XC Champs Schedule

The general philosophy is to run 3 key club sessions a week, Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. Saturday is a mix of Parkruns, XC and easy runs, and Sundays are long runs building up to Half Marathon Distance and tuning to race pace . This 8 week schedule is designed to get you to the start line of the PH Cross Country Champs with confidence

Customization

The schedule shown is for a runner hoping to complete a 10KM race in a time of 01:10:00.

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Full Schedule:

Use our pace calculator to find out more about the terms used in the schedule.

Week 1

03/01/22-09/01/22

Monday
Tuesday	Canal. 4 miles Easy, 0 miles Threshold (53 - 56 mins)
Wednesday
Thursday	4 (beginner) or 6-8 x {400m (5k pace=2'41'') [400m jog recovery]} Total 2400-3200m hard, 2400-3200m recovery
Friday
Saturday
Sunday	6 miles Steady (1h14 - 1h20)

Week 2

10/01/22-16/01/22

Monday
Tuesday	Canal. 4 miles Easy (53 - 56 mins)
Wednesday
Thursday	2 (beginner) or 3-4 x {800m (10k pace=5'36'')[400m jog recovery]+400m (5k pace=2'41'')[400m jog recovery]} Total 3600-4800m hard, 2400-3200 recovery
Friday
Saturday
Sunday	7 miles Easy (1h33 - 1h38)

Week 3

17/01/22-23/01/22

Monday
Tuesday	2 x 10min Kenyan Hills with 3 min rest between
Wednesday
Thursday	2 (beginner) or 3-4 x {400m (10k pace=2'48'') 400m (5k pace=2'41'') [200m jog recovery] 200m (3k pace=1'18'') [400m jog recovery]} Total 3000-4000m hard, 1800-2400m recovery
Friday
Saturday
Sunday	100 min or Fred Hughes 10 miler

Week 4

24/01/22-30/01/22

Monday
Tuesday	Paddington. 5 miles Easy (1h07 - 1h10)
Wednesday
Thursday	2 (beginner) or 3-4 x {1600m (10k pace=11'12'')[600m recovery jog]} Total 4800-6400m hard, 1800-2400m recovery.
Friday
Saturday
Sunday	5 miles Steady, 1mile Threshold (1h13 - 1h18)

Week 5

31/01/22-06/02/22

Monday
Tuesday	2 x 15 min Kenyan Hills with 3 min rest between
Wednesday
Thursday	3-4 (beginner) or 4-5x {1200m (10k pace=8'24'') [400m jog recovery]+ 4x {200m (3k pace=1'18'') [200m recovery]}. Total 5600-6800m hard, 2400-2800m recovery
Friday
Saturday
Sunday	9 miles Steady (1h51 - 2h00)

Week 6

07/02/22-13/02/22

Monday
Tuesday	70-80 min (Highgate plus outer circle)
Wednesday
Thursday	3 (beginner) or 4-5x {1600m (10m pace=11'31'') [400m recovery]} Total 6400-7200m hard, 1600-2000m recovery
Friday
Saturday
Sunday	8 miles Easy, 1mile Threshold (1h58 - 2h04)

Week 7

14/02/22-20/02/22

Monday
Tuesday	2 x 20 min Kenyan Hills with 3 min rest between
Wednesday
Thursday	4-5x (beginner) or 6-8 x {800m (10k pace=5'36'') [400m jog recovery]}. Total 4800-6400m hard, 2400-3200m recovery
Friday
Saturday
Sunday	7 miles Easy (1h33 - 1h38)

Week 8

21/02/22-27/02/22

Race Day!

Monday
Tuesday	Short Canal. 2.5 miles Easy (33 - 35 mins)
Wednesday
Thursday	1-2 (beginner) or 2-3x {1000m (10m pace=7'12'') [200m recovery]} + 3x {200m (3k pace=1'18'') [200m recovery]} Total 2600-3600 hard, 1000-1200 recovery
Friday
Saturday
Sunday	2 miles Easy (27 - 28 mins)

Advice

It's important to be flexible out your schedule. This plan is just an outline and it is important to pay attention to how you feel. Here are some tips:

If you are ill or injured, rest.
If you miss some sessions, just let them go. Don't try and catch up and don't beat yourself up. Everyone misses some sessions, you don't have to hit every one to achieve your goal.
Don't worry if you have a bad session or even a couple of bad weeks. It happens to all of us. But if you do continue to find the schedule too tough, ease off.
All times and distances are approximate. If you're doing a tough route, run by time rather than distance as it is the effort you put in that counts not the distance.