12-week 10K plan

 

12-week 10K plan (2 runs/week)

Weeks 1–4: Build your aerobic base

Monday – Tempo

• 10 min easy warm-up
• 20 min tempo (comfortably hard)
• 10 min easy cool-down

Increase the tempo by about 5 minutes over the four weeks, up to 30 minutes.

Saturday – Zone 2

• Week 1: 60 min
• Week 2: 65 min
• Week 3: 70 min
• Week 4: 75 min

Keep the effort easy enough to hold a conversation.

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Weeks 5–8: Add speed

Alternate Mondays:

Week A – Intervals

• Warm-up
• 5 × 1 km at around your current 10K pace or a little faster
• 2–3 min easy jog recovery
• Cool-down

Week B – Tempo

• Warm-up
• 30 min tempo
• Cool-down

Saturday

• 75–90 min Zone 2

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Weeks 9–11: Race-specific work

Monday
Alternate:

• 6 × 1 km
• 3 × 2 km at your target 10K pace

Keep recoveries easy.

Saturday

• 75–90 min Zone 2
• During the last 15–20 minutes, gradually increase to a steady pace (not all-out).

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Week 12: Taper

Monday

• 30–40 min easy
• 4 × 1 min at 10K pace with full recovery

Saturday or race day

• 10K race

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Strength training (highly recommended)

On one or two non-running days (20–30 minutes):

• Squats or goblet squats – 3 × 8–12
• Romanian deadlifts – 3 × 8–12
• Walking lunges – 3 × 10 each leg
• Calf raises – 3 × 15–20
• Planks and side planks – 3 sets

This can improve running economy and reduce injury risk.

Recovery

Since you're only running twice a week, make those runs count:

• Sleep well.
• Stay hydrated.
• Eat a meal with protein and carbohydrates within a couple of hours after your longer or harder run.