I’ve been training quite well lately, aiming to achieve a PB in the 10K—hoping for a sub-37 min—but I crashed at km 7.
My training in the last few months has been something like this:
1 session of 6×1000m at 3:40 or even faster, with 2 min recovery
1 session of 20 min at 3:55 (my LT, Z4-Z5)
1 long run of around 16 km in Z2 (4:50 or slower)
2-3 easy runs in Z2 + 4×100m strides (some weeks, I even added some indoor bike sessions with intervals)
I think I gradually increased my volume and did a proper taper leading up to the race.
Race Day Experience:
I started well, without pushing too hard, and I felt good. But suddenly, at km 7, I completely bonked. As you can see in the picture below, the last 2 km were downhill, yet my heart rate started dropping, and it was impossible for me to go faster.
Question:
What does it mean when HR starts to drop like that? Does it indicate fueling issues, pacing mistakes, or something missing in my training?
I’d really appreciate any feedback on what I might have missed—whether in my **training, race pacing, or anything else.
Hi, I am not sure what it means with the heart rate dropping off like that, however my initial thought when reading it was did you have any gels or fuel before or during the race. I recently did a 10k race, and did a warmup of 20 minutes or so, then had a gel about 15 mins prior to the start of the race. Also had partial gel at around half way to keep me going strong until the end.
Your 1K reps need to be faster, you are running at race pace. And i will do the sessions more like the following (3 minutes rest) and 5s faster than race pace and have some more leg speed. btw don’t forget sometime some short reps, 10x400 for example at 3.30/3.25 pace to have just leg speed.
1k x6
1.2k x 5
1.6k x 4
2k x 3
3k x 2
and maybe those LT Sessions try to make it bigger, break it into 2x20 minutes with 1K float. 3x10minutes.
thanks for the feedback @Wazc23 as far as I know, in efforts no longer than 1 hour it 's not needed to have any carbs/gels… I thought they are really helpful for longer efforts.
besides, the days before I tried to eat more carbs. In the morning 2h30m before the race I had a good quantity of bread with peanut butter and jam. (my normal breakfast) … maybe I should test taking a gel in km 5 in my next 10K race…
@CEscorcio so you think that it was just a lack of training specially of my threshold/race paces… right? I was wondering if I might be lacking more aerobic base and then I should do more volume in terms of easy / long runs… But from your feedback I understand that I should focus more on push harder in my LT/vo2max sessions… right?
your glycogen reserves will ‘normally’ last an hour, but it does of course depend how hard you’re running as to how fast you’ll burn through them. A gel at 6km would be a sensible idea to see if it helps in future. That and fluids/electrolytes
To be fair, 1 Long + 2/3 Aerobic should be a good base. For example in my speed session, i do 30 minutes just warm up/aerobic low + Strides before the main session…You can gain weekly km here very easy.
You just need to change the “framework” of the Long Speed Sessions from 1K 6 weeks out finishing 3K x 2 two weeks before the race. You need a longer reps than just 1k reps, because it won’t translate into a 10K race, you will fade. Your body only recognize 1K at race pace effort…not more.
All the framework i gave, just try 5 seconds quicker than race pace, no need to be faster. Or you can play with the rest time, for example remove 15seconds each week.
In 10K no gel during is needed if you fuel daily properly. Just do one gel 20minutes before the warm up and it will be enough. Do some strides in the warm up
you mentioned that I should do my intervals session 6x1K faster and with 3 mins recovery… but later you mentioned that I should do them 5 min faster than my race pace… but if my 10K race pace is 3.44, I’m already doing them at 3.40 or faster…
Do you mean doing those 6x1K even faster… let’s say 3.35 pace??
taking into accoun that my current 10K race pace is 3.44, could you suggest the pace of the intervals for the sessions you proposed:
I’d like to know a bit more about what else you were doing (total distance per week over the previous 3 months or so).
I have the feeling that if you did the training you posted for a few months, there was some longer stuff missing. You mention not being able to sustain pace after 7 km. The training you posted shows that you did at most 6 km of hard work, only about 5.6 during the 20 min tempo.
I think you were probably lacking some endurance support, which you could have achieved by running some longer workouts at LT and slightly lower than LT intensities. Organized as intervals (like 6-8x 4-6 min at about 3:55-4:00) or longer tempos (3:55 pace for 2x20, as @CEscorcio mentioned). I would also include a bit slower paces for even longer durations, further out from race day (like 4-6x10min, or 3x15-20… at 4:10-4:15). Working on your ability to run relatively hard for a long time, developing endurance.
thanks for the feedback… 2x20 min at 3:55 sounds too much for me…
I think I’ll try first something like 8x5min at 3:55-4:00 first… (90 sec recovery??)
So basically, from all your feedback, my conclusion is that I should focus more on extend the duration of my training on LT (close to my LT pace 3:53) and also adding different kinds of tempo/threshold sessions, rather than doing only my classic 20min at 3:55…
still if you may recommend the paces and recovery-time for these sessions below, that’d be nice!
It seems to me that you are working too hard definitely in terms of intensity. You don’t need to move the starting pace that often and hard at all. Accumulate a lot of work below your lactate threshold, add volume on light runs, some extra 100/200m to stimulate your nervous system and build up your lactate tolerance quietly. Looking at your workouts, the first thing that came to my mind was that you used too strong a pace against too long breaks.
If you think you cannot handle 2 x 20 min at LT @ 3:55 with 3 minutes (that you will handle for sure if you did 37 lows), just break into for example 4x10min in first week and progress into 2x20 or even 30 minutes straight tempo before race week. Always aim around to 40 minutes to 35 minutes LT work.
My suggestion is the following (only 5seconds faster than your target race pace) and also bear in mind to add some fast speed sessions to sprinkle and add different stimulus, 10x400(target 80,85 seconds each rep this will give 3:30/3:25 pace), 400x300x200 (repeat 3 times) with 1 minutes slow jogging rest. Or 6x400+2x200 in race week at 10K RacePace.
Don’t forget 6x1k at 3.40 is ways different for the body than 3K x 2 but your body will adapt and will handle with the progression stress. The body will learn
For me, your mistake wasn’t not doing long efforts, only 1K efforts. Your body at the race was like…“what is this stress?? This long? I dont recognize this, i am not comfortable with it at all, i will shutdown and turn cruise control on”
LT Sessions with 1K float (Float= 5:00 km Pace)
4x10minutes. => pace= 3:55
3x13minutes. => pace= 3:55
2x20 minutes => pace= 3:55
1x30 minutes => pace= 3:55 (Prior to race week, never in race week)
Always create progression, not the same stimulus week after week.
