Picture yourself! You’re at the finish line of your first 10km fun run, a huge smile on your face, injury-free and feeling great! Well, over the next twelve weeks you’re going to get yourself  Central Coast 10km FUN RUN ready! To keep your motivation high, use this program to set yourself small achievable goals in the lead up to the big day and put together a great playlist of music! You’re ready to start training to run your first 10km.

If you are brand new to running, start gradually and focus on just moving for the recommended time and slowly build up the amount of training you do. If you’re already running focus on keeping your balance, staying agile and setting some personal best distance/time goals for yourself! Feel free to check in with the team at Mingara One Fitness for more information

The end goal

To feel great on the day and then to run the 10km fun run unbroken and enjoy the whole experience!

Your Main Focus

Do some of your own research and find some great areas to run in your own area. Make sure you keep your body nourished with healthy foods and lots of water. Finally, do whatever you need to do to enjoy the program. If you swap out one of the running sessions for a Yoga class, then go you!!!
colourful healthy food

How to train

By training in three different ways! Some of the longer stuff will build up your endurance for running the distance and then some speed work to enhance your overall cardiovascular fitness!

  • Long Slow Distance Runs
  • Speed Sessions
  • Endurance Based Intervals

Approximate Running Speed / Time Goals

It’s a really good idea to download some APP’s so you will be able to track your runs. You want something that will be able to track your distance, total time as well as your average 1km pace.

All of your wearable devices such as Garmin, Polar, Nike and Suunto have their own apps that will be able to track this data. If you only have a smartphone we personally recommend the Strava app and the Nike + Running app.

To get a gauge of your 1km pace Try running 1km as fast as possible and compare it with the times below. At the end of this goal, you should aim to run the whole run at the same pace!

Cheetah: < 5min / km         Steady On: < 5.45 – 6min / km       Doing Great: 6.45 – 7:30/ km +

Schedule

Run 3 times per week

  • 1 x Intervals
  • 1 x Speed Session
  • 1 x Long Slow Distance

Maintenance

Before every run, we recommend that you spend at least 10 minutes walking and doing some light stretches as you go. Keep as warm as possible before you start especially if you’re going out early in the morning!

Recovery is key to not only feeling your best on the day but having an injury free lead up and run!  Ensure you are working on your mobility and postural muscles. If possible choose a few from the list below and try and do at least 3 x per week.

colourful running shoes

12 Week training plan

12 weeks to go
  • Long slow run: 30mins run, jog gradually increasing pace (Start at a slower pace and finish with a strong/fast pace)
  • Intervals: 1min of walking, 1 min of jogging, 1 min of running, repeat 5 times (A good alternative is to walk/run from light pole to light pole)
  • 1 – 2 Kms Speed Work, aim to repeat the below sequence 2-3 times (walking rest 3-5 mins between each)
  • 200m moderate pace,
  • 200m fast,
  • 200m moderate pace,
11 weeks to go
  • Long slow run: 40mins run, consistent pace, aim to do the same average pace as last week.
  • Intervals: 1min of walking, 2 min of jogging, 1 min of running, Repeat 5 times
  • Speed Work,
  • 30 secs sprint at a fast pace
  • 1min walk/jog
  • Repeat 10 times
10 weeks to go
  • Long slow run: 45 mins run, take your time with this one! Just try and run for the whole time
  • Intervals: at a moderate pace aim to complete the below in less than 30 mins:
  • 1km walk/ jog
  • 1km run
  • 1km walk/ jog
  • 1km run
  • Speed Work: Find a longer hill or run at an incline on a treadmill of 7% +
  • Jog for 2 mins
  • Sprint for 1min
  • Walk for 1 min
  • Repeat this process 4 times
9 weeks to go
  • Long slow run: 50 mins run, jog gradually increasing pace (start at a slower pace and finish with a strong/fast pace in the last 10mins of your run).
  • Intervals:
  • Jog 400m
  • Run 400m
  • Jog 800m
  • Run 800m
  • Jog 400m
  • Run 400m
  • Jog 200m
  • Sprint 200m
  • Speed Work: Try to get the same time
  • Run 1km as fast as you can
  • Walking rest for 5 mins
  • Run 1km as fast as you can
8 weeks to go
  • Long slow run: 55 mins run, try to run for the whole time! See if you can get 7kms or more on this run!
  • Intervals:
  • Jog for 800m
  • Sprint for 200m
  • Repeat 3 times
  • Speed Work: either on a treadmill or at a park
  • 100m sprint
  • 100m Walking rest back to the start
  • Try to achieve 10 repeats of this

