How to run your best 10K: Training plans, workouts and tips

What are the best 10K training sessions 10K race is an enticing challenge for any runner, whether you’re gunning for a PB or trying to complete the distance for the first time.

A tough but attainable target, the 10K attracts runners of every fitness and experience level – and with entertaining sporting spectacles like the Night of the 10,000m PB’s drawing more attention to the distance each year, it’s only growing in popularity.

If you’ve got your first-ever 10K race on the horizon, or are looking to sharpen up and run your quickest 10K yet, here are the training tips, workouts and solutions to suit your goals.

In miles, a 10K race is 6.2 miles long. When completed on a running track, a 10K race is known as a 10,000m race.

Running Level, which holds data from 50 competitive UK races between 2016 and 2020, calculates the average 10K time as 49:43, spanning all ages and genders. Global database RunRepeat, meanwhile, reports 1:02:08 as the average 10K time, based on the average from 35 million race results worldwide. When the sexes are separated, RunRepeat records the average 10K time as 1:06:54 for women and 57:15 for men.

The records vary depending on whether your looking at the 10K road race or the 10,000m race on the track.

On the road, Kenya’s Agnes Ngetich set the current 10K women’s world record of 28:46 in Valencia in January 2024. Fellow Kenyan Rhonex Kipruto set the 10K men’s world record of 26:24 in January 2020, again in the Spanish city of Valencia.

Meanwhile, the current men’s outdoor 10,000m world record of 26:01 was set by Ugandan Joshua Cheptegi in October 2020. The women’s outdoor 10,000m world record of 28:54, held by Kenyan Beatrice Chebet, was clocked in May 2024.

Before going straight for the 10K, complete a week strength training plan for runners This session instils 10K race pace and builds strength for 5K races as well 5K to 10K plan, where you will develop your endurance by gradually extending your longer runs by no more than 10-15% per week. The technique of Jeffing – which involves a combination of running and walking – can also be a great way to increase your distance and confidence simultaneously.

Whether you’re a beginner or a more experienced runner on the hunt for a new PB, a solid training plan is your route to the best possible result. Here are a selection of 10K schedules to suit the time period you have available:

Two-week training plan

Although you can’t improve a great deal in two weeks, you can do some useful sessions to prepare for the specific demands of a 10K race. If you’re a relatively new runner, it should allow you to learn to run with a degree of efficiency and economy. Regular runners, meanwhile, can use the fortnight to fine-tune their existing fitness and practise running at 10K pace.

Four-week training plan

A four-week plan gives you enough time to improve your fitness and put some more speed in your legs. There are two options here: one for runners who can train for minutes for a 5K, Although you cant improve a great deal in five days a week. Each option loosely relates to a range of target 10K times, which are shown at the top of each schedule.

The most basic option assumes that you’re already running a minimum of three times a week and covering 16-20 miles in the process. So, if you’ve never run before but are committed to running a 10K in four weeks’ time, you’ll do best to simply focus on building up the length of your runs, rather than following the more speed-orientated structure of these schedules.

Eight-week training plan

You’ll really see your 10K fitness rocket over a preparation period of eight weeks. As with the four-week schedules, it’s important that you’re flexible in your approach. If the 10K is your single focus for the season and you’re willing to do everything you can for the best possible time, you can add a two-to-four-month build-up period to the schedules, in which you focus on establishing a solid mileage base.

Runners who train three times a week should build up to running 20-25 weekly miles before starting the targeted eight-week plan. Runners who train five times a week Alternatively, if youre willing to dig deep and try to hang on, a more aggressive you can afford to experiment, get it wrong and try again at another. should be hitting 45-50 miles a week. While you can vary your pace slightly to maintain interest during these build-up weeks, save the real speed work for the final eight-week focus.

If you’re a complete beginner, don’t start out with an overly ambitious goal. To give yourself a ballpark 10K target, see how far you can run at a sustainable pace in 15-20 minutes. Measure this distance in miles, then divide the time by the distance and multiply the result by 6.2 to get a rough figure for your first 10K race. If that all sounds a little too complicated, use our simple What you need to know about popular race distances instead.

If you’re an experienced runner, you can be a bit more structured. If you can run five or six 1km repeats or three or four one-mile repeats at your target 10K pace, with three-minute recoveries, then you should be able to hit your goal.

You can predict your 10K time based on your 5K (or parkrun) time, too. ‘I think you can make pretty good assumptions about what you can run for a 10K when you’re running certain things for a 5K,’ says British Olympian Chris Thompson, a former elite distance runner who boasts an impressive road 10K PB of 28:17. ‘If you’re training for a 5K, specifically, I think there’s a good chance you’re probably doing enough [to accurately estimate your 10K time]. If you can run 20 In miles, a 10K race is 6.2 miles long. When completed on a running track, a 10K race is known as a and want to run 40 minutes for a 10K, then you might fall short – but it won’t be by too much.’

