35 Minute 10k Training Plan

TARGET RACE PACE 05:38 PER MILE / 03:30 PER KM FOR A 35 MINUTE 10K

Successfully running a 35 minute 10k means you will need to be capable of running at a sustained pace of 5min 38secs for each of the 6.1 miles. That is 3min 30secs per km.

Like all of our training plans, the 35 minute 10k training plan will occassionally require you to run at a slightly faster pace than this for a short duration so before starting ensure that you are able to run at your target race pace for at least 1km or preferably a mile.

If you are not quite there yet then take a look at the 40 minute 10k training plan  first and then come back to this one once you are in a position to run at this pace for a km.

Time commitment: You will need to commit roughly 10-12 hours of work a week over the course of the 40 minute 10k training plan in addition to any time spent cross training.

Breakthrough Sessions: These sessions are meant to be challenging intense efforts, treat them as mini-milestones towards your target:

• 800m Reps – should be reps at 05:38 p/m pace (2:48 per 800m) with a 90sec jogged recovery.
• 1km Intervals – 05:38 p/m pace (3:30 per km) with a 90sec jogged recovery.
• 2km Intervals – 05:38 p/m pace (3:30 per km) with a 2min jogged recovery.
• 5km Time Effort – run a 5k race/training run at your maximum, try and aim for a sub 17:30.

Breakeven Sessions: These sessions are used for recovery and maintaining fitness. They should afford you the opportunity to prepare both mentally and physically for the breakthrough sessions.

• Easy Run – this should be no quicker than 06:45 p/m.
• Long Run – this doesn’t need to be any longer than 75 minutes.

The 35 minute 10k plan is cyclical and can be used over a period of weeks until you feel you are ready for your 10k event. At the end of each cycle you can repeat from the beginning or tweak the plan to suit your current ability and time commitments, etc. 

If, after a couple of rotations you want to make the plan harder, you could slowly increase the number of reps for the breakthrough speed sessions. If you make changes then be sure to introduce them slowly over a few weeks, i.e., Week 1 = 3x2km Reps, Week 5 = 4x2km Reps, Week 8 = 5x2km reps, etc. Obviously there is only so far you can go with this, there would be no point in extending these way beyond the 10k distance. The other way of making the plan harder is to adjust the pace slightly and run faster!

It is recommended that after three months of using the 35 minute 10k plan that you reduce your training for a period of one to two weeks to allow your body time to recover from the impact of running. This should mean more time cross-training with a couple of nice easy runs every few days to keep the legs ticking over.

To realise improvements it’s worth remembering that training is cumulative and it takes time and dedication to get the best out of a training plan and achieve the results you want.