The Capital 10K is being run on Sunday. It is the largest 10K race in Texas and one of the largest in the United States. For most runners this is more being part of an event then trying to run a time for a 10K. I ran the first 12 races and only tried to run a fast time once. It is almost impossible to get through the pack of runners – and walkers – in front of you. Organizers let the elite runners get a front row start. If you are not an elite runner get back in the crowd and enjoy all the different costumes, groups, and fun runners to be with. All the fun people and runners are in the middle to the end of the pack.
While I mention that it is better to just run for the purpose of being part of the Capital 10K other local races find most runners wanting to run for a time. Some runners may say that they only run for fun and are not concerned with running for an award. Over the years I have learned that even participants that walk the race want to know their time. They all have a personal best time that they have run, or walked. Some of those people in the back may walk the distance of a 5K and hope to break an hour, while fast walkers want to see if they can get under 45 minutes. The lead runners strive for under 20 minutes, and some try to get close to 18 minutes or less. They all have a PR, and while they may not train to get faster, most are trying to be slightly faster than their last race.
When you mention that to get faster a runner needs to do some speed training. The very thought of ‘speed training’ brings visions of hard work. For the average runner that enters for a new T-shirt training does not include ‘speed work.’ This is not necessarily true as there are many forms of speed work that can make a runner faster without having to go through a lung busting workout.
