10k Advanced Plan
Advanced 10k Training Schedule  12 weeks @ 5 Days/Week 

This is suitable for experienced runners looking for a time under 40mins.

 

This schedule is broken into 3 phases; A, B and C and contains 2 quality workouts per week. These should generally not to be done on consecutive days. It’s up to you which days you want to do the workouts but do take one rest day after the long run. Feel free to alter this to suit your own needs.

 

Phase A is the speed phase and the idea is to increase your VO2 max and get your legs to turnover quicker.

 

Phase B is the stamina building phase with longer cruise intervals.

 Phase C combines both of the previous phases and then introduces a short taper before the race.   
WEEK/PHASEDAY 1DAY 2DAY 3DAY 4DAY 5
1/A5 miles easy10 x 400m with 400 jog recovery4 miles easy30 min tempo run8 miles long run
2/A5 miles easy16 x 200 with 200 jog recovery4 miles easy40 min fartlek run9 miles long run
3/A5 miles easy with 3rd mile faster (85%)60 sec at 3k pace, 60 sec rec, 30 sec at 1 mile pace, 30 sec rec. For 30 mins4 miles easy40 min tempo run10 miles long run
4/A5 miles with strides2 min hard, 2 min jog rec, 1 min hard, 1 min jog rec, 30 sec hard, 30 sec jog rec. For 40 mins4 miles easy40 min with hills included9 miles long run
5/B6 miles comfortable8 x 800m4 miles easy35 min tempo run10 miles
6/B6 miles, with 3rd and 4th faster at 85%4 x (4min hard, 90 sec rest, 90 sec harder, 2 min rest)4 miles easy6 x 1 mile cruise intervals at 10k pace with 2 min recovery10 miles long run
7/B5 miles easy10 x 1000m with 2 min recovery4 miles easy3 x 2 miles at 10k pace with 2 min recovery11 miles long run
8/B5 miles easy with 4-5 strides800, 1000, 1200, 1600, 1200, 1000, 800 with 90 sec recovery4 miles easy40 min tempo run12  miles long run
9/C5 miles easy2 x 2 miles @10k pace 1 x 800 @ 3k pace,2 x 400 fast,2 x 2 mile, 2 min rec4 miles easy2 x 5ksplit tempo run at 5k pace with 10 min rec10 miles long run
10/C 5 miles easy4 x 1 mile at faster then 10k pace, 2 min rec, 6 x 200m fast, 90 sec rec, 1 mile at 10k pace4 miles easy35 min tempo run9 miles long run
11/C5 mile easy with hills2000m at 5k pace, jog 400, 5 x 400 with reducing recovery, 60sec, 45sec, 30, sec and 15sec @ 3k pace, jog 400, sprint 200s with 200m walk rec4  miles easy30 min tempo7 miles long run
12/C5 miles easy4 x 1200 hard with 2 min rec, 4 x 200 fast with 90 sec recrest3-4 miles easyrest
     Explanation:  

Tempo: This is a faster run then normal but it is of shorter duration. It is also called a lactate threshold run. Lactate threshold is produced in the muscles when you exercise. There comes a point when the effort you are putting in produces so much lactate acid that your body can’t cope. This is often signaled by your legs getting heavy and body tightening up. The idea of a tempo run is to run just under this threshold level. This has the benefit of raising your lactate threshold enabling you to run faster for longer. These are tough runs and are generally run a close to 5k pace, maybe a little slower. On a scale of perceived effort of 1-10 with 10 being the hardest this should be about 8.5. (an easy run is 6.5-7 and a sprint is 10). This is one of the best workouts you can do and you should be spent after it!

 Fartlek: This is an unstructured interval training session. The idea here is you run most of the timed run at an easy pace. During this run you perform several strides of varying speed and distances…e.g. sprint 70m  to the next lamppost or stride at ¾ pace to the bend 200m away, it’s up to you. After you perform the stride you bring your pace back to lower then you were originally running, gradually returning to the original easy pace. The go again later in the run as you see fit. 

Repetitions and Intervals: A complete warm up should be undertaken before starting the reps or intervals. The idea of the shorter reps is to increase your Vo2 max which is the amount of blood the body can absorb during exercise. This is basically your fitness level. To increase this you need to push yourself into anaerobic exercise where you can’t get enough O2 to meet your demand. These reps should be done at an effort level of about 9 to 9.5 but don’t start the first ones too fast as you won’t maintain then for the remainder. The idea is to complete all the intervals in the same time but this will take practice. The longer intervals are also known as cruise intervals and are more for building stamina, getting you used to running hard on tired legs.

 

Dynamic Stretching:      Before all exercise you should do a warm up jog and then perform dynamic exercises. Head to toe. Neck rotations, shoulder rotation, cross body arm swings, hip circles, squats, step forward lunge (short step, long step), knee hugs, hamstring swings, calf raises, backward shuffle. Have a look online for dynamic stretching. Here’s a link to look at! 

http://www.momentumsports.co.uk/TtDynamicStretches.asp