Run 10K in 50 minutes

I ran 10K yesterday in 54min and 10sek. Which is a huge improvement because my best times over the last few years have been around 60min. Therefore I wasn’t disappointed even though I had been aiming for the 50 minutes.

Six years ago I ran 10K in 49min and 58sek and I really want to improve that personal best. I will give this another go on 23 July (one month from now) and then I will hopefully have improved my time by roughly 4 more minutes :)

On 23 June 2003 (when I was 19 years old) I ran 10K in 49min and 58sek. Now 6 years later I really want to improve this personal best – I’m going to run on the same date, 23 June, so I have aprox. 7 weeks to go. This is a way better time than my current pace so I guess I’ll have to work my ass of!

However, I think it’s well doable.

Targetting Bolder Boulder 2009 for this one.

I am renewing this goal this year.. I actually don’t think that extensive running and the related training is good for my longterm joint helath, so I will attempt to train for endurance via non-impact methods and then shift to running about 4 weeks prior to the event.

I think rather than total mileage, I will focus on interval training with perhaps a total of 2 or 3 actual 10k distance training events.

Definitely worth doing. A good feeling of accomplishment.

Did auckland quarter marathon (10.5km) in 46:14.

What I meant to say is every OTHER day until I run it in under 50 minutes, obviously if I can’t run it in under 50 minutes then running every single day is going to lead to instant burnout and never reaching it. So same challenge, just if I don’t do it by the date, I’ll run a 10K every OTHER day without fail until I do.
-John Phillips

I’ll try again when I’ve lost some weight

I didn’t start running till I was nearly 40.

It took 12 hard months to achieve this, I started with treadmills and got further and faster. Once I could run a 5min km on the machine for 5km then I moved outside more. Slowly increasing to 6 then 8 then 10 km but at the same 5 min pace. My main goal was actully to do a classic run in Adelaide called the City to Bay which is 12 km in under an hour but this 10km goal was an important one which really helped.
Other things that helped
ShoesGet proper running shoes and don’t worry about the expense, it’s a lot cheaper than getting your knees rebuilt. Get them fitted by someone who runs long distance and works at a decent sports store.
Stretching Get a runner or physio. to show you how to do stretches before and after running. I got this bit wrong and was off running for 2 months with ITS. Now I’m fine.
Competitions Go in them early and even if you get whipped by fit young people remember you are basically competing with yourself. All you need to do to ‘win’ is to improve your PB or give it your best shot. If you find running is the greatest thing since sliced bread then you can get competitive and serious.
Heart Rate Monitor These are fantastic and worth getting. They enable you to run at a given constant level of effort and record the time and effort to cover a given distance. Keep a logbook of all runs of 5km or more to see how you are improving.
Run with others Not always possible but in my case my PB for my 8km went from 42 minutes down to 38 by running with other more experienced runners.
Age I found it takes my body longer to recover from 8 and 10km runs than younger people. As such I only do longer runs every second day at most.

I need to give up smoking (again), I know I can shave 2.13 off pretty easily.

2004 Peachtree Road Race in ATL (1:08). Now that’s not so hot, but my training was a bit spotty. A bit concerned about recent threatening sounds emanating from my knees. In other news… getting older. Time to get it done.