Worried about fitting five days running a week into your schedule, take a look at our 10K fitness rocket over a preparation period of eight weeks. As with the four-week schedules, it’s important that you’re flexible in your approach. If the 10K is your single focus for the season and you’re willing to do everything you can for a best-possible time, you can add a two-to-four-month build-up period to the schedules, in which you focus on establishing a steady, solid mileage background.
Before starting this training plan, try and build up to running around 35-40 miles per week. Vary your pace slightly to maintain interest over those build up weeks and save the real speed work for the final eight weeks covered in the plan below. Following this training plan should get you across the line in approximately 40-50 minutes. You'll do a number of different sessions to help improve your fitness, including speed, tempo and fartlek runs.
| Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Week 1 | Rest | 2Warm up, then 4 x 1M or 6-8 mins, with 1200m or 4-min recoveries, then cool down | 4-7M slow | 30-35 Marathon plans whatever your time goal | Rest | 2M easy, then 3 x 2000m or 7-8 mins at 80-85%, with 1000m or 4-min recoveries, then 2M easy | 5M easy |
| Week 2 | Rest | 2M warm-up, then 6 x 600m or 2mins, with 400m or 2-min recoveries, then 2M cool-down | 4-7M slow | 30-40 Summer running gear sale | Rest | 2M easy, then 3 x 2000m or 7-8 mins at 80-85%, with 1000m or 4-min recoveries, then 2M easy | 6M easy |
| Week 3 | Rest | 2M slow OR rest | 4-8M slow | 30-40 mins fartlek | Rest | RWC: 16-week sub-3:30 marathon training plan | 7M easy |
| Week 4 | Rest | 2M easy, then 3 sets of 3 x 500m or 90-100 secs, with 300m or 2-min recoveries and 800m or 6 mins between sets, then 2M cool-down | 4-7M slow | 20 How to train for a hilly race | Rest | RWC: 16-week sub-4:00 marathon training plan | 8M easy |
| Week 5 | Rest | 2-2.5M warm-up, then 10-12 x 400m or 80-90 secs, with 400m or 2-3 min recoveries, then 2.5M cool-down | Rest OR slow run | 40-45 mins, inc hills | Rest | Pyramid session: 1K, 2K, 3K at slower than 10K pace, with half-length recoveries. Feel in control of the session and use good terrain | 9M easy |
| Week 6 | Rest | 2-3M warm-up, then 3 sets of 3 x 600m or 3 mins, with 400m or 2-3 min recoveries and 1000m or 7 mins between sets, then 2-3M cool-down | 5-8M slow | 40-45 Marathon plans whatever your time goal | Rest | Marathon plans whatever your time goal | 9-10M easy |
| Week 7 | Rest | 2-3Health & Injuries | 4-5M slow OR rest | 20 How to train for a hilly race | Rest | 6-9M gradual acceleration, with last 2-3M at 10K pace | 10+M easy |
| Week 8 | Rest | 2Warm up, then 4 x 1M or 6-8 mins, with 1200m or 4-min recoveries, then cool down | 4-7M slow | 30-40 mins easy | Rest | 3-5RWC: 16-week sub-3:30 marathon training plan | RACE |
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