Last min training - help!

[DramaRamaLlama]

So I signed up to run 10km. With a group! I have 3 weeks.

As of today I can run 4km non stop. That makes me feel like death. Realistically how much better can I get or do I have to start laying the groundwork for an excuse now

You can run/walk 10k. In the meantime, run 6 days out of 7, warm up and stretch properly and fuel your properly.
1 of your runs (per week) should be sprint intervals - fast as you can for 1 minute, 1 min recovery, again sprint 1 min, etc. For 24 mins.
Another of your runs is to cover 10km, even if you need to walk some of it.
Another one is to run 4km and try to do it faster than you did last time.
Stretch!!

Thanks palahvah

I know I can run/walk but I really want to run slow jog the whole lot.

I will get out 6/7 days.

Any thoughts on realistically how long it takes your cardio vascular fitness to improve?

I'm not sure but 4km to 10km non-stop in 3 weeks feels punchy! Putting in the hard work this week and next so you can ease off a few days before the race. The sprint intervals work wonders so you could do some of that every day in addition to /instead of your 'normal' run.

Nothing you do in the last 2 weeks will make any difference because adaptation doesn't happen fast enough. So train week 1 and then just turn your legs over a few times at an easy pace weeks 2 and 3. Rest for 4 days before race.

nothing you do in last two weeks will make a difference

Well that's depressing

I prefer to go with palahvahs thoughts that it's "punchy"

Out of interest how long does one need for adaption? Is it time served or km run that makes the difference? I.e. if I run 50km over next two weeks will I be less fit than if I ran 50km over the next 6 weeks?

This is a major oversimplification, but basically, when you do a type of exercise your body thinks "shit- that sucked. I need to adapt so that that sucks less", but that takes time. In the meantime, you are tiring your muscles and depleting glycogen reserves and probably feeling a bit sore. That's why marathoners will "taper" (i.e. run not much) for 2 weeks before a marathon.

What I'm saying is that fresh legs is better than tired legs that have done more training at this stage.

If it makes you feel better I have a 50k trail race this weekend that I am woefully undertrained for.

Thanks soul

I'm such an idiot - I should have started weeks months ago