14 October 2026

You can get from your first 5k to a 10k with three runs a week and about eight weeks of steady work. A 10k is double the distance, but the way you get there is the same way you got to 5k: start small, repeat it, and grow it a little each week. This plan keeps one session anchored to a free club run, so the hardest part, showing up, is already decided for you. If you are still working towards that first 5k, start with our first 5k plan and come back to this one when the 5 km option feels comfortable.

What a 10k asks of a busy week

The honest answer is that a 10k asks for three runs a week, not a life overhaul. Two of them stay short, roughly 30 to 40 minutes. The third, the long run, grows from about 5 km to 10 km across the plan, which means about an hour out of your weekend by the last week. Nothing else has to change: sleep a little more the night before your long run and let the rest days do their work.

What a 10k really asks for is consistency. Missing one run changes nothing. Missing the long run three weekends in a row resets the build, and that is where most plans fall apart. Anchoring one session to a club run that happens every week, whatever your week looks like, is the cheapest insurance against that.

The three runs a 10k week is built on

Every 10k plan comes down to the same three runs, each with a different job.

• The anchor: a run with a set time and place, so you never have to negotiate with yourself about it. For us that is the Thursday Morning Run and its 5 km option.
• The easy run: a short midweek run at talking pace, growing from 3 km to 6 km. On the fortnights the Tuesday Night Run falls in your week, its 6 km option is this run, done for you.
• The long run: one slower run a week, growing from 5 km to 10 km. Weekend mornings suit most busy weeks.

Eight weeks from 5k to 10k

Here is the whole build on one page. Run the weeks in order, and repeat any week that felt harder than it should have. The plan still works, just a week later.

Walk breaks are allowed in every run on this plan, including the long ones: a minute of walking does not undo the work. Keep at least one full rest day between runs, put the long run on the day your week gives you the most time, and if a week goes sideways, repeat it rather than skipping ahead.

Where the club runs fit in

The Thursday Morning Run runs every Thursday: meet 5:45am for a 6:00am start at Glenhaven Oval, 78 Glenhaven Road, Glenhaven. Its distance options are a 2.5 km lap or the 5 km option, and in this plan it is your anchor: take the 5 km option each week and treat the coffee and a sweet treat afterwards as part of the session. One lap is a full run too, on the weeks you would rather keep it short.

The Tuesday Night Run runs every second Tuesday: meet 6:45pm for a 7:00pm start at Castle Hill Showground, Castle Hill, under the lights. Its distance options are 3 km or 6 km, and the 6 km option lines up neatly with the midweek easy run in the plan above on the fortnights it falls. Enter via Doran Drive, the entrance closest to the metro, take the first left and follow the road to the lit oval; the group meets at the large shed, with plenty of parking around it.

Both runs are free. You make a free HRC+ account at hillsrunclub.com/hrc-plus/ and register for each run there; upcoming runs, including the next Thursday Morning Run on 15 October and the next Tuesday Night Run on 20 October, are listed at hillsrunclub.com/runs/.

Keep most of your running easy

The pace that gets you to 10k is slower than the one that got you to 5k feeling proud. Use the talk test: if you can hold a conversation, you are going the right speed; if you cannot string a sentence together, slow down. Almost everything on this plan should feel comfortable, because comfort is what lets you come back tomorrow and the day after.

That easy pace is also where the progress hides. We have written before about why easy running is having a moment, and a 10k build is exactly where it earns its keep: time on your feet, at a pace your legs forgive, is what doubles your distance.

On the day of your first 10k

Treat the day like a long run that starts with other people around. Nothing new: the same shoes you trained in, breakfast you have eaten before, a start slower than feels right. The first few kilometres should feel almost too easy; if they do, you are exactly where you should be.

Break the distance into pieces instead of one number: get to the next corner, get to the next group of runners, get to the halfway mark you have passed a hundred times on smaller runs. And whatever the watch says at the end, finishing your first 10k is the result. Faster can come later.