10k
THE
calendar
WEEK
Getting Up to Speed
1
monday
tuesday
wednesday
thursday
friday
saturday
sunday
Easy run &
strides
Strength training
Short Interval workout
recovery day
long run
Tempo runs
REST DAY
monday
Easy run & strides
MILE RUNS
tuesday
RECOVERY DAY
THURSDAY
STRENGTH
wednesday
LONG RUN
SATURDAY
HILL CHARGES
FRIDAY
sunday
REST DAY
WEEK
Hit the Ground Running
2
monday
Easy run &
strides
Ladder
tuesday
Movement drills &
strength circuit
thursday
Super easy
wednesday
Tempo runs
friday
long run
saturday
sunday
REST DAY
WEEK
Find Your Stride
3
monday
Easy run &
strides
Hill charges
tuesday
movement drills &
strength circuit
wednesday
recovery day
thursday
recovery day
saturday
sunday
REST DAY before the big race!
WEEK
Finish Strong
4
tune up the
legs – fartlek
friday
10:00
MONDAY
An easy run plus strides is a great way to work through any stiffness and prep your body for a solid week of training. Run 30–40 minutes comfortably, with 4–6 x 20 second strides (one notch below a sprint) immediately after.
Modification: If you feel beat after the run, nix the strides. If you want a little extra, do up to 10 strides.
Your strength workouts in this plan prioritize mobility, movement, and muscle building to support your runs. You’ll be able to choose from two different superset workouts and a strength circuit.
TUESDAY
First hard session on deck! For this short interval workout, run an easy mile to warm up, followed by 10 x 1-minute pushes, taking 1 minute between each rep to recover with a slow jog, walk, or combo. Cool down 1 mile.
Modification: To make this a little more doable, walk all the recovery minutes. To up the challenge, make the recovery jogs more of a float (somewhere between a jog and
a stride).
Wednesday
Since this run is sandwiched by two hard days, make it a true recovery day by leaving your GPS watch at home and running nice and easy according to feel. Like Monday, run 30–40 minutes easy, with no added strides.
Modification: If you’re not ready for 5 days a week of running, swap this workout for a cross-training day (a strength workout, bike, pool, elliptical, or even yoga). If you can handle more, run up to 60 minutes, but keep
it easy.
Thursday
Get the Full Workout Here
Tempo runs are a great way to simulate races since they’re all about sustained hard efforts. Warm up 1 mile, then run 3 miles at your goal – 10K pace or faster. End with 1 mile cooldown.
Modification: If needed, take a 30-second breather halfway through the tempo. If you feel strong in the later stages, try to negative split the workout (ending faster than you started).
FRIDAY
Whether you’re training for a mile or a marathon, a weekly long run is hugely beneficial. Depending on where you’re at and what feels reasonable, run 45–75 minutes at a comfortable clip, taking short water and/or walk breaks as needed.
Modification: If a continuous run of that duration sounds daunting, alternate running 8 minutes and walking 1 minute. If you’ve run longer than 75 minutes in recent months, bump up to 90 minutes.
SATURDAy
Rest day. Stretch, drink lots of water, and go for a leisurely walk.
SUNDAY
Simplify planning out your meals for the week by using this simple formula:
1. Pick a base.
2. Choose a protein.
3. Bulk up your plate with veggies.
nutrition tip - week one
Similar to last week, go for a chill 30- to 45-minute run and end with 4–6 x 20-second strides. Don’t worry about pace of the run — the goal is to get your legs in a good state for tomorrow.
Modification: If you’re ultra-tired at the end, just do 2 or 3 strides. If you still feel springy, extend those strides to 30 seconds each.
MONDAY
Mile repeats are a staple for most competitive runners. After a warmup mile, using a GPS watch, marked path, or 400 meter track, run 3 x 1 mile at 5K pace (or about as hard as you can sustain for a single mile repeated 3 times). Take 3 minutes to jog and/or walk in between each one, and cool down 1 mile.
Modification: If you don’t quite feel recovered after 3 minutes, take an extra 2 minutes before you start the next rep. If you’re handling the workout well, try to make each mile faster than the last one.
TUESDAY
Find today’s movement drills and supersets here!
WEDNESDAY
THURSDAY
It’s time for another between-workout recovery day. Get in a relaxed 30- to 40-minute run, ideally with a friend or two who will keep the pace light and conversation flowing.
Modification: Cross-train instead of running today if you’re feeling unusually tired or sore. If, on the other hand, you find yourself holding back to keep it easy, run up to a full hour.
No matter what type of course you’re getting ready for, hill charges will make you stronger and more durable. Warm up 1 mile. Then, on either a real hill or a treadmill set to about 5% incline, do 2 sets of 6 40-second hill charges (hard enough that you don’t feel like you could go much longer than 40 seconds at a time). Jog 80 seconds in after each rep, and cool down 1 mile.
Modification: If 40 seconds feels a bit long, decrease all hill reps to 30 seconds. If you feel great after number 12, add 2 more as fast as or faster than the ones before.
FRIDAY
Long run number two on tap! Shoot for 50–80 minutes of fluid running, sipping on a sports drink or taking a gel if you’re running for more than 60 minutes.
Modification: As you work your way up in distance, you can alternate 9 minutes of running with 1 minute of walking. If you went 90 minutes last week, keep it there — but pick up the last 10 minutes.
SATURDAY
Rest day. Stretch, drink lots of water, and go for a leisurely walk.
