Are you looking for a personalised 10km training plan to achieve your goals? Do you want to finish the race or aim for a specific time? Do you want to run 10km in 1 hour, 50 minutes, 45 minutes, 40 minutes, or perhaps even less than 35 minutes? We are going to discuss the key principles of an effective 10k training plan.
Contents
How many sessions to do per week to prepare for a 10km?
Your goal target time is not the only question to take into account when we decide the training frequency. 3 runs a week, 4 runs, 5 runs, 6 runs?… Different parameters must be taken into account: your experience as a runner, your current fitness, your schedule and your specific training paces (Vo2 Max, 10km pace, threshold, fundamental endurance, etc.).
For a beginner, you should work on being able to run for 1 hour without stopping, but at a very easy pace, working on fundamental endurance and technique. In this way, we learn to manage our effort without pushing too hard.
Interval training is essential in a 10km training plan
Work on your Vo2 Max
For more experienced runners who have done a few months or few years of training, it is important to introduce short and long interval sessions. In particular, we work on the Maximum Aerobic Speed (Vo2 Max) to improve your base speed. As well as the ability to settle into a steady target pace and rhythm.
For an experienced runner, the emphasis is mainly on sessions to improve your Maximum Aerobic Speed (Vo2 Max) and this effort should help you find those extra few minutes or seconds to beat your personal best.
Work on your endurance
Over 10km, you will be breathing hard and your lactate level increases gradually. Some runners will feel a drop in speed from around 6km. They started too quickly or did not work on their endurance enough at 10km pace.
A 10km training plan is therefore a happy medium between working on your speed and your endurance. It will also be necessary to maintain an aerobic base of easy running to gain endurance.
It is a distance accessible to all, which can open the door to targetting longer distances. The 10km could be your main objective or an intermediate objective before tackling another distance.
Beware of errors in certain training plans
It’s worth highlighting, that we sometimes find 10km training plans on the internet which indicate training paces as a percentage of Vo2 Max. This is not always suitable because in reality you have to take into account your Vo2 Max as well as your endurance index.
Calculating this endurance index requires entering two past race times. If you don’t have any past race times, an average endurance can be estimated until you set some personal bests. In addition, we find that many plans confuse Vo2 Max % and Maximum Heart Rate %…
Your personalized 10km training plan
In the RunMotion Coach app, you will find a personalised 10km training plan whatever your running experience or target time. Your program is calculated individually and the training paces are calculated directly for you.
Examples of specific 10km sessions
A specific 10km session included in RunMotion Coach is: 5 to 8 times 1km recovery 1’30 to 3′ (depending on the level of the runner).
Another interesting session is: 4 times 2km recovery 3′. This is generally harder than 1km repetitions. But this session has the merit of working your endurance even more at 10km pace.
In addition, your 10km training plan on RunMotion Coach adapts to your availability each week. You can change your training days and choose the day of your long run and interval sessions.
So you no longer have to ask yourself the question “what if I missed a session or a few runs? “. Your plan adapts to your feedback. This will give you every chance of success to finish the race and beat your personal best.
Better than just a standard 10km training plan, find your personalised 10km training plan in the RunMotion Coach app. In addition to your program, you will find advice and motivational messages to reach your goals 😉.
And come back here for when you need a half marathon training plan!