The Completely Wrong Way to Train for a 10k

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So, Sunday is the Adnams 10k. The race I entered because you get free beer at the end, and I like beer.

I have my race number, I have my timing chip (this time it’s a weird paper thing, not a plastic tag, exciting!) I have checked the weather (cold but sunny, good running weather) and planned my outfit (still don’t have the guts to do a 10k in red lipstick, will probably over do the eyeliner to compensate). So, does that mean I’m prepared?

I didn’t make the Mariotts Way 10k in under an hour, but I had been harbouring secret thoughts that I might make it this time. However I appear to have spent the last month being an absolutely shining example of how NOT to train for a 10k.

My Asics training plan went out of the window pretty early on, as darker nights, constant rain and a lot of travelling to new places made it hard to find places to run, let alone do things like interval training.

To top it all off I’m fairly sure the week before Mo Farah won his 10k Olympic Gold didn’t look like this:

Monday: Wedding Anniversary. Run 2.5 miles round country lanes at 9:15 minutes miles (good pace, for me!). Stop and look at a lovely country church. Run another 1.5 miles to pub. “Rehydrate” with a pint of beer.

Tuesday: Slightly Hungover from Anniversary dinner. Order pizza and drink beer.

Wednesday: Work at a conference in the evening and too busy catching up from holiday to fit in a lunch time run. Forget to get anything proper for dinner and eat half a left over Naan bread with cheese melted on it.

Thursday: Parents visiting, no time to fit in a run before they arrive. Get taken out for a ridiculously huge but very tasty dinner washed down with beer and whisky.

Friday: Today! Hungover from beer and whisky. Rehydrate with smoothies and plan to go out for a 3 mile run just to make sure you haven’t forgotten how.

My target pace for under an hour means running a mile in 9 minutes and 40 seconds. I’ve managed a couple of 5k training runs with a pace of 9:15, but have had to crawl to a feeble, sobbing, stop. Gasping for breath with shaking hands. So I don’t think I’ll be keeping that up for a full 10k, but maybe I *can* manage it if I go just a little slower?

I plan to be a paragon of health tomorrow and just relax about Sunday. It’s cold out, and what matters is that I run it (and get free beer) rather than spending the day in front of the TV.