Why exactly this guide to a sub 60 minute 10k? Recently I published a Guide to sub 30 minute 5k. You will find the link to it at the end of this post. Many runners from all around the world reached out to me and asked, if I could also publish a Guide to sub 60 minute 10k. Here it is.
If you want to run a sub 60 minute 10k you need to run 10 times 1 kilometer at 5.59 min/km or 9.34 min/mile. In order to achieve this goal you need a bit of fitness, some endurance and there’s nothing wrong if you can already run further than 7 kilometers. If not, we should get you there with this plan.
In order to run 10 kilometers in less than 60 minutes, your training plan needs a little structure. Down below you will find a basic training plan, that should work for you. It worked for quite some runners I coached to this goal over the last 2 years and I’m pretty sure it will also work for you.
How to start your training
Before you start with the training you should do a 6k time trail to determine your starting point.
Warm up for 10 to 15 minutes, after that run for 6 kilometers. This should be a hard but controlled effort, the best you can do on the day. Don’t go out too fast, it should comfortable hard but at a pace you can sustain for the whole 6 kilometers. And after the time trail run 5 to 10 minutes easy to cool down.
The average pace of this time trail is your reference point for interval sessions. All you need to do is to adjust your pace accordingly.
As for the Sunday long run: in the first week of training you will find a long run of 50 to 60 minutes easy in the training plan. If your longest run up to this day was 30 minutes, start from there and take a few weeks to build up the time gradually.
I recorded and published an episode in The Happy Runner podcast with more information. Feel free to listen to it. You can find the episode on:
or
Training plan
| Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat | Sun | |
| week 1 | rest day | 30 min easy | 5x 1k at time trail pace | rest day | strength or cross training | 30 min easy | 50 – 60 min easy |
| week 2 | rest day | 30 min easy | 10x 500m 5-10% faster than time trail pace | rest day | strength or cross training | 30 min easy | 60 – 70 min easy |
| week 3 | rest day | 40 min easy | 12x 400m 10-20% faster than time trail pace | rest day | strength or cross training | 30 – 40 min easy | 70 – 80 min easy |
| week 4 | rest day | 30 min easy | 6k time trail | rest day | strength or cross training | 30 min easy | 50 – 60 min easy |
| week 5 | rest day | 40 min easy | 6x 1k at time trail pace | rest day | strength or cross training | 30 min easy | 15 min easy 30 min goal pace 15 min easy |
| week 6 | rest day | 40 min easy | 12x 500m 5-10% faster than time trail pace | rest day | strength or cross training | 30 min easy | 15 min easy 15 min medium 30 min goal pace 5 min easy |
| week 7 | rest day | 40 min easy | 6x 1k at goal pace | rest day | strength or cross training | 20 min easy | 45 – 50 min easy |
| week 8 | rest day | 30 min easy | 4-6x 500m at goal pace | 30 min easy | rest day | 20 min easy | 10k race |
It’s not a tailor made training plan just for you. If you want such a training plan and the support from me along the way, feel free to reach out to me over the contact form and if you want to start with a 5k training plan first, feel free to use the
Guide to sub 30 minute 5k training plan
Depending on your start point it might take some time to reach your goal. Be patient, trust the training and you will get there.
