Help-ive got 7 days to get faster

[fruitandbarley]

I started running at New year having previously done Bugger all, and entered a 10k in July.
Had panic and tried to back out when read all the rules about no music and chips etc and felt completely out of my depth.
Friend who runs lots convinced me that best way to stop worrying till July was to enter a 10k next Thursday and hes coming with me. Now I managed to do 10k last week for first time, but my time was 1 hour 8 mins, what is the best thing I can do in the next 7 days to get faster as looking at the results from last month ill currently finish last and so so dont want to.

1 hour 8 is great. My fastest is 1.27 and I wasn't last!

I agree, 1 hour 8 mins is not too slow at all. (I did 1 hour 5 mins yesterday so it is NOT SLOW OK! ).

Some points to bear in mind:

• Even if everyone else is faster, someone has to be "last"! There's no shame at all in being that person, it's infinitely better than still being sat on the sofa... Zero to 10k in just over 3 months is an achievement by itself, celebrate that!
• And, you are racing yourself not other people. That's the key thing about a race for us non-professionals - it's about beating your own limits, not being "better" than other people. Who cares?!
• Don't forget, your first race is always a Personal Best. So you're guaranteed a PB whatever your time
• Plus, the atmosphere of a race will probably cut a bit off your usual time. There's the adrenalin, being swept along by the faster runners, presumably spectators cheering you on - in fact, I'd say the thing to watch out for most would be setting off too fast and wearing yourself out in the first 5k then being exhausted in the second half

To improve speed - your training should incorporate hill work and speed work, as well as longer runs. But I wouldn't worry about it now - just run and enjoy it this week, then you can start to plan how to run the next one faster...