First 10K race Sunday week - any tips?

flabulous4
flabulous4 Posts: 599 Member
edited November 2024 in Social Groups
Hi there, I'm running my first 10K race on Sunday week. I've run the course route before and it is a nice gently undulating run.
As it's my first time out, do any of you more experienced runners have any tips for me? I have upped my long run by degrees to 9 miles. I did a 10K round my local village which has bigger hills and did it a fairly respectable 56.36 minutes. Any advice on runs for the final week, when to ease off, anything that's helped you? Ideally I would like to beat 55 minutes on the day.
Many thanks all!
Flabulous4

Replies

  • Weathers58
    Weathers58 Posts: 246 Member
    Hi.

    Its does depend your base fitness a bit but, add some speedwork, either go to a track and run 2 laps jog one (recover) or run two lamposts jog one.

    Add some hills and run up them jog back.

    Taper off for the final week.

    There is loads of stuff on runners world etc for training programmes.

    Set your nutrition up on here and eat your excercise cals back in good basic foods.

    I do most of my carbs morning and protein later but thats just me.

    Tim

    PS Friend me if you want more advice or want to keep motivated.
  • flabulous4
    flabulous4 Posts: 599 Member
    Those are great tips! Unfortunately I've managed to pick up a virus so am now aiming to be fit to run on Sunday - but I have another 10K scheduled for 3 weeks away so will try out some speedwork after this race!
  • mikeyrp
    mikeyrp Posts: 1,616 Member
    My top race prep tips:

    Tapering (reducing your mileage the week before the race) is only necessary for focus races (ones where you want to do your best as opposed to ones which are part of training for something bigger)
    Tapering means reducing mileage: not reducing speed. A day or two before the race its good to go out for a short run and go as fast or faster than you intend to race.
    Never do anything new on race day. Use the same drinks, gels etc as you did in training. If you are a run-walker then dont try and increase your run interval. Etc...
    Be confident in setting your own pace at the race start. Its easy to be drawn into pack mentality and go off too fast. You will feel this later in the race.
    Warm up before the run. It takes me up to 4 miles to get fully warm- so on a 10k im only at speed the last 2 miles!!!! I try and run at least 2 miles (gently) before race start for anything under a half marathon. You will only need 15 mins or so to fully recover.
    Dodging around people consumes a lot of extra effort. Its worth letting the pack spread out before starting to go past people.

    Remember to enjoy yourself!!!
  • flabulous4
    flabulous4 Posts: 599 Member
    Cheers - it's tomorrow! EEEEEEEEEEEEK!
  • mikeyrp
    mikeyrp Posts: 1,616 Member
    How was it?
  • flabulous4
    flabulous4 Posts: 599 Member
    OK - official time 57:09 (no chips so it's just what the clock says when you cross the line). I was a bit stuffed up with a cold, I've had a virus, and I went off a tiny bit fast (had a stopwatch so managed to spot it and slow down) but 4-6 km was really hard - don't know why because it was mostly downhill. It was warmer than I thought it would be and my stomach didn't feel right. When I got to the water station at 5.5km I stopped and had a proper drink and some jelly babies I'd stuck in my pocket, and they gave me a boost - the rest of the race was much better. I finished smiling and overtook a few people on the hill at the end, so I guess that's not bad for a first time!
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