I'm Getting Schooled... Part 4 of 5 (10k Training Plan)

As I alluded to in the first part of this series, I have done alright on my own as a runner, and have come a long way since my clueless beginnings.  However, my marathon PR still sits 20 minutes away from a Boston Qualifier, and I am looking for better improvements.  Hence, it's time for a coaching change (I'm firing myself).


With the change comes a new and welcome training plan, customized for me by Coach Wadsworth.  In the short term, I've got my sights on a 10k race, and that training plan is what I'm going to share with you today.  While this 5 week 10k training plan was tailored for me, I'm sure there are many runners who could gain something by it.


I would describe the plan as advanced, and geared toward a half or full marathoner who needs to squeeze in a 10k.  Note that the minimum daily mileage besides Sundays and race week is 6 miles, and it maxes out at about 56 miles in the third week.  One possible inconvenience is instead of listing paces for each workout, the speed is determined by heart rate zones.  I will go into more details after the training plan chart.

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
Rest or (E-A) 6 miles	(E-A) 6 miles	(E-A) 7 miles/strides	(T) 2 miles	(E-A) 7 miles	(E-A) 10 miles	Rest
Intervals 4x800, 4x400, 4x200 meters w/equal jog rest (T-I) zone	(E-A) 7 miles	(E-A) 7 miles/strides	(T) 3 miles	(E-A) 7 miles	(A) 12 miles	Rest
Fartlek 15x60 sec. w/equal jog rest (T-I) zone	(E-A) 7 miles	(E-A) 8 miles/strides	(T-I) 4 miles progressive	(E-A) 7 miles	(A) 14 miles	Rest
Intervals 5x1000, 4x200 meters w/equal jog rest (T-I) zone	(E-A) 7 miles	(E-A) 7 miles/strides	(T-I) 4.5 miles progressive	(E-A) 6 miles	(A) 10 miles	Rest
Fartlek 10x90 sec. w/ 2 min. jog rest	(E-A) 6 miles	(E-A) 5 miles/strides 8x200 meter fast w/ 200 jog	(E-A) 4-5 miles	Easy jog 3-4 miles w/ strides	10k Race	Rest

Notes: Blue denotes a recovery week.  Week 1 was denoted a recovery week because I just raced a half marathon the day before.

Heart Rate Training Zones:

(E) - Easy/Recovery Zone:  70% LT - 84% LT*

(A) - Aerobic Maintenance Zone:  85% LT - 95% LT*

(T) - Threshold/Steady Zone:  Lactate Threshold HR ± 2%*

(I) - Interval Zone: 102% LT - Max HR*

*To make this plan as generic as I could, I converted the zones to percentages of Lactate Threshold.  You will have to either get a LT test done or make some educated guesses to obtain desired heart rates.  One estimate to determine LT is to take 85% - 90% of your max HR.  My LT is about 88% of my Max HR.  If you want to throw out all this Lactate Threshold and heart rate stuff, you could simply think of the 4 zones as slow, medium, fast, and fastest.

One of my pet peeves of a lot of other training plans found across the world wide web is they only give minimal information like distance and maybe a 2 word description.  They might say nothing about intensity or specifics of the speed work.  Hopefully I can fill in the gaps.

• E-A runs start in the Easy zone, finish in the Aerobic zone.
• Jog between intervals.  Allow HR to dip below Easy zone before starting next one.
• For all Interval, Threshold, or Fartlek days add a 2-3 mile easy warm-up and a 2-3 mile cool-down to what's listed in the chart.
• The fartlek repetitions should get gradually faster (progressive) so that although they might last the same duration, you should cover greater distances as the workout goes on.
• Strides are 100-200 meter accelerations at 80-95% max speed with a short 1-2 minute rest between. Aim for 4-8 repetitions and relaxed but fast running.  Do strides at the end of the day's run with no jogging in between.

Feel free to contact me if I left out any details.  Maybe this training plan will be helpful to others who are needing to mix things up a bit like I did.  In my final post for my coaching series, I will go over what all this advice has been costing me.  Thanks for reading.



Go To:
Part 1 of 5 (My New Coach)

Part 2 of 5 (Lactate Threshold Test)

Part 3 of 5 (AlterG)

Part 5 of 5 (Coaching Costs)