Do you want to become faster over a distance of 10 kilometers?
With these five tips, you can significantly improve your personal best over ten kilometers!
Key Characteristic in Training for the 10 Kilometers
A runner’s training naturally depends heavily on their current performance level and their goals. Someone training for a marathon structures their training completely differently than when preparing for a 10 kilometer race.
In a 10 kilometer race, you run approximately at your aerobic anaerobic threshold or slightly above it. This means your body can just barely take in as much oxygen as it consumes. If you exceed the anaerobic threshold, you must expect a rapid drop in performance. Therefore, the main objective in 10 kilometer training is to push this threshold higher so that you can run at a faster pace before reaching it.
How can you improve over 10 kilometers? With these five tips, you will move a huge step closer to your goal:
1) Train at Your Planned Race Pace
If you currently need 55 minutes for 10 kilometers and want to complete this distance in 50 minutes in the near future, you cannot avoid running this pace in training. 50 minutes corresponds to a pace of five minutes per kilometer. You need to run this pace regularly in training, because only then will your body get used to this speed and be able to maintain it for a longer period during the race.
A classic example is interval training: For instance, you complete 8 x 1,000 meters at race pace or slightly faster. In this case, that would be a pace of 4:50 to 5:00 minutes per kilometer. In between, you jog easily for two to three minutes.
Or try a tempo run. First run three kilometers at your normal base pace, about 60 seconds slower than race pace, then six kilometers slightly slower than race pace, equal to GA3, and finally another three kilometers at your normal base pace.
For better illustration, here are our two training examples for a runner who wants to complete 10 kilometers in under 50 minutes:
- Interval training: 8 x 1,000 meters, pace: 4:50 to 5:00 min/km, recovery: 2 to 3 minutes easy jogging
- GA3 tempo run: 3 km GA1 6:00 min/km, 6 km GA3 5:05 to 5:20 min/km, 3 km GA1 6:00 min/km
2) But Do Not Forget the Fundamentals
Just because the 10 kilometers is a relatively short race distance does not mean that your daily training routine should mainly consist of intense sessions.
A rule of thumb in running training states that about 80 percent of your kilometers should be run at moderate intensity, corresponding to a pace of roughly 70 percent to a maximum of 80 percent of your maximum heart rate. Our base pace, GA1, for improving aerobic capacity is approximately 65 or 70 to 80 percent of maximum heart rate. This means that two thirds or even up to 80 percent of your training kilometers should be completed in this intensity range, and only about 20 to 30 percent at high intensity. In total, this results in one to two intense sessions per week, which usually contain a smaller volume of fast kilometers, while the rest consists of easy runs.
Base runs improve aerobic capacity and resistance to fatigue. The pace is approximately 40 to 75 seconds slower than your 10 kilometer race pace.
3) Just Running Is Not Enough
It is actually the same as in any other sport. A professional soccer player’s training is not 100 percent focused on playing soccer, a skier does not stand on skis all the time, and a runner’s training is not exclusively focused on running. Through other types of physical training, we can ensure that our body is better prepared for the actual key sessions. A prime example for runners is strength and stabilization training. All elite runners incorporate strength training into their training plan several times per week, but only a few recreational runners do so, unfortunately.
However, strength training in this context does not mean typical bodybuilding training aimed at muscle growth. Much more important are exercises that train our muscles, bones, and joints in a way that supports, strengthens, and stabilizes us while running. This includes a strong core or powerful legs without gaining additional body weight. Typical exercises include planks or single leg squats.
Read more here: Strength training for runners: The best exercises for stronger feet!
4) Forget Carbo Loading
This statement may sound slightly exaggerated. But unlike a marathon, you do not need fully loaded carbohydrate stores for a 10 kilometer race. Even if you need one hour to complete 10 kilometers, you do not have to worry about your energy reserves running out prematurely. At least not if your carbohydrate stores are not completely empty. This means that in the days before your race, you do not need to change your diet as you would before a marathon.
In summary: Do not avoid carbohydrates, but do not overload yourself with excessive amounts either.
5) Work on Your Speed
Many runners have a certain aversion to speed training. Unfortunately, silly misconceptions circulate on the internet, such as “only running slow makes you fast,” which lead especially recreational runners to believe that we become fast only through very slow runs. This statement is nonsense, as you already learned in our first tip. Therefore, once again our important advice: Do not neglect speed training.
It does not always have to be classic long intervals. Try 200 meter intervals, but make sure to warm up thoroughly beforehand, because this provides your body with new speed stimuli. Afterwards, your normal running pace may even feel easier because your body has experienced the stimulus of a much higher speed.
Also, the more running experience you have, the harder it becomes to improve your speed. Therefore, especially for young runners, it has very high priority not to neglect speed training, because at some point it becomes too late for significant improvements in running speed.
PS: Do you not yet have a suitable training plan? In the “Big Running Book of Training Plans” you will find over 50 running training plans from 5 km to marathon for all performance levels.
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