A new decade-best 10K time achieved

20/12/2025: “I think a sub-45 [10K] is within reach in 2026.”

So it proved, as I beat my 45:38 from then with a 44:45 today — a 53-second improvement.

I haven’t budged from my weekly routine: one 10K at slow-medium pace and one 5K at fast-medium pace, with half an hour of brisk walking on the other days. I also do a test run for each once a month.

I’ve been doing this for almost a year now, steadily improving from the 47:13 I ran on 5 July 2025. In the 18 months before then, I never bettered 48:44 in my once-a-week 10K.

With this current routine, I thought I had plateaued a while ago, in all honesty. But I’ve been able to chip away and squeeze out more and more.

How much more? I don’t know, but I prefer this to the all-in approach I took a dozen years ago, which I burned out with boredom from. That may have delivered quicker results, but this one’s more sustainable.