Hello everyone, having got the marathon out of the way I'd like to concentrate on improving my 10k time. I've got the endurance but really need to increase my speed. Has anyone got any training suggestions as to hw I might do this?

I would look at interval training - it's a sure fire way to increase speed as it gets your body used to running at pace.

Here are a few example interval sessions:

30 min run at a steady pace and finish with 10 x 100m sprints with 15 second rest periods in between each repetition.

12 x 400m at pace with 45 second rest inbetween each rep.

16 x 200 sprints with decremental rest inbetween each so...

1. 200m then 60 seconds rest
2. 200m then 45 seconds rest
3. 200m then 30 seconds rest
4. 200m then 15 seconds rest

Repeat 4 times.

When doing intervals try to keep the time you take to do each interval the same rather than doing one fast interval and tailing off as the session progresses.

You should really feel like you've had a good workout doing sessions like these - if not you're you need to increase the pace.

I would agree, intervals are a good training technique to increase speed. I wouldn't advise doing them everyday though. Make them part of a varied training routine. Its still important to get some steady runs in.

There's also a school of thought that intervals such as these are two short. So make sure you do 600's and 800 + intervals as well as tempo runs.

join club, do interval training. also hills.

3 basic sets of runs will help :
- intervals (and I'd be tempted to go for 600 or 800m rather than 200), start with 3 reps then increase to 6 or 8
- hill work - great to develop leg strength without the stresses of speedwork on the joints
- tempo runs - 30 to 40 minutes at about 10k pace

I used to do regular speed work but after a year of very little results I stopped it...all pain and no gain!

I then focused on hill work...one good hill session per week. The results I've had from that have been amazing... I smashed every one of my PB's last year and am still improving. My 10k time has gone from 48.23 to 45.55...and recently to 43.44. I've also taken a total of 17 minutes off my marathon time and 9 minutes off my half marathon time, which is now 1.37.

Hills are the answer I tell you!

So Trinity do you do sessions of intervals up a hill, or just run lots of hills?

Don't they say that hillwork is speedwork in disguise?

I like hills. Hills are your friend. Hills are good (in a painful way). Just as hard work as speedwork, but with less impact-related risks. Still like to do some proper speedwork to get the legs used to moving quickly though.