running workouts, a runner must cover the distance. Run at pace where you are most comfortable with. You can run three times a week i.e Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays, with Sundays reserved for the long run.
Cross-Training is also recommended for 10K runners for strength and variety. It could be swimming, or cycling and walking or other forms of aerobic training. And feel free to throw in some jogging as well if you’re feeling good. But don’t make the mistake of cross-training too vigorously.
Rest days are as important as training days. They give the muscles time to recover so you can run again.
Although an excellent form of exercise, walking is often neglected by many runners in their workouts. It is also highly recommended during workouts whenever you feel exhausted or need a break.
Experts also recommend the fartlek workout. Fartlek, meaning speed play in Swedish, combines rapid speed in your training run to build endurance. Fartlkek emphasizes on the variety of terrain and the grade of the course, at the same time both duration and intensity of the speed interval.
During a two-mile run over hilly grade and open fields, include a half mile jog, then double your speed for three minutes, jog a little more, then run hard for one minute, and repeat in whatever combination of distance and pace you like.
Fartlek workout:
- Warm up for 10-15 minutes.
- Then run 5 minutes… a little faster then your 10K race pace.
- Recover for 2 minutes.
- Run 10 minutes at your 10K race pace.
- Recover for 3 minutes.
- Run 5 minutes a little faster than your current 10K race pace.
For beginners, just completing your first three-mile training run can be celebrated as a tremendous accomplishment. For seasoned runners, shaving time from a personal record is its own form of winning. As you age, your progress within age groups may account for new “personal bests.” And for every runner, it is the running itself that is its own reward.
Adding Speed Work
The human body adapts very specifically to the demands placed upon it. If you run long and slow, your body will become very efficient at running long and slow. However, if you never train at a faster pace, the energy systems necessary for that faster pace are left untrained. Studies have found that training aerobically (distance only) will not increase your anaerobic (sprinting) capabilities. However, an aerobic training or speed work will increase both your anaerobic and aerobic capabilities. Here are some training techniques that can help you make training gains that result in faster times.
Intervals
Interval training or repetitions involves running fast paced laps on a track or a set course repeatedly with short rest periods between each run. For example, a 400-meter lap at a fast-for-you pace, six times with a slow recovery jog or walk between laps.
Hills
Running hills is a very intense interval training technique. Find a hilly course or one challenging hill and run it as intervals–repetitions up hill with jogging or walking recoveries.
Sample Training Schedules to Beef Up Your Speed
Training schedules should be considered examples upon which to base your own training plans rather than rigid schedules to follow. Be flexible and build the techniques into your own training regimen.
The Big Caveat–Avoid Over-training
Simply adding speed workouts into an established training regimen is a sure way to over-train and risk overuse injury. You will need to start by keeping careful track of your mileage. Once you’ve established a record of mileage, you can use the standard 10% rule-of-thumb–never increase mileage or intensity by more than 10% per week.
What this means is that if you are going to add speed workouts to your weekly program, then a reduction in total distance is necessary. You must subtract mileage to add speed workouts. Keep track of all the distance accumulated during speed training, including recovery and cool down and you will be able to adjust your mileage to accommodate speed work without over-training.
If you turn up the heat too quickly you are going to get burned. Over-training syndrome is the result of increasing your training demands faster than your body can adapt to the challenges–too much, too fast, too soon. You must develop a training schedule that meets your personal fitness level, not another runner’s ability. The road to faster times is littered with the injured whose training wasn’t balanced by enough rest. To avoid a layoff, keep these guidelines in mind:
- Keep careful track of mileage. Make sure increases do not exceed 10% a week at the most.
- Reduce mileage when adding speed work. Intensity is more difficult to measure, but cut back so that total demands don’t exceed a 10% increase.
- Never increase mileage and intensity at the same time.
- Alternate easy days with hard training days.
- Schedule rest days.
- Use crosstraining for relative rest on easy days.
Build strength
A stronger muscle can generate a more powerful contraction resulting in a longer stride or quicker turnover. A 30 to 40-minute workout two to three times a week is good. Don’t believe that weight training will make you bulky and hinder your running potential.
An appropriate program should include strengthening exercises for each muscle group with special attention given to the torso. Choose a resistance level that challenges you to complete six to 12 repetitions. Consult a fitness professional to assist in developing a strength training program that is right for you.
- Absolutely effective abdominal exercises
- Long distance runners—salt-up
- Speed work—what pace?
- Bad air is bad news for runners
- No short cut to marathon success
Set the pace
Pace training is an integral part of a training program and is crucial in order to maintain the proper race-pace. Start with pacing your interval workouts. If you are doing repeat 800 or 1,600 meters, then decide on a pace and try to hit the mark every time.
You will find that at the beginning of the workout, you may have to hold back to keep from coming on too fast. As the workout progresses, you will have to work harder and harder to maintain the same pace.
Race day strategies–Deciding on a race-pace is the most important aspect of a race strategy. The 10K is a tough distance in the sense that there is little room for errors in pace and strategy. If you go out too hard, you will drop off pace. If you go out too easy, the race is too short to make that time back up. The best race-pace is running at your lactate threshold.
Lactate threshold pace is the fastest you can run without accumulating lactic acid in the muscles. Lactic acid accumulates in the muscles when demands for energy are greater than can be met by the aerobic system alone. Lactate threshold training is done by running at 85% of your race-pace for a distance just short of the race length.
Incorporating a run one day a week into your program that challenges you in this way will begin improving your lactate threshold, and will increase your sustained intensity resulting in new personal records.
| Days | Beginning Racer | Intermediate Racer |
|---|---|---|
| Sunday | Long run 6-8 miles | Long run 8-12 miles |
| Monday | Rest | Rest or cross-train |
| Tuesday | Intervals (8X400 meters) | Intervals (8X400 meters) |
| Wednesday | 4 easy miles | 6 easy miles |
| Thursday | 3 mile fartlek | 4 mile fartlek |
| Friday | 3 easy miles or cross train | 5-7 easy miles or cross train |
| Saturday | 5 easy miles | 5-7 easy miles or cross train |
