How to kill you 10k PB article and application

Triathlon Forum
1

I was reading the “How to kill your 10k PB” by Dan Empfield and was thinking ‘yea this sounds like good stuff’. I have a big 10K (ish) race coming up in Jan before the tri season starts and so am sort of training for 2 miniseasons, a run one and a tri one.

so i was thinking about implementing dan’s plan. therefore my questions are:

  1. has anyone tried to put it in practice, and hows it going?

  2. how would you stucture a week of sessions would u periodise this with long slower runs at first with tempo’s and no speed then build in the speed, or chuck it all together 4+ days a week?

just wondering basically how u would go about structuring this sort of plan

cheers

ginger

2

somone answer me or i’ll cry…seriously i will…and i’ll send in a picture…

3

I haven’t tried Dan’s plan per se, but it is always a good ides to build into any new workout schedule. However, if you are already running 2-3x per week, adding a track session should not be too bad.

I set my 10k pb back when I was running 5-6x per week (I was a duathlete then - no swimming).

mp

p.s. proper warm-up is a must before a track workout.

4

Oh no, mate, you just ruined it. She was going to post her pic.

5

when would u work in these fast sessions i.e. how many weeks before a race? from about 8 weeks? i.e. the build phase and maybe base 3?

cheers

ginger

6

HE…thankya…sorry to disappoint.u saying i sound like a girl? :wink:

7

I’ll tell you, but the men of Slowtwitch would never forgive me if I didn’t get you to post a photo first …

:slight_smile:

mp

8

I want 'ol Dan to tell me how I can run a fast 10-k on 20 miles per week.

Now THAT would be a great article…

<<<<

9

Oh no, mate, you just ruined it. HE was going to post HIS pic.

I understood it to mean HE would post a picture of HIMself crying …

10

I ran a marathon about a month ago, and started his plan a week after that, so about three weeks using some of his plans. I had my base pretty well set, so i just jumped right in with his speed stuff. i only had the opportunity to go through the five speed workouts once, but i really felt they helped out. I definitely felt some soreness after opening up the stride like that, but for my final tempo run, i could feel the improvement. i think overall it is a good plan, and doing some LSD runs (7-9 miles, at well over race pace) and some recovery runs after the speed days really helped out. Of course, this could all be moot if my performance on Sat smells, but so far I feel pretty fit and fast.

As for the organization of my week, I organized it to get the five runs in in two weeks, as he mentioned in the article. the time between the runs limited this, and i would have liked to build up to the speed sessions-a little more tempo and some longer interval runs before getting to the 8x4’s, but all in all I think his plan worked out well. And yes, stretching cooling down well is huge for those speed sessions, or the next day could be a tougher one.

11

Sorry to offend you, must be that “ginger” signature. Where I live at least, “ginger” is a girl’s name.

12

“I want 'ol Dan to tell me how I can run a fast 10-k on 20 miles per week.”

here’s how you do it. run 5 times per week.

two of those times run a 3 mile tempo run, with a half-mile of warmup and warm down. there’s 8 of your 20 miles.

once per week run two miles warmup, then run (on a track) a one-mile time trial. in other words, 4 times around as fast as you can. then warm down one mile. tactically, what you do is figure out what high school is on your way home from work, unless it’s too dark out. if so, you might need to do this on a weekend day.

so far we’re up to 12 miles.

now, for the remaining 8 miles, run one easy 5 mile run, and one easy 3 mile run. run these when you feel you need them, that is, if you go out to run one of your tempo runs, and you just don’t feel good, turn that into your easy run and push your tempo run off a day or two.

if you get toward the end of the week and you’ve skipped a day, then take your two remaining runs, and your one remaining day, and turn this into a distance run by adding the mileage up. or, feel free to run a double (run your 3 mile easy run and one of your tempo runs in the morning and evening of the same day).

one more thing. on everything fast—tempo runs and timed miles—make sure you negative split. a good way to make sure you do this is to make your tempo run and out and back. establish a record for this run, but the record can only be “official” if you negative split (run faster back then out). on your timed mile, every lap ought to be the same or faster than the one before.

do this for 10 weeks. don’t start your times miles until 5 weeks into this. that 4 miles will just be another easy run for the first 5 weeks. after theses 10 weeks, you’ll set your 10k PR. if you make it to the race healthy (this is a stressful program. but, you asked for it, didn’t you?).

14

“maybe you also want to run 25mi instead of just 20 and make sure you can have more than 1/2 mile of running before going for 3mi tempo…”

i agree. i’m quite a bit more comfortable with the idea of running fast of 25mi/wk, and just for the reason you mentioned. the quality i list out is fine. it’s a good amount. but there needs to be just a few more miles of warm-up and -down. you can run fast off 25 miles per week, just like you can ride fast off 100 miles per week. but you’d better be ready to hurt just about every time out.

16

Thanks Dan. I’ll start over with “after 50” PRs in January, that’s the only way I’ll ever get a PR for 5 or 10 k.

I never have been able to run more than 24-25 miles per week even when I was in my 20’s. Normally I run 3 days per week (never two days in a row). I’ll try your plan and hope for the best, thanks again.

17

“actually the schedule you outlined would be fine for younger athletes, say early 20s”

agreed. the schedule i gave is fraught with peril for the older set. the older you are, the less elastic your connective tissue, the less able you are to recover and repair, the more miles you need to do, with less frequent fast sessions.