We suggest you only do strength work in addition to at least three runs per week, rather than instead of them. These workouts can help improve your strength and flexibility, leading to more efficient movement patterns and fewer injuries. There are usually two 40-minute strength and conditioning sessions each week.

This gives your body a chance to catch up with itself and reduces your chances of getting injured. In our beginner, intermediate and advanced 10km training plans we make every fourth week an “active recovery week” where the training is half as much as normal. Training on undulating terrain is good too, because it spreads the load to a broader range of muscle fibers, compared to running just on flat ground. If possible, do some running on soft surfaces like grass or trails, to lessen the impact on your body. For example run 3 x 8 minutes at your 1-hour race pace, with 60-second recoveries (plus, warm up and warm down). For more experienced runners, you should include a third key weekly workout, of a tempo session. Any other runs could just be steady 30 to 40-minute jogs. The other key run is a speed session, with a warm up, a warm down and some hard efforts sandwiched in between (like 5 x 3 minutes hard with 90-second recoveries). The first key session is an endurance run, where you eventually build up to 1 hour of low intensity running. Now you can start to vary your training more.Īt this point, you can build your training around two or three key runs each week. Build up your training gradually until you’re able to run 30 minutes comfortably. If you’re at the point where you can comfortably run 15 minutes without walking, you can then aim to increase the duration of your workouts by no more than 10% per week.

Over time you can gradually reduce the duration of your walking sections, as you get fitter. To achieve this low intensity, you may need to include some walking sections in your runs – there’s nothing wrong with that. Most of your runs should be done at an easy chatting pace, to reduce the risk of injury. Start by aiming to run two or three times per week, for 15 minutes per session.

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