10,000m – 5 Race Indication Workouts
Training for the 10,000m and want to know what your race pace should be? Below you’ll find 5 10,000m race indicator workouts to give you an idea as to what shape you’re in.
Keep in mind that these workouts are just an estimate as to what shape you’re in. Don’t take them too seriously and remember that a real 10,000m race is the true indication of your 10,000m shape! These are just challenges you can complete in training for a bit of fun.
5 x 2km (on the track) with 2 minutes rest. The pace you can average is the pace you should be able to run in a 10km race.
After a short warm up, lace up the racing flats you would race a 10km in and hit this 5 x 2km workout right at the pace you want to run your 10km in.
Let’s say you’re able to average 7:00 for each 2km rep with 2 minutes recovery. This is 3:30/km and means your 10km race pace is right around this speed and you’re ready to run right around 35:00 for 10km. Let’s say you’re able to average 6:10 for each 3km rep with 2 minutes recovery. This is 3:05/km and means your 10km race pace is right around this speed and you should be able to just break 31 minutes for 10km in good conditions.
10 x 1000m (on the track) with 60 seconds rest. The pace you can average is the pace you should be able to run in a 10km race.
Broken down quite simply here, much like the first interval session, this is 10km broken down into 10 reps with a short rest. On race day, you’re going to have the nerves, the competition (hopefully), the crowd (again, hopefully) and be more fresh and these things add up to a better performance for most people. You should be able to complete the same run without the short 60 second breaks in a race. Let’s say you’re able to complete the 1km reps in an average of 4 minutes. You should be able to run 40 minutes for 10km. Let’s say you’re able to complete the 1km reps in an average of 2:55 with the 60 second recovery. You should be able to run close to 29:00 minutes for 10km (this prediction gives 29:10 to be precise, but remember, these are just estimated challenges).
5km Time Trial (Park run is ideal) and multiply your time by 2.1.
A very simple formula, but surprisingly accurate. As both the 5km and the 10km rely on very similar energy systems, this is a decent predictor of a 10km time.
14:00 minute 5km performance indicates a 29:25 10km time.
15:00 minute 5km performance indicates a 31:30 10km time.
16:00 minute 5km performance indicates a 33:35 10km time.
17:00 minute 5km performance indicates a 35:40 10km time.
A 5km time trial on your own may be slightly slower than completing the 5km time in a race (or park run) for many people. It’s purely a psychological thing.. It’s more difficult to push yourself when completely on your own, so try to simulate a racing environment as best you can.
12 x 800m with 400m jog recovery. The pace you can sustain for the 800m reps is right on your 10km race pace. Make sure the 400m jogging recovery isn’t too slow though.
A slightly different kind of interval workout, with a longer but moving recovery (perhaps those wanting to get a bit more mileage in might prefer this session). Make sure the 400m jog is at about the same speed you would do your warm up/cool down, not much slower.
Let’s say you can average 2:40 for the 800m reps with the jogging recovery (for someone at this level, your 400m jog should be in around 2:00), this is 1:20 per 400m which is 3:20/km. This equates to a 33:20 10km time. Let’s say you can average 2:20 for the 800m reps with the jogging recovery (for someone at this level, your 400m jog should be in around 1:45), this is 1:10 for 400m which is 2:55/km. This equates to a 29:10 10km time.
2 x 3km, 2 x 2km, 2 x 1km with 1 minute between reps and 2 minutes between sets. Ideally 3km reps are at just slower than 10km goal race pace, 2km reps at 10km goal race, 1km reps at just faster than 10km race pace.
Perhaps a more interesting session to complete for those not wanting to stare 5 x 2km, 10 x 1km or 12 x 800m reps at the same grinding pace in the face. However it is slightly longer: 12km in total.
To be clear on the recovery times, the interval session goes: 3km, 1 minute recovery, 3km, 2 minutes recovery, 2km, 1 minute recovery, 2km, 2 minutes recovery, 1km, 1 minute recovery, 1km. Finished!
As stated in the header, try to do the 3km reps in just slower than your goal 10km race pace, perhaps 5-10sec/km slower. Then hit the 2km reps at your goal 10km race pace and the 1km reps at 5-10sec/km faster than your 10km goal race pace. At the end of all of this, you may need a calculator to work out your average pace across all reps to work out your 10km prediction.
Let’s say that you feel that you can run 35:00 for 10km and you want to test your fitness. Your predicted 10km pace is 3:30/km. In this interval session, you would want to try to run the 3km reps in around 10:45-11:00, just slower than your 10km pace. The 2km reps should be in 7:00, right on your goal 10km pace and your 1km reps should be in 3:20-3:25, just quicker than your goal 10km pace. Whatever your total average pace here is, is your 10km predicted race pace.
Let’s say that you feel that you can run 31:00 for 10km. This is right around 3:05/km (this speed actually equates to 30:50, but for ease of use we’ll use this pace). Your 3km reps should be in around 9:30-9:40, your 2km reps in 6:10 and your 1km reps in 2:55-3:00.
Remember: Improvements in fitness from workouts such as these take 9-14 days to kick in post workout, therefore these indication workouts are best done a week and a half to two and half weeks out from race day.
A good quote from Billy Beer from a forum on letsrun.com on this topic:
“Workouts you do near 10km race pace one week out won’t really improve any aspect of aerobic fitness for the race. Those improvements take about 9-14 days to kick in post-workout, so a super hard, fitness-improving hard workout, like a bunch of 1,000s or half that many 2,000s, ought to be scheduled about a week and a half to two weeks out. Some people need a fairly hard effort only a few days before a goal race, but there aren’t improvements from that so much as the effort maintains carbohydrate metabolism, plasticity in the vascular system, neural control, etc. Those people may feel flat or bloated or uncoordinated if they don’t do something reasonably hard close to the race to get the heart, lungs and legs working just long enough to feel like they’re still in sync a few days later. Other people run their best with their last “hard” day over a week out, with just a few strides for coordination in the last week. Some can – and need to – keep their regular mileage near peak all the way up to race day. Some have a gradual mileage reduction plan during the last few weeks. Still others run best with several days completely off before the race. You have to experiment with that stuff, along with water and food intake in the last few days, to get it right. Even then, tapering isn’t 100% predictable.”
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