5K to 10K · 6-week bridge · free

The 5K to 10K training plan: six weeks

Doubling your distance sounds like doubling your training. It is not. Only one run a week changes — the long one — and it climbs 3.5 miles to 6 across six weeks. Every session is written out below.

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You can run 5K — here’s the one thing that changes

Most people approach this backwards. They assume that because the race is twice as long, the training has to be twice as hard: more days, more speed, more everything. Then they add a fourth running day and a track session in the same fortnight, and week three is spent nursing a shin.

Going from 5K to 10K is a long-run problem. Your engine can already do the job — a 5K and a 10K are both aerobic efforts and you built that engine getting to 5K. What you do not yet have is the durability to keep going for another half hour, and durability comes from one progressively longer run a week. Nothing else.

So that is all this plan changes. Two easy runs stay exactly where they are, at the distance you already do comfortably. The third run gets longer each week: 3.5, 4, 5, 5 again, 6, then race. That is the whole method, and the discipline is in not doing more.

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What changes, and what deliberately doesn’t

Your current weekthree runs · about 7–8 miles total
Stays exactly the sameTwo easy runs

Same distance every week for all six weeks, at the same conversational pace you already run. They are not there to build fitness — they are there to keep it ticking over between long runs.

Adding distance here is the most common way this block ends in shin pain.
Changes every weekOne long run

Up by roughly half a mile a week: 3.5, 4, 5, 5 again, 6, then race. This single session is doing all of the work.

If a week collapses and you can only save one run, save this one.

That asymmetry is the whole plan, and it is why it takes six weeks rather than twelve. You are not rebuilding an engine you already have — you are extending how long it can run for, and that is a much smaller ask than most people assume.

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The 6-week bridge plan

Three runs a week. Two stay the same length the whole way through; only the long run moves.

easy runlong run
Week1
Easy 2 · Easy 2 · Long 3.5
Only the long run changes across this plan. The two easy runs stay where they are.
7.5mi this week
Week2
Easy 2 · Easy 2.5 · Long 4
8.5mi this week
Week3
Easy 2 · Easy 2.5 · Long 5
Five miles is the psychological one — it is further than a 5K by more than a 5K.
9.5mi this week
Week4
Easy 2 · Easy 2.5 · Long 5
Repeat on purpose. Consolidation, not a lost week.
9.5mi this week
Week5
Easy 2.5 · Easy 3 · Long 6
Peak. Six miles is 97% of a 10K — you are functionally there.
11.5mi this week
Week6
Easy 3 · Easy 2 · Race 6.2
Taper. Nothing this week makes you fitter; it can only make you tired.
Racemi this week
3.5 mi
5 mi
6 mi
3.5 miWeek 1
just past a 5K
5 miWeek 3
the psychological one
6 miWeek 5
97% of a 10K

The two easy runs never move. This is the only line on the chart that changes.

Weekly mileage runs 7.5 → 8.5 → 9.5 → 9.5 → 11.5 → race. Week 4 repeats week 3 deliberately — it is the consolidation week, and it is the one people skip because they feel good. Don’t.

Run the three sessions on any days that leave a rest day between each. Never put the long run the day after an easy run in the first three weeks.

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The 8-week version if you run three days a week

easy runlong run
Week1
Easy 2 · Easy 2 · Long 3.5
7.5mi this week
Week2
Easy 2 · Easy 2 · Long 4
8mi this week
Week3
Easy 2 · Easy 2.5 · Long 4
Cutback week.
8.5mi this week
Week4
Easy 2 · Easy 2.5 · Long 5
The first five-miler.
9.5mi this week
Week5
Easy 2 · Easy 2.5 · Long 4
8.5mi this week
Week6
Easy 2.5 · Easy 3 · Long 5.5
11mi this week
Week7
Easy 2.5 · Easy 3 · Long 6
11.5mi this week
Week8
Easy 3 · Easy 2 · Race 6.2
Taper, then race.
Racemi this week

Same destination, two more weeks of runway, and a genuine cutback in week 5 rather than a repeat. Take this one if your three runs a week are not yet a settled habit, or if you have had a niggle in the last couple of months.

Doubling distance without doubling injury

The injury risk in this jump is real but it is narrow, and it comes from two specific mistakes.

Adding days and distance at the same time. Your heart and lungs adapt in two or three weeks; tendons, ligaments and bone take months. Increasing the long run is already asking the slow tissue for something new. Adding a fourth running day on top asks twice, and it is why shin pain shows up around week three in plans that do both.

Running the easy runs too fast. When the long run gets harder, the temptation is to prove fitness on the short ones. They are there to keep you ticking over between long runs, nothing else. You should be able to hold a full sentence out loud.

  1. Change one variable at a timeThis block changes distance. It does not change days, pace, surface or shoes. Save those for the next one.
  2. Keep the two easy runs honestSame distance every week, conversational pace. If you can only speak three words at a time, slow down.
  3. Respect the repeat weekWeek 4 repeats week 3. Adaptation happens in the easier week after the hard one, not during it.
  4. Stop at six milesThe plan never runs 6.2 in training. Race day supplies the last fifth of a mile, every time.

If something hurts on both legs in the same spot, take the long run back a week. Pain in one leg, one spot, worsening as you run, is a physio conversation rather than a training one.

Your 10K time, predicted from your 5K

There is a well-known formula for this — Riegel’s — and for the 5K-to-10K jump it works out almost exactly as your 5K time × 2.08. Not double: slightly more than double, because you cannot hold 5K pace for twice the distance.

