Jul 247 min read

How To Train For Your Best 10km

Updated: 2 days ago

How to train for your next 10k

The 10km distance is becoming more and more popular, whether you are someone stepping up from a 5km, trying to raise money for charity, or you are a faster runner trying to test your paces. The 10km is now the country's most commonly run distance, and you can guarantee you will not be standing out on that start line as there are all sorts of abilities and even a few fancy dresses. Despite the fact it is a very commonly run distance, the 10k is not the most simple event to train for.

Building a training program to run a faster 10km can be a complicated issue. 5km training programs are a lot simpler but a 10km is still a fast pace but double the distance. Training for a 10km still requires developing speed, increasing your endurance, and a good amount of mental strength. So, whether you have never run before or you are looking to break 30 minutes, the principles of training and your physiology will be the same- even if your 10km training plans are different.

So, if you are looking to get around your first 10km or looking to win the race- our free personalised training program will help you get there!

How long does it take to get in shape for a 10km?

Now, this question often depends on your starting point and your goals. It makes sense that if you are someone who has never run before the training will be different from the person coming off the back of having run a marathon. The truth is I have seen beginners train for around 4 weeks and break 1 hour and I have seen people who are quite fit take longer to develop the speed to get to the point of running the time they want. Depending on your experience with the distance and your goals it can take from 4-16 weeks to get in shape to run the 10km you want.

Should I race much when I am in training for a 10km?

Bernard Lagat, one of the best 1500m runners of all time, believed in what he called 'racing myself into race', what he meant by this is that he would use races to get himself in peak shape after he had built an aerobic base. So, if you're getting into training for your 10km and feel like you are the type of person who would benefit from a couple of fast parkruns or maybe even a 1500m/mile race- then do it! What I would advise is racing under distance (so anything less than a 10km) to help to develop your speed and improve your mental strength.

Check out this blog from RunnersWorld about Bernard Lagat: Desert Dreams.

How should I pace myself on the day?

Pacing is one of the most difficult parts of running a fast 10km. You can be in great shape and mess up the pacing on the day and walk away with a time that doesn't reflect the shape you are in. So, you have probably all heard of setting off too fast right? Yeah-don't do that! All of the world records over the distance of 800m have been run with a negative split (meaning the second half is faster than the first half). Whatever slower Kilometres you run later in the race, is down to the Kilometres you ran too fast early in the race. I will go into detail about how to train for a 10km in a way that teaches you how to pace yourself.

Principles of how to train for 10km

There are many different methods of training that you may encounter when you search for training for 10km but all great programs will have similar principles but different methods of training. Some programs may say to do fartlek training and others say intervals but often they are both training the same energy system- but are they training that energy system at the right time? ‘Is this the right time to be doing this method of training’, is just as important of a question to ask yourself as ‘is this method of training worth doing’! I will set these principles out in a way that explains the start of the training program first.

Build yourself a base first

Now, this one is not as important if you are just trying to get around a 10km for the first time and aren't too worried about the time. But this rule is about building your aerobic capacity through your long runs, easy runs, and tempo runs, and then having more of a focus on your speed development. Imagine it like this- you're going to build a house, but first, you need the foundation, if that house is built on a strong foundation then it is going to be a good strong house, if it is not built on a good foundation then it will fall in winter, no matter how good the house is. What this means is that if you add in too much fast training before you build yourself an aerobic base, then it doesn't matter how good that fast training is, your house will fall down.

Your long run is key

1 long run per week will help to make that 10km distance feel easier and make you believe that you are capable of conquering it. Long runs are the key to your aerobic development, they help to increase your red blood cell count, increase the amount of oxygen those red blood cells can carry, improve how efficient your body gets at utilising that oxygen, improve how much oxygen your lungs can get in and decrease the amount of oxygen your muscles need. Combine all of that and you have a pretty efficient working cardiovascular system.

Learn more about making the most of your long run here: Long Runs To Build Your Aerobic Base.

Tempos can help speed up your aerobic development

Tempos are effectively a way to train at the top of your aerobic speeds, this requires your body to get really good at using oxygen and helps to increase that aerobic roof, and then you can run faster before you start running anaerobically. Tempos will be a vital part of training for your 10km!

Read: How To Avoid Common Tempo Run Mistakes.

Run strides!

Strides are effectively 50-100m efforts at about 90% of your sprint speed, where you focus on staying relaxed and running with good form. I would recommend adding these in after your easy runs and during your warm-ups before sessions, take a 1-2 minute rest between strides and do between 2-8 reps. Strides will help you to improve your running economy so you waste less energy when running and improve your speed to make all those other paces feel slightly easier. It is crazy to me how many people skip doing their strides- never skip them!

Check out this blog: The Ultimate Guide To Running Strides.

Run hills

Hills can be added to your aerobic base training and should not be as hard as you think. If you finish your hill sessions and you are dead at the end then you have run them too hard. You should finish feeling like you could have done another 3-4 reps. Hills help to develop the strength in your legs and improve your form. Hills are a vital part when you train for 10km as they help to build the strength in your legs to take you around the full distance.

Read: Hill Training For Runners.

Incorporate strength training

Strength training is huge for runners and it is only recently that it has started to get the attention it deserves. Strength training boasts huge benefits such as; decreasing injury rate, increasing running performance, and increasing running economy.

Training for 5km/10km paces

I say 5km/10km because you should also be running faster than the race pace to make the race pace feel easier. These sessions will help to increase your Vo2 Max and when you start doing these you will notice yourself running a lot faster in all areas of your training. These types of sessions are great for learning how to lock into your 10km pace!

Worth a read from FastRunning: James Thie’s go-to 5 & 10k sessions.

The taper

The taper is basically the bit of your training where you drop everything down a gear to get your body ready for race day. This will help to make sure you're ready and fresh on race day so you can get that shiny new PB!

Check out this blog from 'Team RunRun': How To Taper For A 10k.

Other principles I stick by in coaching...

80/20 rules

This rule is pretty simple and basically means you keep 80% of the miles you run easy and 20% of them can be hard. This ensures you are building up your aerobic capacity and also not doing too much hard training that will cause you to burn out or over-train. Things that make up the 80% are things like easy runs, long runs, and cross-training. Things that make up the 20% are things such as intervals, sprints, hills, fartleks, and tempos.

The recovery is just as important as the training

Train hard, recover harder. This is the thinking that you need to adapt, if you keep running hard and are not allowing yourself the time to recover properly then this will lead to burn-out and not adapting from training properly.

Worth a read: How Runners Can Improve Their Recovery Rate.

Invest in the right supplements

A lot of supplements which you will see adverts for are a waste of time. And I wasted a lot of my time (and money) taking way too many supplements.

Read: 6 Supplements Every Runner Should Be Taking.

Drinks on race day?

Well, I was never one for taking a drink around with me during a 10km, although I always would for anything much longer. But during my training, I would focus on making sure I had hydrogenated water which has a lot of serious benefits for your training and fitness.

What if I want to find out how fast I can physically run?

Ever wondered how the best of the best do it? Well, I have been lucky enough to train with some pretty fast runners, and in our training groups the philosophy was simple- build your aerobic base through winter and apply the speed in the summer. If you want to drastically change the level you're running at, then spend a winter or at least 3 months full developing your aerobic base then start doing a training program for 5km/10km. This is effectively what we did every year and we just built our fitness every single year. I only do 1-1 coaching with a few athletes now and one of them has taken his 5km from 20:32 to 19:05 to 17:56 over the 3 seasons (he's 12!!!). This is down to systematically training to improve the right things at the right time of the year.