SUNDAY
Check out these recovery foods for sore muscles
Sports drinks and electrolyte-containing products are an excellent way to replace electrolyte losses from sweat while training. If you’re a heavy sweater or training for longer than an hour, down some electrolytes.
nutrition tip - week TWO
Get your weekly
nutrition advice here!
No surprise here: You have a 35- to 45-minute easy run and strides to kick off a new week. After the run, do 6–8 20-second strides to get the wheels spinning in advance of a hard day tomorrow.
Modification: Stick with 4 strides maximum if you’re feeling flat-legged or worn
down. If you’re feeling good, do a maximum of 12 strides
MONDAY
Today’s workout is called a ladder, and you’ll soon see why. After your standard 1-mile warmup, do hard efforts of 1 minute, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, 4 minutes, 5 minutes, 4 minutes, 3 minutes, 2 minutes, 1 minute, with equal jogging/walking recovery (1 minute recovery after 1 minute effort, etc.).
Cool down 1 mile.
Modification: This is a long one, so if you need to, you can cut out the middle 5-minute effort. To make it extra-hard, add another 5-minute effort to the middle of the workout.
TUESDAY
WEDNESDAY
It’s important that you take today super easy, especially if yesterday took a toll on your body. Go out for 30–40 minutes and keep the effort level below a 5 (on a scale of 1 to 10).
Modification: To double down on the recovery, replace today’s run with a cross-training session of your choice. For a little more, run for up to an hour.
Find today’s movement drills and strength circuit here!
THURSDAY
It’s tempo day again, this time going a mile farther than the first round. After your warmup mile, try to maintain your goal 10k pace or faster for 4 consecutive miles. If you aren’t sure how to pace yourself, start out cautiously so you can bring it home strong. Cool down 1 mile.
Modification: Incorporate a 30-second breather after 2 miles if you need to. If you feel great at 3 miles, try to make that last mile progressively faster.
FRIDAY
Miles
01
02
03
04
01
02
03
04
For this week’s long run, run as smoothly as possible for 55–85 minutes. Prioritize a hearty breakfast 2–3 hours before you start, and don’t forget your in-run fluids or gels if you’re at the upper end of the time range.
Modification: Alternate 10 minutes of running with 1 minute of walking if you’re still adapting to a consistent training plan. If you’ve been running 90 minutes, bump it up to 95 minutes today.
SATURDAY
Check out these recovery foods for sore muscles
Rest day. Stretch, drink lots of water, and go for a leisurely walk.
SUNDAY
As your weekly mileage increases, so do your carbohydrate needs. Prior to your run, try to consume a breakfast that contains both carbohydrates and protein while minimizing fat, fiber, and artificial sweeteners / sugar alcohols.
Get your full week of nutrition advice here!
nutrition tip - week THREE
Just like clockwork, today you’ve got 35–50 minutes easy to start. Once you finish, do 6–820-second strides and get pumped for your last week of 10K prep.
Modification: If you’re lagging, do 6 strides of 15 seconds each instead of 20. If your legs are feeling poppy, increase your strides to 30 seconds.
MONDAY
Last hill session until race day! Do your warmup mile, and then, either outside on a big hill or on a treadmill set to a 5% incline, run 2 sets of 5 1-minute hill charges, with 2 minutes of jogging / walking in between. Cool down 1 mile.
Modification: Cut the reps back to 45 seconds each if needed. If you’re feeling good toward the end of the workout, tack on 1 hard 90-second hill at the end.
TUESDAY
Another midweek recovery run of 30–40 minutes. If there’s a soft surface nearby (such as a dirt road, a smooth trail, manicured grass, or a turf field), use it! Your legs will appreciate the break from the pounding.
Modification: Those who need it can treat today as an off-legs, cross-training day, doing whatever feels good and allows you to recover (check out these strength workout options). Those who are handling the load well can run for up to an hour.
THURSDAY
Find today’s movement drills and supersets here!
WEDNESDAY
Today is all about tuning up your legs in anticipation of a big effort next week. Once you’re warmed up, have fun with this fartlek (a Swedish concept that literally translates to “speedplay”): 3 x 90 seconds hard (90 seconds easy jogging / walking), 4 x 60 seconds hard (60 seconds easy), 5 x 30 seconds hard (30 seconds easy). Cool down 1 mile, and your hard work is done.
Modification: Walk the recovery segments to make today’s session a little easier. Float the recoveries to make it harder.
FRIDAY
f
a
r
-
t
l
e
k
This final run depends on when your 10K will be. If it’s planned for the next 1–4 days, treat today like a typical recovery day and go out for an easy 20–40 minutes. If you won’t race for another 5–7 days, consider this your last long run, going for 60–90 minutes (with periodic walk breaks, if needed) and then recovering hard until you race.
Modification: If you’re the type who benefits from a big taper, keep your runs to 30 minutes max between now and the race. If you thrive on consistency, raise that ceiling to 45 minutes. Either way, use the fitness and confidence you’ve built this last month to let it rip on race day!
SATURDAY
Min.
60
65
70
75
80
85
87
90
Rest before the big race! If you want to pepper in one more workout, check out these movement drills.
Rest day. Stretch, drink lots of water, and go for a leisurely walk.
SUNDAY
Get your full week of nutrition advice here!
The night before race day, fill at least 50–60 percent of your plate with carbohydrates, while the rest should be filled with protein (at least 25 percent of your plate) and vegetables.
nutrition tip - week FOUR
10:00
Get this week’s complete nutrition advice here!
