Your Speed/Distance Training Zones: 50 minute 10k
| Pace per Mile | Treadmill Pace | 400m / 800m Splits | 1km Pace | 5km Race Pace |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 08:03 | 7.4 mph/ 12 km/h | 2:00 / 4:00 | 05:00 secs | 25:00 min |
50 minute 10k Training Plan
| Day | Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | 4 (rec week) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monday | 45mins easy | Rest/ cross-train | 30mins easy | Rest/ cross-train |
| Tuesday | 30mins easy | Rest/ cross-train | ||
| Wednesday | Rest/ cross-train | 30mins easy | Rest/ cross-train | Rest/ cross-train |
| Thursday | @8:03 p/m (5:00 p/km) 2 min Rec | @8:03 p/m (5:00 p/km) 90s Rec | Rest/ cross-train | |
| Friday | Rest/ cross-train | Rest/ cross-train | Rest/ cross-train | 45mins easy |
| Saturday | 45mins easy | @8:03 p/m (5:00 p/km) 90s Rec | 45mins easy | Rest/ cross-train |
| Sunday | Long run, gentle pace: 60-75 mins | 45mins easy | Long run, gentle pace: 60-75 mins | Rest/ cross-train |
50 Minute 10k Training Plan Components
Breakeven Sessions – 50 minute 10k
These sessions are used for maintaining fitness & recovery. Preparing you for breakthrough sessions:
- Easy Run – this should be no quicker than 10:00-10:30 p/mile.
- Long Run – this doesn't need to be any longer than 75 minutes.
Breakthrough Sessions – 50 minute 10k
These sessions are meant to be challenging intense efforts, treat them as mini-milestones towards your target:
- Tempo Run – hard but sustainable effort, usually about 30 mins in total and aim for 08:30 p/mile pace for 3 miles with a 1 mile warm up/down either side.
- 800m Reps – should be reps at 8:03 p/m pace (4:00 per 800m) with a 90sec jogged recovery.
- 1km Intervals – 8:03 p/m pace (5:00 per km) with a 90sec jogged recovery.
- 2km Intervals – 8:03 p/m pace (5:00 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 25:00.
Notes on the 50 minute 10k Training Plan
The 50 minute 10k plan has been put together so it 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. As you improve you'll maybe want to incorporate some sessions from our other 10k training plans.
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. Introduce changes slowly and 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 50 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 follow any training plan and achieve the results you want.
Week 2 is quite intensive (3 fast runs). Is that intentional? Is it OK if I move 5k race from week 2 to week 3, at least if I am not having a 10k race in Week 4? Thanks
Can you please advise pace of a gentle long run
Hi Phil, I’ve left that intentionally vague as I don’t think it’s important to focus on the pace for the long run. My intentions for this are to just enjoy the run, don’t worry about the pace – obviously the important thing is to not go too fast! As ball-park figures I would be looking to complete your easy runs and long runs in the 09:00-09:30 range. Good luck with your training and hope the plans are useful.
hey, i can do all of this :p but i can go only upto 7km continuously :p any tips? thanks
On the 3x2km exercise what pace should the recovery 2 mins be done at? Really struggled with that. Couldn’t do it
Hi Craig, don’t worry too much about the pace of that; just recover. I prefer to just jog very slowly or walk a little during the recovery. Whatever it takes to get your heart rate down and ready to go again.
At the 3 mile tempo training what does “quicker than 10k race pace” mean? My current race pace or the desired 5min/km pace?
And at the long runs what do you mean under “gentle pace”? Should this be quicker than the easy runs?
At the 3 mile tempo runs what does “quicker than 10k race pace” mean? Quicker than my current 10k pace or quicker than the final target 5min/km?
And what do you mean under “gentle pace” at the long runs? Quicker than the easy runs?