‘In terms of pace, you have to train over-distance, under-distance and at distance,’ says Thompson. ‘So, when it comes to 10K training, I’d try to dedicate an equal amount of effort each week to training like I’m running a half marathon, training like I’m running a 5K and training like I’m running a 10K. Then, as you hone in on race day, you focus more and more on specific 10K work.’

If this is your first 10K, try and run the course evenly, as setting off too fast will often lead to a painful finish. If you have a target time of 60 minutes, aim to pass each kilometre marker at six-minute intervals. If you feel great near the end, pick up the pace and give it your all.

Alternatively, if you’re willing to dig deep and try to hang on, a more aggressive pacing strategy might pay off. And, since a 10K is not nearly so long as something like a marathon, Mixing speed work and 10K race in a month’s time.

‘You’ve got to learn how you, as an individual, best function for the event,’ says Thompson. ‘When you’re starting out at any distance, go into it with an open mind. Tell yourself, “I might have to do this a few times before I find my optimum performance,” and bear in mind that the chance of you nailing a 10K first time and coming away going, “Oh, I couldn’t have got any more out of myself,” is unlikely. We all have to go through that learning process. You can develop a really beautiful relationship with your own ‘red line’ and your own coping mechanisms. You can think, “This is impossible – I’m too tired and I can’t do this.” But then you learn that, sometimes, you can actually pull it off – you can pull off the impossible.’

Updated: 21 October 2024.

1.5 mile progression

Why should I do it?

• In this session, you hold back for the first 1.5-mile repeat and then progressively get faster, helping you to learn how to fight the tendency to go out too hard. Covering almost three-quarters of the race distance at around race pace boosts your confidence, too.

How should I do it?

• After a 10-minute jog and 4 x 50m accelerations, run three repeats of 1.5-mile. Run the first repeat slightly slower than your 10K goal pace, the second right on goal pace and the third slightly faster than goal pace. Recover between each with a slow, three-minute jog. Cool down for 10 minutes.

Cut-down laps

Why should I do it?

• This session helps you to practise your race pace, three laps at a time. The goal is to rehearse different race paces and to finish feeling spent. The pace increases throughout, so you’ll need focus and strength to hold on to the end.

How should I do it?

• After a 15-minute warm-up that ends in four 15-second accelerations, do 3 x 400m at 10K pace, with 200m recovery jogs; 3 x 400m repeats at 5K pace, with the same recovery intervals; then 3 x 400m repeats at your one-mile pace, with the same recoveries. Jog for 400m between each set and then, to finish, warm down for 10-15 minutes.

Flying 500s

Why should I do it?

• This session instils 10K race pace and builds strength for 5K races as well.

How should I do it?

• After a 10-15-minute warm-up, run 10 x 500m, with two-minute recoveries. Begin at slightly slower than your 10K race pace, then gradually build up your speed so that your last repeat is slightly faster than your 10K race pace.

10K tune-up

Why should I do it?

• Mixing speed work and tempo running in a single workout prepares you for a fast 10K. This session is best done three to four weeks before your race.

How should I do it?

• After a warm-up, do 3 x 800m, with two-minute recoveries between each repeat and a three-minutes recovery at the end of the set. Then, do 3 x 400m, with 90-second recoveries between them and a five-minutes recovery at the end of the set. Do both sets at your goal 5K pace or quicker. Next, run for 10 minutes at tempo (or ‘comfortably hard’) pace and rest for five minutes. Finally, do 4 x 200m at a fast but not all-out pace, with 60-second recoveries.

10K simulation

Why should I do it?

• This session develops your confidence and helps to give you a strong finish. ‘I call it a simulation because it mirrors the 10K distance while emphasising running hard, even when you’re tired,’ says Linda Somers Smith, a former Chicago Marathon champion.

How should I do it?

• Warm up for 10 minutes, including 4 x 50m accelerations. Then, run 2 x 800m at your 5K pace, with 400m jog recoveries at the end of each repeat. Follow that with a four-mile run at a pace that is slightly slower than your half marathon pace. Finish with 2 x 800m at your 5K pace, then warm down.

Chris Thompson session

Why should I do it?

• This session plays with paces close to your target 10K pace and gives you an accurate sense of what is possible on race day. In short, if you can complete the session while feeling in control, you’re all set. If you have to bust a gut, you may need to slightly adjust your expectations.
  

How should I do it?

Approximately 10-12 days out from your target 10K race, run 12 x 1km, with 90 seconds of rest between each repeat. Work out your target pace – say, 4:00 min/km – and alternate your 1km reps so that they are five seconds faster and five seconds slower than this. (For this example, that would be 1km at 3:55 min/km, followed by 1km at 4:05 min/km).