I want to know where you're at and where you're headed.

Drop your:

1. Current 10K time (or best recent estimate)

2. Goal time

3. When's your next race?

I'll give you a quick take on whether your goal is realistic for that timeline and what you should focus on first.

No generic advice — I'll be specific based on your numbers.

Race week is where most runners either nail it or sabotage weeks of training. Here's the exact protocol I give my coached athletes:

7 days out:

• Drop volume by 40-50%. Keep intensity but cut the length of hard sessions.

• No new shoes, no new gear, no new foods. Nothing untested on race day.

3 days out:

• Easy 20-30 min shakeout runs only

• Increase carb intake slightly (not a huge pasta binge — just add an extra serving of rice/bread to normal meals)

• Hydrate consistently, not just the night before

Night before:

• Lay out everything: shoes, bib, watch, gels, clothes

• Set two alarms

• Don't stress about sleep — one bad night won't hurt you. Pre-race nerves are normal.

Race morning:

• Eat 2-3 hours before the gun (toast + banana + coffee works for most people)

• Warm up: 10 min easy jog + 4-5 strides

• Start conservative. First 2km should feel TOO easy. You'll thank yourself at km 8.

Pacing for sub-50:

• Target 4:55-5:00/km even splits

• Don't bank time early — it always costs you more in the back half

• KM 7-8 is where it gets hard. That's where you race.

Save this post. Come back to it the week before your next 10K.

Most runners trying to break 50 minutes in the 10K make the same mistake: they run every run at the same pace.

You head out the door, lock into 5:10-5:15/km, and do that 4-5 times a week. It feels productive. But you're stuck in no-man's land — too fast to recover, too slow to build speed.

Here's what actually works:

80% of your weekly mileage should be EASY. Like, embarrassingly easy. Conversational pace. If you can't hold a full sentence, slow down.

The other 20%? That's where the magic happens:

• Tempo runs at your goal 10K pace (5:00/km for sub-50)

• Intervals at faster than race pace (4:40-4:50/km for 400m-800m reps)

• Long runs at easy pace to build your aerobic engine

This 80/20 split is backed by decades of research on elite runners. It works for you too.

The hard part isn't the workouts — it's having the discipline to go slow on easy days. That's what separates runners who plateau from runners who PR.

I've been coaching runners through this for 5+ years. Drop a comment if you want to know what your specific easy pace should be based on your current 10K time.

Most runners plateau because they run every session at the same effort. "Moderate" every day. Not easy enough to recover, not hard enough to adapt.

Here's what actually works for breaking through:

80/20 polarization. 80% of your weekly mileage should feel embarrassingly easy. The other 20% should be genuinely hard — threshold runs, intervals, race-pace work.

If your easy runs are at 8:30/mi pace and your tempo runs are at 8:00/mi, your training is basically one speed. You're just accumulating fatigue without building fitness.

What I tell every runner I coach:

• Easy days: conversational pace. If you can't hold a full sentence, slow down.

• Hard days: specific paces tied to your goal race time. Not "fast-ish."

• Recovery: actually recover. Sleep. Protein. Easy miles.

I've been coaching runners for 5+ years and the single biggest unlock is always the same — slow down on easy days so you can actually push on hard days.

If you're chasing a sub-50 10K, a BQ, or just want to stop feeling stuck, that's exactly what RunSmarter is built for. Structured plans, real coaching insight, and a community of runners who get it.