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Bit of advice needed.
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Hello there!
i have started running this year and so far so good. My only real frustration is my speed, I'm painfully slow only managing to complete 5km in around 35 minutes and 10k in1:18. 
Anyway, now I am comfortably able to run 10km, I am just wondering how often I should run this distance a week? I have a couple of 10km races coming up in the next few weeks and mseverally have completed two 5km races in the last few months and was running this distance every time I went out. (3 or 4 times a week) but am unsure if I should be attempting the same thing with 10!
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Comments
Your times are your times - if it's what you're able to do then good for you!
How many times can you run a week?
You should do one of your runs (most people do it at the weekend as easier to find time) as a long slow run and actually keep building up distance beyond the 10k, but do it gradually (add a k or two each time). This will improve your endurance over time. Even if you never want to race further than a 10k, knowing that you can run 15k or 16k in a stint will give you bags of confidence when it comes to managing your energy around a 10k.
For your other runs, there is no need to make them particularly long, but mix it up a bit and do intervals at what you'd consider your "race pace" or close to it, do some hill work, little recovery runs if you're feeling the need.
Look at some example plans, there are lots free around on the internet, that will give you ideas.
Good Luck with your upcoming races!
Plus if you can get up to 12 or 13km on some of your long runs it will help your 10k speed, because you know then that you can survive the 10k so you can put that extra little bit of effort in.
When I started a year ago I was 40m for 5k, I've not run an official 5k but according to my garmin I am now just sub 30m for 5k when I try. Don't worry about speed go at your speed but make sure you try to put a hard effort in once a week on one of your shorter runs, and over time you will just get quicker.
When I started running 2 years ago whether the run was short or long my pace was the same (slow), now I do tempo runs and fast runs during the week and a long run at weekend my pace has improved by 3 minutes per mile even on the long runs.
My advice is the same as Nicky's "mix it up" just be careful not to increase your distance to much to quickly as this could lead to injury, as I found out at my expense.
Good luck