Average a sub 50min 10km
by isabel
Running Journey Overview
Follow this step-by-step running journey to see real progress updates, challenges overcome, and practical experience.
Progress Updates (13 total)
Update #1: Average a sub 50min 10km
I want to focus on picking up my pace in my short to medium runs, resulting in a sub 50min 10km. I’m hoping to complete this before December but I also know that’s quite a tall order
Challenges Overcome: My last 10km race I finished in 1hr2min, so will have to put in a good amount of effort to reach this goal.
Update #2: First consistent week back into running
5% completeI took a couple months off of my training, and getting back into it has reminded me how much I love it. This week was full of hills sprints, strides, easy runs and a long run.
Im not sure how close I am to my goal just yet, I wouldn’t say 5%, but I also wouldn’t say 0% - using this week as a baseline.
Challenges Overcome: Best advice I've received for running (and one that I’ve been following closely this week) is to finish each run with just enough energy left to feel like you could keep going (ie don’t overdo it), so you wake up the next morning excited for your next run.
Update #3: Weekend runs
5% completeThis weekend I had one of my most successful runs, as well as one of my most unsuccessful runs. Neither of which were a 10km.
Challenges Overcome: Today (Sunday) I took part in a 5km race with a friend of mine. I went into this race with a very laissez faire attitude - I didn't plan how I was going to run it like I usually do, I didn't have any expectations on when I was going to finish, I was just ready to get a race in and have fun doing it. I ended up placing second in my age group, and setting a new personal best in my 5km (28min15sec). I also ended up winning a few of the raffle prizes - I don't know what was up with my luck.
Obstacles Faced: Friday morning I intended to benchmark my 10km, but it was probably my most unsuccessful run for quite a few reasons (including not completing the 10km):
1. My music and watch weren't working properly
2. I went too hard at the beginning and lost momentum about 4km in
3. I went down the wrong road and didn't realise until I was about 2km past the road I was supposed to take
4. I broke my sunglasses while trying to figure out where I was
Once I broke my sunglasses (about 5.5km in) I decided to walk back to my car. I found this really frustrating because I mapped everything out, wrote down all of the roads and directions I was supposed to take and still messed it up.
Looking Back: I feel like my Friday and Sunday runs were starkly different to each other - Friday was heavily planned (because I'm a sucker for a good itinerary, but also because I didn't know the area that well) and Sunday I had absolutely no expectations and just wanted to have fun with my friend. I've also noticed while writing out my learnings in my Opus goals that I'm writing the same thing almost every time. I think in general, I need to start lowering my expectations of myself and my plans, and enjoy the process more.
Update #4: Benchmarked my 10km
10% completeAfter a month of training I decided to test my 10km. Happy to say I met my first milestone in doing so!
Challenges Overcome: Ran a sub 60min 10km
Obstacles Faced: Left my regular running shoes at my aunt's house so had to run in my sister's shoes
Update #5: Met sub 58min 10km
20% completeI have been focussing a bit more on strength exercises throughout the last couple of weeks, which has definitely helped improve my speed. Ran a sub 58 today so pretty excited with my progress!
Challenges Overcome: Running below 58 minutes was a pretty happy moment of mine. Good habits this past month has been listening to my body, and adding strength training to my regimen.
Obstacles Faced: Had Covid last month so had to slowly get back into it.
Looking Back: I’m going to plan my runs but down roads and areas I haven’t been before. I noticed I have faster km’s when I’m distracted and looking at the scenery rather than my smart watch.
Update #6: Changing focus
30% completeI’ve realised I’ve been focusing too much on speed and not enough on distance. Going to adjust my training schedule.
Challenges Overcome: Three of my fastest 5km times have been made within this last month!
Obstacles Faced: The last couple of 10kms I’ve done, something has gone wrong. The latest one I had to stop at the 6.3km mark. Made me realise how much attention I was giving to speed, and not enough attention to distance.
Looking Back: Most of my weekly trainings have been focusing on hill sprints/strides/intervals and then my Sunday is a 10km. I think I need to replace one of my weekday runs for a 10km at an easy pace to give more attention to distance.
Update #7: It’s a learning process
30% completeI took some time off and then ended up getting injured, so my two weeks became a full month off and I very much so back-pedalled with my progress.
Challenges Overcome: Getting back into it. I started back up about a week or two ago. Definitely feels harder than before, but running with friends and getting that energy out has been a great reminder of how much I love it!
Obstacles Faced: Getting back into it (it being running, but also it being the pace and length I was at before taking the break)
Looking Back: I decided to take some time off because I was juggling a lot and that time off got extended because of an injury. What was meant to be about 1-2 weeks off, ended up being a month and I feel I’ve fallen back to square 1 because of this. I’m especially disappointed because in the month leading up to my break, I was making great progress and putting in solid effort.
Update #8: Distance training
50% completeLast month or so I’ve been working on increasing my kms per week. Feeling pretty good, not focusing too much on speed until I’m used to the longer distances.
Challenges Overcome: Got my PB in 5km a couple weeks ago at a Parkrun (28min13sec).
In my smaller runs my average km per min has gone down between 5.20-5.35mpk, so getting closer to my 5min goal!
I’m definitely getting used to my longer runs, I’ve been very hard on keeping my heart rate under 160 on the easy runs which helps me go longer.
Update #9: New workouts
50% completeAdded in HIIT classes to support strength training
Challenges Overcome: Starting HIIT. Keeping to my schedule. Starting to really appreciate and look forward to my long runs on Sundays.
Obstacles Faced: Changing my daily routine (HIIT classes are at 5.30am). Watching what I eat and sticking to that diet. Trying not to overload myself with my training schedule (4 runs, 3 HIIT classes per week) and juggling that with work/study.
Update #10: Sub 25min 5km
60% completeI've really upped my running since my last update - have consistenly gotten at least 30s faster each month on my 5km runs, usually run at least 4-5 times a week (consisting of easy pace, long runs, speed work and benchmarking) as well as 3 HIIT sessions. Haven't run exactly 10km in a while (long runs are usually 15-17km at an easy pace) but will plan to put one in shortly :) I got a new running watch as well, which has been extremely helpful in my progress. Ran a sub 25min 5km last week :) lets see how I go in tomorrow's parkrun!
Update #11: Sub 54!!!
70% completeRan a sub 54min 10km today (53m40s to be exact)! Definitely feel I can get to sub 50 in the next couple months as I started the first 15 mins of this run relatively easy
Update #12: Sub 52 :)
85% completeWent very quickly in the first half of my half marathon and accidentally got a PB in my 10km hahah 😅 still happy with the results all around
Update #13: Getting back into running
85% completeHad a bit of a break from running (about a month) due to an injury. Getting back into a rhythm now.
Challenges Overcome: Had an issue with my IT band, ended up going to the physio to make a plan. He’s now helping me get to a place where I feel comfortable running the half marathon I have coming up.
Obstacles Faced: Not being able to run the pace I was pre injury. Every run I start off thinking I can go back to it, and every time I get a reminder about 1km in to take it easy 🥲