colourful running shoes in a race

7 weeks to go
  • Long slow run: 60 mins run, this is it, 1 hour! Just see how you go! Make sure you record your distance for next week!
  • Intervals: at a fast pace aim to complete the below in less than 25 mins:
  • 1km walk/ jog
  • 1km run
  • 1km walk/ jog
  • 1km run
  • Speed Work: find a large hill or run on an incline great than 7% on the treadmill.
  • Run for 3 mins at a moderate pace
  • Walking rest for 3 mins
  • Repeat 4 x
6 weeks to go
  • Long slow run: 50 mins run. Run this at a faster pace than your previous long runs. Aim to achieve a similar distance to your 60 min run last week.
  • Intervals:
  • Jog 1km
  • Run 1km
  • Jog 800m
  • Run 800m
  • Jog 400m
  • Run 400m
  • Jog 200m
  • Sprint 200m
  • Speed Work: find a large hill or run on an incline great than 7% on the treadmill
  • 1 min jog/walk
  • 1min sprint
  • Repeat 8 times
5 weeks to go
  • First Distance Run Today: Jog / Run 6-8 km in less than 50mins today
  • Intervals: Try and make 4km+
  • Jog for 5 mins
  • Run 3mins
  • Repeat 4 times
  • Speed Work
  • Sprint / Run 500m
  • Active recovery jog for 500m
  • Repeat 3 times

woman celebrating completing a running race

4 weeks to go
  • Todays Goal! Get to 10km!!! You can run, jog, walk, crawl if you have to! Just get that distance and record your time!
  • Intervals:
  • Jog for 600m
  • Sprint for 400m
  • Repeat 3 times
  • Speed Work: Double Tabata, Quick One on the treadmill or oval!
  • Sprint for 20 secs (50m)
  • Rest 10 secs (Walk )
  • Repeat 8 times
  • Rest for 5 mins
  • Sprint for 20 secs (50m)
  • Rest 10 secs (Walk )
  • Repeat 8 times
3 weeks to go
  • Distance Run Today: Run 8 km in less than 60mins today
  • Intervals:
  • Jog 1km
  • Run 300m
  • Jog 300m
  • Run 200m
  • Jog 200m
  • Run 100m
  • Sprint 100m
  • Speed Work: try to get the same time.
  • Run 1km as fast as you can
  • Walking rest for 5 mins
  • Run 1km as fast as you can
2 weeks to go
  • Time goal today: See if you can run continuously for 90mins today, if you have to, have breaks, walk, jog as you need to. Try and find an outdoor area that you love. Record your distance.
  • Intervals:
  • Jog 300m
  • Run 600m
  • Repeat 5 x
  • Speed Work:
  • 5 x 200m sprints with 2 mins between each
1 week to go
  • This is it!!! Time to take it easy, do a nice easy 40min run, aim for 5 km
  • Intervals:
  • 1 min walk
  • 1 min jog
  • 1 min fast run
  • Repeat 4 times
  • Speed Work,
  • Take it easy this week! You’ve earnt it!

Get excited

It is time for the 10km the big day! Enjoy it, smile, go in confident that you are well prepared, you have trained hard – you’ve run 10km before – you have got this! Most importantly be proud of yourself – you set yourself a challenge. You have trained to run your first 10km event and guess what – you’re going to smash it!
sillouhette of a lady jumping

For more tips about running

Mingara One Fitness trainer John McAleer share his running tips on running technique, stretches and more. Click here to watch the video and learn more!

Join Mingara One Fitness today