36 or bust!

I've been slow on this blog lately, but on August 8, I will begin an 8-week training cycle, which will hopefully culminate with a 10K PR and sub-36 performance at the Oktoberfest 10K in Minster, Ohio on October 3. The course is part of the Ohio Grand Prix series and is flat, fast and USATF certified. The program I'm following is a progression of eight 10K-specific workouts devised by Running Times columnist and well-known coach, Greg McMillan. I've pasted the chart from McMillan's article with his comments below:

  

SIMPLE EIGHT-WEEK WORKOUT SEQUENCE FOR A FAST 10K

WEEK	KEY WORKOUT	NOTES
1	6 x 1M	3-minute jog between 1M repeats
2	10-12 x 400m	Run the 400m repeats at 5K race pace; 200m jog between
3	2M + 4 x 1M	5-minute jog between 2M repeats, 3-minute jog between 1M repeats
4	3M Tempo Run or 5K Race	One simple prediction method is to double your 5K time and add 1 minute to get your 10K time. Are you on track for your goal 10K time?
5	2 x 2M + 2 x 1M	5-minute jog between 2M repeats, 3-minute jog between 1M repeats
6	20-24 x 200m	Run the 200m repeats at 5K race pace; 200m jog between
7	3 x 2M	5-minute jog between 2M repeats*
8	RACE: 10K

You can view the full article here. I plan to do a secondary key workout on most of the weeks as well, plus my usual filler days of easy runs/longer runs etc. Week 4, I'll be doing a 5-mile race instead of a 5K because the best race by far on Labor Day weekend is the Northcoast Challenge, which I've talked about before. At the end of Week 6, I'll also be racing a 5K.

* The editor in me noticed that on the Running Times website they repeated the Week 6 description for Week 7, so I typed in what they meant to say! :-)