Riegel prediction, 5K time × 2.08. The third column adds a little for a first attempt at the distance.
Your current 5KPredicted 10KRealistic first-10K target
20:0041:36about 41–42 minutes
25:0052:00about 52–53 minutes
30:0062:24about 62–64 minutes
35:0072:48about 73–75 minutes
40:0083:12about 83–86 minutes

Treat the middle column as a ceiling and the right-hand one as the plan. A first 10K run at predicted pace usually turns into a difficult last two miles, because the prediction assumes you are equally trained for both distances and after six weeks you are not quite.

The more useful target for a first 10K is a negative split — second half faster than the first. Almost nobody manages it, and the ones who do finish feeling strong rather than surviving.

Race a friend to your first 10K

Race day for a first 10K

Six weeks of training can be undone in the first mile, and almost always is.

  1. Eat what you ate before long runsRace morning is the worst possible day to try porridge for the first time. Something small and familiar, 90 minutes out.
  2. Start slower than feels rightAdrenaline makes 10K pace feel like jogging for the first ten minutes. Deliberately let people pass you.
  3. Check in at halfwayIf you get to 5K thinking you could go faster, you have paced it correctly. If you are already hanging on, ease off now, not at mile five.
  4. Spend what is left after mile 4The last two miles are the only part that is supposed to hurt. You will pass most of the people who passed you at the start.

No fuelling needed. A 10K finishes inside what your body already has stored — gels are a 10-mile and half-marathon problem.

On the time: it will be somewhere near the prediction above and it genuinely does not matter. You will never run a slower 10K than your first one, which makes every future attempt a personal best by definition. The only way to lose that is not to finish this one.

After the 10K: the half-marathon jump

Take a full easy week first. Then pick a direction, because chasing distance and speed at the same time is how people end up with neither.

Longer. Ten miles is the natural next step and is under-rated — the 10-mile plan takes eight weeks from the base this block leaves you with, and it is where fuelling starts to matter. After that the half marathon plan wants three continuous miles as an entry test, which you will comfortably have.

Faster. Getting quicker at 10K means adding one quality session a week rather than more miles. The 10K training plans hub covers what tempo runs and intervals actually are, and what paces to run them at.

Print or add to calendar

Eighteen runs is easy to hold in your head and easy to drift out of. The printed version strips the site chrome and fits on one page.

All 10K plans & the generator →

Hold yourself to six weeks

Six weeks is short enough that nobody quits from exhaustion. They quit from drift — a missed long run in week 2, another in week 3, and suddenly the plan is notional.

RunMatch is one way to stop the drift. Stake your own money on finishing all 18 runs, and if you miss, it goes to a recipient you named in advance rather than to us — RunMatch takes 0% of the pot. Or find someone else bridging to their first 10K and race them through it.

$21.14average win, one-day competition
$10median win
$740largest pot to date

Free to download, free to race friends, 0% of the pot, 3% when you withdraw. Requires an iPhone and an Apple Watch. The plans above are free either way.

Bet on finishing the bridge

Two ways to make six weeks stick

Race your friends

Find someone else going from 5K to 10K and race the block. Same buy-in each; most miles or first to the distance takes the pot.

Bet on yourself

Or stake your own money on all 18 runs. Hit it and nothing moves. Miss it and it goes to the person you named.

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Every RunMatch training plan

Same format on all of them: every session written out, free, printable, no email.

Couch to 10K8 or 12 wkCouch to 10K Training Plan5K8 wkThe 8-Week 5K Training Plan10K beginner12 wk10K Training Plan for Beginners10K4–12 wkAll 10K Plans & Generator10K in 88 wkThe 8-Week 10K Training Plan10 miles8 or 10 wkThe 10-Mile Training PlanHalf marathon12 wkHalf Marathon Training Plan

Not at 5K yet? The 8-week 5K plan starts from no running at all.

5K to 10K questions

How long does it take to go from 5K to 10K?
Six weeks if you are running three times a week already and your 5K is comfortable rather than an all-out effort. Eight weeks if you would rather have slack, or if your three runs a week are not yet consistent. Both plans are on this page.
Can I run a 10K without training for it?
If you can run a comfortable 5K you could probably survive a 10K tomorrow, and you would have a miserable time doing it. The point of a six-week bridge is not whether you can cover the distance — it is arriving at it without the last two miles being a grim shuffle.
How much slower is 10K pace than 5K pace?
Roughly 15–30 seconds per mile slower for most runners. The standard prediction (Riegel) is that your 10K time is about 2.08× your 5K time — so a 25:00 5K predicts about 52:00 for a 10K. There's a full table above.
Should I run more days a week to go from 5K to 10K?
No. That is the mistake this plan exists to prevent. Going from 5K to 10K is a long-run problem, not a volume problem — you change one run a week and leave the other two alone. Adding a fourth running day at the same time as adding distance is the fastest route to shin pain.
What if 5 miles feels impossible?
Repeat the week. Week 4 in the six-week plan is already a deliberate repeat of week 3 for exactly this reason. Repeating a week costs you seven days; abandoning the plan costs you the 10K.
How do I pace my first 10K?
Start slower than feels right for the first two miles — adrenaline makes 10K pace feel like jogging early on. If you reach halfway thinking you could have gone faster, you paced it correctly and you will pass people in the second half.
Do I need to eat during a 10K?
No. At 10K distance you finish in about an hour or a little over, which is inside what your body already has stored. Fuelling only starts to matter past about 75 minutes — that's a 10-mile and half-marathon problem, not this one.
What comes after the 10K?
Take an easy week first. Then either get faster at 10K, or go longer: the 10-mile plan is the natural next step and the half marathon plan is the one after that.

Six weeks. Eighteen runs. Double the distance.

Print the plan and start Monday. Only one run a week changes — that is the whole trick.

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