How to improve 10k running time: 8 tips to run faster – Red Bull

Though it may be at the shorter end of road-racing distances, running hard for 10km can be just as challenging as completing a half or full marathon.

To run a fast time, you need to be able to run at high intensity for a fair chunk of time (but not so fast you blow up halfway through), and so be able to tolerate a certain degree of pain and discomfort.

It’s both a mental and physical process that requires focused training, strategic racing and a certain mindset in order to get it right.

Ready to throw yourself in and chase down that elusive 10km PB? Here’s what you need to do.

1. Increase your weekly mileage by 10-20 percent

How much mileage you do each week in training for a fast 10km will differ from runner to runner, and will depend on what your average week looks like right now. But if you’re about to embark on a fresh training cycle, one thing is true for all: don’t up the mileage or frequency of your training by too much, too soon.

Aim for around a 10-20 percent increase in weekly mileage, spread evenly throughout your runs, and schedule a couple of ‘down weeks’ when you mileage is lower, to help your body to recover.

If you’re doing three or four runs per week, that’s enough to get some quality mileage in. These should include some form of speed work, a tempo run and a longer run to build endurance. If you’re comfortably doing more than four sessions a week, your schedule should also include some nice easy runs.

2. Spend more time training at threshold pace

Your lactate threshold is the point at which lactic acid is produced in the muscles faster than it’s able to be used for fuel, and therefore begins to build up, causing you to slow down. You would need a treadmill hooked up to some serious lab equipment and blood tests to determine your true lactate threshold. Instead you can estimate it.

For experienced runners it’s somewhere between 10km and half-marathon pace. Add 10-15 seconds per mile to your (current) 10km pace, or 20-30 seconds per mile to your 5km pace and you’ll be close enough.

Build up the amount of time you train at your threshold pace for during your training cycle. Over the course of three weeks, your progression might look something like this:

1) 3x 8mins @threshold with 3mins recovery jog

2) 2x 12mins @threshold with 4mins recovery jog

3) 2x 15mins @threshold with 4mins recovery jog

Include at least one mile of easy running before and after the sessions above.

3. Build your speed and running economy with intervals

Running short, fast intervals improves your top speed, but can also improve your running form and even your running economy (how fast you can run at a given amount of oxygen). By asking your body to run fast, you’re challenging it to find ways to do that. Some of the adaptations might also be biomechanical, including a faster stride rate and a longer stride.

There are mental benefits to be gained from interval training, too. Convincing yourself to run another rep when you want to give up, or to hold your pace for one more lap of the track is going to build grit, which you can draw on come race day.

Make sure you’re properly warmed up before any interval training. You should include at least one mile of easy running before and after the sessions below, as well as some dynamic stretches and drills to work on your running form.

Here’s some example sessions you can try:

1) 6x 800m @5km pace with 400m easy recovery

2) 8x 200m @mile pace with 200m jog recovery

3) 5x 2mins @5km pace + 4x 4mins @5-10km pace, with 90secs recovery between reps, 3mins recovery between sets

4. Practise your goal race pace

Training yourself to run at a set pace for 10km is both a mental and physical process. Your body needs to be fit enough to run the time you’re aiming for, and your mind needs to believe you can hold on when it gets tough. But you also need to be able to judge your speed and know you’re on pace without having to look at your watch every few seconds.

Practicing your goal pace in training will help with all of these elements. You should begin with just five minutes at a time at goal pace. A simple interval workout might be 5x 5mins at goal pace, with a short recovery inbetween. From there you can build up the distance you’re working at goal pace for to 4x 1 mile. Try not to rely on your watch too heavily so that you can learn to get a sense of what your goal pace feels like.

5. Do a long run each week to build stamina

The biggest run of your week is there to build your endurance. For a 10k, a long run of 11 miles is a good amount. Your body adapts to endurance training in a combination of ways, including increased capillary density in your muscles, greater glycogen storage and an increase in the number and size of the mitochondria in your muscles. But to fully reap the rewards of your long runs, you need to run them at the right pace. The error a lot of runners make is to run their long runs too fast. You want to be aiming for a pace around 20-30 percent slower than your 10km pace.

6. Pick your race wisely

Pick your race wisely. A big city 10km will have the benefit of more runners around your speed (and potentially even official pacers), which you can use to pace yourself and pull you along. But, depending on what time you’re aiming to run, you could find the course too congested to run the pace you want.

Smaller, local races can offer you more room to run your own pace, but if you’re at the faster end of the race, you may find yourself without anyone to work with. When picking a race, look at the results from previous years to see how many finishers there were around your goal time. Look for races that are part of a series, as this will give you several opportunities to run the same course over a season, allowing you to monitor your progress.

7. Position yourself well on the course

Looking at the results from previous years will also help you to judge whereabouts in the field you should start, especially if there aren’t any starting pens at your race. It’s hard to get into a good rhythm when you’re having to fight your way through runners going at a slower pace. Position yourself correctly at the start and you’ll be able to set your pace straight from the gun.

Don’t make the mistake of positioning yourself too far forward, though. Start with runners faster than you and you’re likely to go off too fast as you get swept along with them. This will make it harder to stay on pace in the second half.

And learn the course so you know what side of the road you need to be for any bends, where any uphill or downhill sections are and, importantly, where exactly the finish is so that you can time your sprint just right.

8. Mentally prepare for discomfort

There’s no getting around it: running a 10km PB is going to take you from uncomfortable to painful during the course of a race. Being able to cope with this can be helped by simply accepting that it’s going to be hard and that the last third of the race is going to hurt!

This is exactly where you’ll gain the benefit of practising your goal pace in training and working hard in your interval sessions. You can take confidence from knowing that you’ve run this pace in training – and felt this bad – before, but it doesn’t last forever.

Reframe the tougher sections of the race. When they start to get painful, acknowledge that you were expecting this to happen and that it simply means that you’re working hard. Have a phrase ready to say to yourself. I like to remind myself, ‘This is where you want to be.’ Or I tell myself that, if I run my goal time today, I never have to do it again!