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Interested in upping your running game? We’ve got a brand new Strava challenge for you to join.
The Make Life Richer 10km virtual run will take place on the 26th of March. We’re encouraging you and your pals to join. With lots of discounts and prizes to be won, there has never been a better time to get started.
During the first week of training, you’ll do a 5K time trial. This time will help guide your training paces for the remainder of your 10K prep!
The suggested pace ranges are as follows:
*Easy = conversational pace. If you can’t speak in full paragraphs, you’re running too fast! PS in my opinion there is no such thing as too slow when running easy pace :)
Feel free to walk on your cool down if you need!
*Speed - intervals faster than 5K pace. You are pushing hard and should only be able to string a couple words together.
*Strides = short intervals in which you progressively pick up the pace to nearly a sprint, while staying relaxed and focusing on good form.
*Threshold - slower than your 5K pace should feel comfortably hard. This is a sustained effort targeting your lactate threshold (about 85% of your max heart rate) and specifically working on holding that 10K pace! It should feel like you could say a sentence if you want to, but you would rather not because you’re so focused on holding pace.
Everything is programmed in minutes so no problem if you don’t have a track or running watch - a stop watch and some simple route planning/maths is all you need!
And what’s up with all of the easy kilometres and a long run if you’re only training for a 10K? A 10K is actually 90-95% aerobic, so even though it’s a shorter race than something like a marathon, that aerobic engine still needs a lot of work!
For both plans below there are 3 planned runs per week however if you’re used to a higher training load, feel free to add 2 or 3 more running or cross training days to each week, plus any yoga/pilates or strength workouts you like! We recommend taking one complete rest day and keeping those additional runs nice and easy.
Typically we’d suggest take your hard days hard, easy days easy - try to avoid scheduling a gym workout or HIIT class the day before one of the speed runs if you can!
How to work out your paces:
Run your 5K time trail
If you finish your 5K in 30 mins, that would make your time per KM 6 minutes
Speed pace = 6.00 minutes minus 10-15 seconds = 5.45-50 min km pace
Threshold = 6.00 plus 10-15 seconds = 6.10-15 min km pace