If you've ever trained for a longer distance race you might be forgiven for thinking signing up to a 10k with a goal to PB will require a long period of training. Well think again! Four weeks is enough time to give a good boost to your fitness and put some speed into your legs.

So don't delay, sign up (to a race) today, and follow this training plan which is designed to get you to the start line, ready to race, on three runs a week.

About the plan:

  1. Runners embarking on this plan should already be comfortable with running 10km as a distance. Not quite ready yet? Build up a bit first - we've got plenty more beginner training plans here.
  2. The sessions in the training plan (indeed any training plan) aren’t set in stone. Be flexible with speeds and distances where you need to, especially if you start to feel tired all the time.
  3. Feel free to change the order of the sessions to fit in with your daily schedule. Just be sure to follow the basic principle of not scheduling hard sessions back-to-back.

Our 4-week training 10K training plan:
4 week 10k training plan

Week 1:

Monday: Rest

Tuesday: 3 miles at an easy pace (5/10 effort)

Wednesday: Rest

Thursday: 2 miles at easy pace, then 4 x 60 seconds fast, with 2mins between reps, then 2 miles at easy pace.

Friday: Rest

Saturday: 5 miles easy pace. Walk some sections if you like.

Sunday: Rest

Week 2:

Monday: Rest

Tuesday: 3 miles at easy pace

Wednesday: Rest

Thursday: 2 miles easy pace, then 4 x 90 seconds fast, with 2 mins between reps, then 2 miles easy pace

Friday: Rest

Saturday: 5 miles easy pace. Walk some sections if you like

Sunday: Rest

Week 3:

Monday: Rest

Tuesday: 4 miles easy pace

Wednesday: Rest

Thursday: 2 miles easy pace, then 4 x 2mins fast, with 2mins between reps, then 2 miles easy pace

Friday: Rest

Saturday: 7 miles easy. Walk some sections if you like.

Sunday: Rest

Week 4:

Monday: Rest

Tuesday: 3 miles easy pace

Wednesday: Rest

Thursday: 2 miles easy, then 4 x 90 secs fast, with two mins between reps, then 2 miles easy.

Friday: Rest

Saturday: Rest

Sunday: 10K race!

If you're looking for training plans of the same length, but want to up the number of times you run each week, take a look at the two below:

Train for a 10K in 4 weeks, running 5 times a week – Approximately a 40-50 minute 10K

Train for a 10K in 4 weeks, running 6-7 times a week – Approximately a 35-40 minute 10K