If you’re aiming to elevate your 10K performance and smash your race-day goals, we have the perfect workout to help you get there. The cutdown workout is a powerful training method that ramps up intensity progressively throughout your run, pushing your limits and enhancing your performance. It’s designed to build stamina, improve speed and tackle those race-day challenges head-on.
This workout involves starting at a slower, manageable pace and gradually speeding up throughout the session. By doing so, you improve your endurance and ability to sustain a faster pace as fatigue sets in, crucial for excelling in longer races like the 10K.
The effectiveness of a cutdown workout lies in its ability to simulate race conditions and build both physical and mental stamina. As you progress, you practise maintaining focus and managing effort while pushing closer to your limits. This gradual escalation teaches your body to adapt to increasing demands, enhancing your overall speed, aerobic capacity and race-day performance.
10K cutdown session
While it’s helpful to do this workout on a track for exact measurements, you can also do it on the road using your watch, and can even approximate your distances. Following your warmup, run each interval one after another without any rest in between.
Warm up with 10-15 minutes of very easy running, followed by 5 minutes of dynamic stretches (leg swings, high knees).
Run 3 km at an easy pace (60-65 per cent of maximum effort); pick it up with 1.5 km at a moderate pace (70-75 per cent of maximum effort).
Continue with 800 metres at a fast pace (80-85 per cent of maximum effort), and finish with 400 metres at a very fast pace (90 per cent+ of maximum effort).
Cool down with 10 minutes of very easy running.
Make sure to follow any speedwork session like this one with a rest day or a day of very easy running.
