RUNNING MCMILLAN'S BEST 10K WORKOUT & RUNNING AT 180 TURNOVER RATE

Sometimes I am a little wary about one-size-fits-all advice. Constantly, I find myself testing out supposedly "tried and true" running advice. Does more millage work better for me as many elite coaches advise, or does something like the Furman FIRST minimalist program work better? Is the mid-foot strike really best for everyone, or are some people built to heel strike a little more--even if they are the exception to the rule?

Of course, as always, nothing here is qualified advise, just personal experiences.

The lesson I learned today came by accident as I decided to give G. McMillan's "Best 10K Workout" a go. He advises on his site that it is a tough workout, so I geared up for it mentally. 

RUNNING THE "BEST 10K WORKOUT"

The workout is: Jog to warm up, the 3 x 2M with 5 minutes jog to recovery in between, then cool down.

IF YOU CAN COMPLETE THE WORKOUT AT YOUR DESIRED 10K RACE PACE YOU ARE ON TARGET (McMillan says that if you can do it, you will hit your 10K goal pace based on what he has seen).

My 10K pace is supposedly 6:26. I haven't run a 10K race in ages but I have done plenty of 10K tempo runs at about a 6:40 or 6:50 pace. I've been going out too hard on the tempo runs  though and then fizzling so it is really like a few miles at 6:20 or 6:30 pace, and then I am struggling to just hold on at 7:00 pace at the end.

McMillan suggests working up to the full 3 x 2M workout but I decided to just jump right in because I have been doing 6-7 mile tempo runs anyway.

I get my best 1 mile time with a rather high turnover rate (208-210).

My best 10K tempo run recently came when I tried to (and did) hold a 190 turnover rate for the whole time. But I fizzled pretty bad toward the end of that run.

I was not going to use a metronome on today's Best 10K Workout, but was feeling sluggish so I turned it on to 180 just to keep me from being too sluggish.

TO MY GREAT DELIGHT I FOUND THAT IF I JUST KEPT THE 180 TURNOVER I WAS ABLE TO HOLD THE DESIRED PACE.

I did fizzle a little toward the end of the workout, but not nearly as bad as usual. I managed to hang onto a 6:30 pace which I was happy with even though it was not the 6:26 the McMillan predicts.

Here were the splits:

FIRST 2M: 6:24 pace
SECOND 2M: 6:28 pace
THIRD 2M: 6:38 pace

My Best 10K Workout (McMillan)

As a sort of side note: On the last 2 mile effort I looked at the GPS wrong and thought I was done at mile 1. That's why there is a dip for the second half. I quickly realized I had to do another mile but it threw me off psychologically!

MY ASSESSMENT OF THE WORKOUT

This is a great way to get your 10K race pace for someone going to race a 10K for the first time, or the first time in a long time.

It gets in almost a full 10K (minus the 0.2) at race pace, but is not quite so hard mentally and gives the body a little recovery in between so that it is not so hard on the body.

Does it work? Can I do a 10K race at 6:30 pace? That I don't know yet, but I will update after I try it out (either in a "real" race setting or giving a 10K race effort on my own).

I can say that the workout was as hard as McMillan says, so believe him. I felt like my legs had been to the dentist afterwards as I "slopped" my way home. But that's what we runners love after all isn't it? Now I feel a few rest days coming up!

Finally, I found the little jewel that is the subject of this post: the wonder of the 180 turnover. It was so efficient compared to even 190. It is that magical turnover where you keep your momentum and build on it (very little "braking" force like you feel at lower cadences) but it is not turning over so much that you burn out.

WHAT IS YOUR EXPERIENCE? DOES THE 180 TURNOVER WORK BEST FOR YOU? WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE 10K WORKOUT? COMMENT BELOW!