What is a realistic target to cut off my 10k time? (Read 842 times)

There seems to be a bit of a feeling that I should make my log public. I have, although I've not actually been using it, so I've got a pretty long job of putting all my historic data in there if people are insistent.

Yeah - folks like to see your log - especially when you are asking about how to improve your race times/distances. If you have been logging on coolrunning (and some other locations), I think you can import your data to runningahead.com. hmmm - having said this, I'm not so sure about coolrunning anymore. You *used* to be able to download your log data from coolrunning and I did that in Dec or Jan when they migrated to active.com and wrecked their logging scheme. This may be harder now and may require help from active.com- assuming they will provide this help. BTW - welcome to RA. It's a nice place!

Hi. I was an occasional user of Cool Running which was fantastic for encouragement and advice (even though I mainly lurked) and hope I might be able to get something similar here. I ran my first race last week, a 10k, in a time of 54:58 (no real idea if that's good or not) and obviously want to improve on that time. I've tried searching, but haven't found anywhere that indicates what would be a realistic, but challenging, rate of improvement. I've been running properly for about 9 months, although I had tried taking it up a few times before then, and am tending to average around 20 miles per week over three or four runs. The next run I was thinking of entering was the Nike Human Race 10k at the end of August. Can anyone offer any advice on a good challenging target for me?

Hi, Of course it will be hard to come up with a precise challenging number. When I ran my first 10K after a nearly 30 year hiatus, I ran it in an hour. But it was very hot, and I was undertrained. The next time I ran, in a couple months, I ran it in 55 minutes. For awhile I was improving about 5 sec/ mile per month. But at some point, it gets harder and harder to improve. We don't know where you are in your development, so most of the posters are (justifiably) hard pressed to come up with a specific number. Good advice about slowing down in training. It really works. Good luck to you. huskydon

You are still a newer runner. A couple tips for you for short term progress. 1. Lose weight (if you need to do). You will get faster. 2. Don't be hammering speed work. It will halt your "long term progress". 3. Get your miles to 30 miles per week over over next 4 weeks and hold there. 4. Slowly Increase long run over next several weeks. Do not underestimate the value of the long run. If your focus is 5K and 10Ks, work up to a 10 mile long run over the upcoming several weeks. 5. Do some 5Ks occasionally over next several weeks. Not every week but maybe every 3-4 weeks to give you more experience racing and to better analyze your fitness. These races will help build fitness but teach you how to race also. This is so important. I see no reason you can't knock 1-3 minutes off your last 10K time. Very soon you will be breaking 50 min with continued smart and consistent training.

Looking at your log, I would say that you are running too fast for your easy pace. How can they be easy if they are the same pace you ran your 10k at? Consider doing your easy days at around 9:30-10 pace, and then you will have plenty to give on harder days.