Your first 10K
Finish 10 km comfortably — 10 weeks, 4 running days a week.
10 weeksTen weeks from a comfortable 5K to a finished 10K. There is no time goal here on purpose — doubling your longest distance is the achievement, and chasing a time at the same moment is how people end up injured in week seven. The only number that matters in this plan is the long run, and it grows by roughly one kilometre a week.
Before you start: You can run 5 km continuously without walking.
The full 10-week schedule
Every session written out. Print this page — the navigation, banners and footer are all stripped from the printed version, leaving the table.
| Week | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat | Sun | Long run |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rest | 6 × 400 m at a hard-but-controlled effort, 90 s walk | Easy 4 km | Rest | Easy 4 km | Cross-train 30–40 min — cycling, swimming or brisk walking. Easy effort. Skip it entirely if the legs are heavy. | Long run 5 km, easy | 5 km |
| 2 | Rest | 6 × 400 m, 90 s walk | Easy 4 km | Rest | Easy 4 km | Cross-train 30–40 min — cycling, swimming or brisk walking. Easy effort. Skip it entirely if the legs are heavy. | Long run 6 km, easy | 6 km |
| 3 | Rest | 10 min at a comfortably-hard tempo effort | Easy 4.5 km | Rest | Easy 4.5 km | Cross-train 30–40 min — cycling, swimming or brisk walking. Easy effort. Skip it entirely if the legs are heavy. | Long run 6.5 km, easy | 6.5 km |
| 4 Cutback week |
Rest | 8 × 400 m, 90 s walk | Easy 4.5 km | Rest | Easy 4.5 km | Cross-train 30–40 min — cycling, swimming or brisk walking. Easy effort. Skip it entirely if the legs are heavy. | Long run 5 km, easy | 5 km |
| 5 | Rest | 2 × 8 min tempo, 3 min jog between | Easy 5 km | Rest | Easy 5 km | Cross-train 30–40 min — cycling, swimming or brisk walking. Easy effort. Skip it entirely if the legs are heavy. | Long run 7.5 km, easy | 7.5 km |
| 6 | Rest | 5 × 600 m, 2 min jog | Easy 5 km | Rest | Easy 5 km | Cross-train 30–40 min — cycling, swimming or brisk walking. Easy effort. Skip it entirely if the legs are heavy. | Long run 8 km, easy | 8 km |
| 7 Cutback week |
Rest | 15 min tempo | Easy 5 km | Rest | Easy 5 km | Cross-train 30–40 min — cycling, swimming or brisk walking. Easy effort. Skip it entirely if the legs are heavy. | Long run 6.5 km, easy | 6.5 km |
| 8 | Rest | 4 × 800 m, 2 min jog | Easy 5.5 km | Rest | Easy 5.5 km | Cross-train 30–40 min — cycling, swimming or brisk walking. Easy effort. Skip it entirely if the legs are heavy. | Long run 9 km, easy | 9 km |
| 9 Longest run of the plan |
Rest | 2 × 10 min tempo, 3 min jog | Easy 5 km | Rest | Easy 5 km | Cross-train 30–40 min — cycling, swimming or brisk walking. Easy effort. Skip it entirely if the legs are heavy. | Long run 10 km, easy | 10 km |
| 10 Goal week |
Rest | 3 km easy with 4 × 20 s strides | Easy 4 km | Rest | Easy 4 km | Cross-train 30–40 min — cycling, swimming or brisk walking. Easy effort. Skip it entirely if the legs are heavy. | Race: 10K | Race: 10K |
How to run this plan
- Run the long run slowly — at least a minute per kilometre slower than your 5K pace.
- Walk breaks in the long run are completely legitimate and do not make the run count for less.
- One quality session a week is enough at this stage; the aerobic base is what you are building.
- In Indian summer conditions, move the long run to before 06:00 and carry fluid from 8 km onwards.
Strength work. Strength: 20 min of squats, lunges, single-leg calf raises, glute bridges and planks. This is the injury insurance. Add it on an easy day or straight after an easy run — never the day before a quality session.
The principle underneath the table
Roughly eighty per cent of the running in this plan is easy, and that ratio is not a compromise — it is the mechanism. Easy running builds the aerobic machinery that lets you absorb the hard sessions; hard running that is not paid for by easy running just accumulates fatigue. The most common way an amateur plan fails is that the easy days creep up to a moderate pace, the hard days consequently drift down to the same moderate pace, and the runner spends twelve weeks training one gear.
The second principle is the cutback week. Volume in this plan does not climb monotonically; every third or fourth week it drops. Adaptation happens during recovery, not during the session, and a plan without down weeks is a plan that banks fatigue until something gives.
The third is the taper. The last two weeks reduce volume sharply while keeping a small amount of intensity. It will feel wrong. Do it anyway — nothing you run in the final fortnight can make you fitter, and plenty of it can make you tired.
Questions
How long is the first 10k plan?
10 weeks, running 4 days a week. You can run 5 km continuously without walking.
What if I miss a week?
One missed week: pick the plan up where you left off, do not try to catch up by doubling anything. Two or more: step back two weeks in the schedule and rebuild. The plan is a progression, and the progression is the part that works — skipping forward to stay 'on schedule' is how people get injured in week ten.
Can I move the days around?
Yes, with one rule: keep at least one easy or rest day between the quality sessions and the long run. The days of the week are arbitrary; the spacing is not.
Do I need a time goal?
No, and for this plan you should not have one. Finishing the distance is the goal; chasing a time at the same moment is the single most common route to an injury or a bad day.
How do I train for this in Indian heat?
Move everything to before sunrise, run the quality sessions by effort rather than pace once it is above about 25°C, and accept that summer paces are slower than winter paces at identical fitness. In the north from November to January, check air quality before every session and take it indoors when readings are bad.
Other 10k plans
All twelve are listed on the training plans page.
Every time, pace and physiological figure on this site is computed from a published formula, and the formula is named and shown on the method page. Nothing here is predicted by a model you cannot check. Race details change — always confirm dates, routes and entry with the official organiser. Training guidance is general information, not individual coaching or medical advice.