How to Beat Your Personal Best Running a 10K

4 Tough speed sessions to get you running a 10k super fast and race ready. Do a couple of high intensity sessions and kick your previous PB into orbit.

The workouts

Here’s the scientific reason why these short, fast repeats with limited recovery will make you faster running a 10k.

When you run hard, faster than 10k race pace, hydrogen ions accumulate in your muscle cells. This causes an increase in intracellular acidity. Since muscles don’t function well in an acid state, muscle contraction becomes impaired and fatigue quickly follows.

Our bodies have a natural ability to buffer these hydrogen ions to a degree, but buffering capacity can also be improved with high intensity training.

These really tough sessions with little recovery can help boost your muscle-buffer capacity, and the better you buffer hydrogen ions, the faster and longer you can sprint without tiring

To start with, try one of these each week. After a few weeks of training you can do one of the interval workouts plus the tempo run each week. But take care not to do it on consecutive days.

Session #1

8 to 10 x 400 meters at kilometer race pace with 90 seconds recovery.

Session #2

5 x 200 meters at kilometer race pace with 30 seconds recovery, 3 minute jog, 4 x 200 meters at 2 seconds faster than the earlier 200’s with 30 seconds recovery.

Run the last 200 all out.

Session #3

20 x 400 meters at 10k race pace with 30 seconds recovery. Run the last 400 all out.

Session #4

25 minute tempo run at slightly faster than you normal tempo run pace, which is normally about 20 seconds slower than 10k race pace. You need to think about this run as hard/comfortable as opposed to comfortable/hard.