Increasing My Speed for 10k Races

by Kelly
(Georgia)

I love to run and have recently gotten involved in races in the past 3 years: such as 10k races (usually) and just completed my first half marathon in 1 hr 45 min.

As I continue these 10k races, I am now getting competitive about it and jealous at the top dawgs finishing so fast!

My fastest 10k was 45:46.

I want to run a 10k in under 42 min. Thus far I have simply loved running and don't know the ins & outs and lingo associated with racing and such. So I have no clue how to work on my speed to get to this pace.

Any tips or advice on how to accomplish this?

My current run schedule: I run 70-80 miles per week (roughly 10-15 miles per day) at a moderate pace of about 6-7 mph. My 10k races range 45:46 - 49:48 min.

Thanks for your help!

Kelly


Answer by Dominique:


Hi Kelly,

Thanks for your question and thanks for adding the detail. That makes answering the question so much easier.

I will answer your questions by referring to some pages in the running training area of my website.
You will need to get familiar with some of the running lingo in order to understand what to do.

The mileage you do per week and each day is great. Not much I can help there. If you can sustain this type of mileage, you should be able to build up your speed.

I would do the following:

Vary the speed and the distance per day

Get acquainted with the concepts of tempo running and interval running.

Follow a structured running program

Learn more about the concept of periodization.

In the end, running is a very simple sport. We do some runs slow and some runs fast. Then we combine it all in a good mix.

Your approach is a high-mileage moderate-moderate approach, i.e. every run is pretty much the same.

You could definitely benefit of a more structured hard-easy approach in which you combine quality workouts like tempo runs, intervals and long runs with recovery workouts and/or cross-training.

You may find that your total mileage can be reduced quite substantially, yet your times may improve.

Hope this helps.
Cheers,
Dominique