10K Lydiard – 16 Weeks
Arthur Lydiard
About the plan
Arthur Lydiard's complete pyramid applied to the 10K, in the order he considered non-negotiable: six weeks of aerobic conditioning, four of hills, three of anaerobic development, two of coordination, and race week. The base has nothing anaerobic: six runs a week, one of them steady at marathon pace (Lydiard's “three-quarter effort”), short strides to keep mechanics sharp, and a long run that goes from 11 to 14 miles (18 to 22 km). The hills convert that endurance into power: long climbs on Tuesday and short bounding on Friday, with the steady run moved to Saturday. The anaerobic block is short on purpose: three weeks of 1 km intervals and continuous threshold running. Coordination trades volume for sharpness (200 m sprints) and race-pace tests, and the last week is only about shedding fatigue. Volume runs from 37 to 53 miles (60 to 86 km) per week, with a cutback every three or four weeks. Because the platform has no dedicated hill pace, the long climb appears as interval and the bounding as repetition: what matters is the terrain (look for a steady 4% to 8% grade) and the effort.
The plan in numbers
- Duration
- 16 weeks
- Runs per week
- 6
- Weekly volume
- 42 mi · 11 min → 53 mi
- Longest run
- 14 mi
Week 1 starts at 42 mi · 11 min and volume builds to 53 mi in week 9, the heaviest of the plan.
A typical week has 6 runs, and the longest session reaches 14 mi (Long, week 6).
Race day (7.5 mi) falls on Sunday of week 16; the week holds 16 mi · 5 min of running before it.
There are 2 tune-up races on the way to the goal race.
Key workouts
The quality sessions that come up most in this plan:
- Long15 sessions across 15 weeks
- Repetition14 sessions across 13 weeks
- Marathon10 sessions across 10 weeks
- Interval7 sessions across 7 weeks
Who it's for
Advanced level. To start safely you should already be running about 42 mi · 11 min per week and be comfortable with a 11 mi session — that is what week 1 asks for.
Week 1 — workout preview
42 mi · 11 min this week
7.5 mi
6.2 mi
6.2 mi · 11 min
5 mi
6.2 mi
11 mi
Week 9 — the heaviest of the plan
53 mi this week
9.1 mi
8.1 mi
8.1 mi
5.7 mi
8.7 mi
14 mi
Plan Structure
16 weeks · 95 workouts · 17 rest days
See the full plan
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