Why Not Run a 10km Race With The @runningproject

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When I first start running, close to 20 years ago, the only races I ran were 4km and 5km races, so stepping up to a 10km race was a big jump for me. For a lot of people taking on a 10km race is a big challenge as you'll be burning close to 800 calories during the race and it is a perfect foundation to move onto longer distances. If you've already conquered the 10km distance or even further, there are still a lot of good reasons to keep it racing the distance through the year.

Still not convinced, here are 5 reasons why you should consider running a 10km race:

1. It is a great combination of both speed and endurance
2. Even if you race them regularly, they are a lot easier to recover from than a half marathon or marathon
3. You can race with tactics. The race is long enough for people to run past you in the early stages of a race to then allow you to run past them in the later stages.
4. They are a good challenge, with an improvement in the 10km distance will usually flow through to your longer and shorter distances.
5. They are generally cheaper to enter than longer races.

What To Think About When Training For a 10km

If you are used to running longer distances at a slower pace or shorter distances at a faster pace, there are a few things you might want to keep in mind when you start training for a 10km race:

Your Training Will Need To Balance Speed And Endurance

Going into my first 10km, my speed was good but I lacked the endurance to get through the race. My long runs for the week were about 8kms, so I wasn't well prepared for the endurance aspect of the distance and should of had some longer distance at a slower pace mixed in with my training. Alternatively, if you can do the distance easily but feel you would like some extra speed, you may need to focus on speed work during your build up.

Build Leg Strength

One thing that may set up apart from the people around you is your leg strength in the final stages of the race. You could do this by dedicated strength or hill repeats. When running hill repeats, make sure you are running down hill as well as up hill. If you don't have much opportunity to run in hills, you could use a treadmill set to an incline of 1% or 2% could be an alternative solution.

Try To Extend Your Speed Work

Just like a previous point adding speed work into your training will help you improve and build leg strength. High intensity sessions of 200m repeats are a good place to start, repeating these sets 4 to 6 times, once a week. You could also look to introduce tempo runs into your training where the pace is slower, but you should be aiming for your race pace, running 3 to 5 repeats of 10 minutes.

Remember to Pace

As we said earlier a 10km race is long enough to allow you to bring race tactics into your racing. There is a chance where you might cross paths with different runners a number of times during the race. Make sure to stay calm when the race starts. Its easy to go out too hard but you need to remember to stick to the goal pace you have been training for.

Now over two years ago, a pic of me running Ironman New Zealand

About the Author
Hey I'm Vince, an Aussie living in New Zealand, trying my best to make the most of the time I have. I work as a Software Engineer but love to run and all aspects of it, including geeking out on the latest science to help get the most out of my body.

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