Do I need to train for a 10k?

no that should work fine, I do a run/walk alternate and I never felt tired and got my last 10k in 56:35.

Good Luck

I recommend following a plan and it's easy to find a free one. They wouldn't be much different than what you want to do...run 3 times a week at various distances. I have no doubt you'll be in good shape for the 10K.

What do you want to accomplish? If you just wat to finish then you don't need to do anything more. If you want to run your best then you need to do a lot more.

sngnyrslp wrote: »

scottb81 wrote: »

What do you want to accomplish? If you just wat to finish then you don't need to do anything more. If you want to run your best then you need to do a lot more.

I hadn't really thought of that actually. I guess my first goal would be to finish but I'd also love to finish in an hour or close to it. Right now I run about a 10 minute mile so I imagine I'd want to work on speed a bit while "training"

It's not speed that's your limitation. Here's how you can prove that to yourself. Go out and run 100m as fast as you can. . . .

I'll bet you ran it a whole lot faster that a 10 min mile. Maybe you ran it in 20 seconds. If so you were running about a 5 min mile. If that is the case, or if you ran it faster than 37 seconds then you can run faster than a 10 min mile.

What you lack is the ability to keep running at a faster pace over a longer distance. That is aerobic capacity. In simple terms you lack the ability to deliver enough oxygen to your muscles and lack the ability for the muscles to use oxygen to create the energy demanded to hold a faster pace for a long time.

That is easily fixed. It just takes time. Run a lot, mostly easy. Run most of the time at a conversational pace (or with your heartrate around 75% max or below). Running harder than that isn't necessary and just makes you tired in training. It also will eventually halt your improvement as you will over time not be able to recover and benefit from too many hard runs.

Once every week or two add a long run. How long? Longer than you are doing now. Ideally, you should work up to 90 minutes minimum. 2 hours is better.

Once every week or two do a "Lactate Threshold" run. That is 10 to 20 min easy, followed by 20 min hard (heartrate between 80 to 90%), followed by 10 to 20 min easy. This will help your body develop the capacity to hold a hard pace.

The rest of the time run Easy. As much as you are able and willing to do.

Training like this will allow you to keep improving for many years.

I am doing my first 10k race in about a month and just did my first ever 10k run two days ago. I usually do 3 or 5 mile runs. I never thought I couldn't do 10k, its just the trail I run at is 5mi. exactly so I usually stop there. This time I ran a little further and finished the 10k at a better pace than my normal 5 mile pace (about 9:50/mi). I think building up with the 3-5 mile runs really helped me, and would be fine for you, but it was definitely a great feeling to know I can actually do that last mile. I would recommend what others have and do at least a couple 6+ mile runs so that the day of the race isn't your first time running that far. Now that I know I can run a 10k in under a 10 minute mile, I'm going to aim for an even better pace the day of the race!

This is great advise!