Life is Good

I have never run a 10k either! I am doing one on feb 15th so I can't wait to here the pointers you get from the experienced folks! Nice time on your practice run. You are going to do great!

My advice is start out in a dead sprint, see how long you can maintain it, then try to run even faster.

I have only run one and I had Scott by my side telling me to go faster and keep up the pace. Plus, I was trying to catch Jon the entire way. A 10k is a hard race!! What other distances have you done? I would go to http://www.mcmillanrunning.com/mcmillanrunningcalculator.htm and enter one of your races and see what pace it gives you for a 10k. Then try to stick with that!

I plugged in a 27 minute 5k (kind of the avg of your three 5k's) and it says your 10k should be at a 9:01 pace. BUT, you know better what 5k pace you are capable, so go check that site out!

GOOD LUCK!

Great that you're trying a 10km race! My advice to you would be to treat it as a 5km tempo run and a 5 km race. Don't let your heart rate get up too high in the 5km- try to keep your time at around 28-29 minutes. Then increase your pace for the next 5 km and try to hold it or push harder as you get to the 7-8km mark if your feeling ok. Totally empty the gas tank on the last km to the finish.

The great thing about it being the first time at this distance is it will be a guarenteed PB! Good luck and thanks for the greeting on my blog page!

Camille, out of my short experience, this is what I can suggest: if your normal training pace is 9:00 min/mile then in the race start at 8:40 min/mile and hold for 9kms, then put up the pace as much as you can for the rest. Be careful not to start too fast, then you run out of gas...

April - oh, I'll keep an eye on your February race! Good luck in advance.

Kelli - thank you for the website. That's awesome.

Burt - I'm not much of a sprinter, but I'll keep that in mind.

Darren - I love that advice... (I think you won the award for advice I'm going to follow). (Sorry Burt)... Thank you!

I can't wait for Saturday.

Eric - That's great advice too. Thank you! :o) Starting too fast is a fear of mine because I do hit a wall if I'm not careful. I don't want to do that.

I hear they will have food near the finish line, so I'm thinking the smell of yummy food might bring me in. :o)

Ah, man!!!! I tried!!!!

Actually, though, that is a great site for training and such, so keep it bookmarked. Walter told me about it and i used it for marathon training! It is not a science,though, as it says I should be able to do a 5k in 22 minutes----IN MY DREAMS!!!!!

Great advice Darren and Eric. I concur.

Kelli - you know that your are a rock star! I didn't mean to put down your advice... infact, I thought I hadn't... just Burt (LOL)... but since I know him personally, and will be hosting breakfast at my house next weekend, I thought it was okay. He is going to kick my tail at the race on Saturday anyhow. :o)

And you *know* you could run a 22 min 5K. :o)

Kelli, 5k in 22 minutes, sure you can. You can run 10k in 47min, so why not?

And run a 1/2 or full marathon, man I wish!

Camille---I was TOTALLY kidding!!! I forget people cannot hear my sarcasm over the internet!! I know nothing about running, really, so I did not even give advice, just a time to shot for!! Sorry I scared you there Camille!

AND, for the record, I am just more of an endurance runner. I run a really slow first half in both half and full marathons, then my speed kicks in to give e great negative splits. So, 5k's and 10k's are like that slow first half for me. I did run a 47 minute 10k, but my husband paced me and he is a NAZI when it comes to speed!!! It was so not fun and I wanted to puke the entire time and keel over and die when it was over. So, a 22 minute 5k is only in my future when I am an old woman in a wheelchair going down a hill!

I am eagerly awaiting your race report!