Training Plans

Below are two of the training plans the group has used over 8 week blocks. These are the types of sessions to do if you are looking to improve your time.

You should probably have an idea of your 5k / 10k / half-marathon paces already.

You can use a pace calculator such as this one.
For the Half Marathon pace, if you haven't ran a half before and are unsure on this, not to worry. target around 60 seconds a minute per mile slower than your 10k pace.
"Hard" means run at close to maximum effort.

5k Improvers

Session 1

10 x 400m @ slightly faster than 5k pace / 200m active recovery (walk or jog)

Session 2

10 x 1 mins @ 5k pace / 1 min recovery (walk or jog)

5 mins @ 10k pace

6 x 30 second sprints / 90 second recovery

Session 3

Hill Session - Run 8 x 90 seconds running uphill. Slow jog back downhill as recovery.

Session 4

Cirhan's Project 15 - 15 x 1 minute running hard / 1 minute recovery (easy jog)

Try to run a consistent pace on the hard sections during the session

Session 5

12345 workout

Run 1 minute hard / 1 minute recovery
Run 2 mins hard / 2 mins recovery
Run 3 mins hard / 3 mins recovery
Run 4 mins hard / 4 mins recovery
Run 5 mins hard / 5 mins recovery
Run 4 mins hard / 4 mins recovery
Run 3 mins hard / 3 mins recovery
Run 2 mins hard / 2 mins recovery
Run 1 minute hard / 1 minute recovery

Run the hard sections at a pace you can maintain for that distance. Recovery can be walk or jog.

Session 6

Sprint workout

Sprint for 30 seconds / recovery 90 seconds (walk or slow jog) Repeat x 15

Session 7

Tempo Run

Run 30 minutes at around 30 seconds slower than 5k pace

Session 8

5 x 1k reps / 200m recovery (walk or jog)

10k Improvers

Session 1

Cirhan's Project 15 - 15 x 1 minute running hard / 1 minute recovery (easy jog)

Try to run a consistent pace on the hard sections during the session

Session 2

Track session, or alternatively find a loop that is roughly 400m / 0.25 miles, or a nice straight road or path to go up and down.

3 laps (1,200m) at 10k pace / 90s recovery jog
3 laps (1,200m) at 5k pace / 90s recovery jog
3 half laps (200m) sprint / 90s recovery jog

Session 3

Either find a loop to run on that is approximately half a kilometre (500m, or 0.31miles), or find a nice straight area you can run up and down. Run alternating half kilometres at 10k pace and then half kilometre at half marathon pace, and repeat this at least 6 times. The half marathon pace will effectively be your recovery.

Session 4

Run 2 x 5 mins @ 10k pace with 1 min recovery between each one
Rest for 2 minutes
Run 2 x 4 mins @ just under 10k pace with 1 min recovery between each one
Rest for 90 seconds
Run 3 x 2 mins @ 5k pace with 1 min recovery between each one
Rest for 60 seconds
Run 4 x 200m hard with 30 sec recovery between each one

Session 5

Run 8 x 3 mins @ 5k pace / 1 min recovery jog
Recovery jog for 5 mins
Run 4 x 1 min hard / 1 min recovery jog

Session 6

8 x 1km @ 10k pace / 2 minutes recovery jog between each km

Session 7

Hill Session - 6 x 2 minutes @ 10k pace running uphill. Slow jog back downhill as recovery.

Session 8

12 x 400m reps @ 5k pace / 2 minutes recovery jog