A 10K training plan built from your 5K
The 10K is the distance where threshold work starts to pay. This plan builds it in over twelve weeks, grows the long run past the race distance, and prices every pace from the 5K you run now.
10k · 12 weeks
4 runs a week
Long run climbs to 10.7 km · the plan's own projection for this runner is 56:18
Who it is for
A runner who has a 5K time and wants to race 10 km, or run one faster. Four days a week suits it best; three works with the plan reshaped around them.
How the block is shaped
Base weeks settle the easy pace and start the long run climbing. The build adds a threshold session — the comfortably hard pace you could hold for an hour — and keeps one speed session a week. The peak rehearses goal pace inside longer runs, and a short taper arrives fresh. The long run passes 10 km before race day so the distance holds no surprises.
This is the plan the app builds for a 27:00 parkrunner running four days and about 25 km a week, with a longest comfortable run of 10 km. Your own block keeps the same shape; every distance and pace in it is priced from your times, not this runner's.
| Weeks | Phase | Weekly km | Long run |
|---|---|---|---|
| Week 1 | Base | 25.2 | 9.3 km |
| Weeks 2–3 | Build | 26–27 | 9.3–9.4 km |
| Week 4 | Cutback | 21.7 | 6.6 km |
| Weeks 5–7 | Build | 28–30 | 9.6–10 km |
| Week 8 | Cutback | 24 | 7 km |
| Weeks 9–10 | Peak | 31 | 10.3–10.7 km |
| Week 11 | Taper | 20.7 | 6.4 km |
| Week 12 | Race week | Race | — |
A real week from the plan
Not an illustration: this is week 6 of 12, a build week of 29 km, exactly as the plan engine wrote it for the runner above, with the paces it set. The coach reads each session's purpose to you before you start it and calls the pace as you run.
| Day | Session | Distance | Pace | What it is for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tuesday | TEMPO | 7.4 km · 52 min | 5:44/km | 2 × 1.7km tempo blocks, a 0.5km easy jog between each. Lactate Threshold session. Training your body to clear metabolic byproducts efficiently. |
| Thursday | AEROBIC | 5.3 km · 37 min | 7:33/km → 6:43/km | Progressive aerobic. Start at a comfortable easy pace and build effort steadily across the run to a brisk aerobic finish. Teaches pacing discipline and aerobic efficiency. Never push into tempo territory. |
| Saturday | AEROBIC | 6.5 km · 46 min | 7:03/km | Easy miles. Relaxed and rhythmic — finish feeling you could go again. Finish with 6 × 20s strides — fast and relaxed, not a sprint, with an easy jog between each. Form work, not fitness work. |
| Sunday | LONG RUN | 9.8 km · 69 min | 7:03/km (7.8km) → 5:30/km — Goal Race Pace (2.0km) | Long run with a fast finish. Run the first 7.8km fully easy — genuine Zone 2, conversational. Then lift to your goal pace for the final 2.0km. Finishing strong on tired legs is what the last kilometre of the race asks for. |
Where the paces come from
From the race time you give the app, through the Daniels & Gilbert VDOT model: easy, threshold and interval paces for your fitness, not a chart's. The same model runs on this site — the parkrun time calculator shows the three paces a plan would be built from, and the goal time calculator scores a target against the weeks you have.
What changes as you run
A new 5K or 10K PB re-prices every pace. A missed week is absorbed, not stacked. Three hard sessions in a row rated too hard bring an offer to ease the paces a step.
Common questions
I've never raced a 10K. Where does my target come from?
From your 5K, projected with the Riegel and VDOT models — the same maths on the race time predictor. The plan then trains toward that figure and the confidence score reports whether it is holding.
What is a threshold run?
A run at the pace you could hold for about an hour: comfortably hard, breathing deep but steady. For a 27-minute 5K runner that is around 5:16 per km. It is the single most useful session for the 10K because the race itself sits just above it.
Is four days a week necessary?
It is what the sample week shows. On three days the plan keeps the long run and the threshold session and drops an easy day, which slows the long run's climb by a week or two.
Can I do this on a treadmill?
Yes. Every session shows its belt speed, rests are walked at a set speed and the coach calls the changes. Outdoor long runs are better for the legs if you have the option.
parkrun® is a registered trade mark of parkrun Limited. Outrunr is not affiliated with or endorsed by parkrun. VDOT is a trade mark of its owner. Outrunr implements the published Daniels & Gilbert formula and is not affiliated with them.