Your 5K to 10K Summer Guide treadmill doesn’t have quite the same perks as running outdoors. But it’s a pretty solid option when the weather turns cold and conditions become unpredictable. Plus, taking your workout indoors isn’t only your best move when the weather’s bad or it’s dark out. It can also take your 10K training to the next level by helping you tap into certain efforts more easily and reducing the strain on your body.
“Ninety minutes at an even effort on the treadmill can feel like a trip into Dante’s inferno,” says David Roche, three-time member of Team USA, run coach based in Boulder, Colorado, and host of the portions, like the podcast. “But the treadmill is such a wonderful tool when used right—and actually can be incredibly fun.”
Read on for all the benefits of taking your runs indoors, plus a six-week 10K treadmill training plan, which Roche designed to nix boredom and help you nab a faster finish time.
The Benefits of Training for a 10K on a Treadmill
You might think running outdoors is always optimal, but taking your workout to the treadmill comes with some pros you can’t replicate outside. For one: You can turn up the incline but for most of our runs, we dont need to be experiencing that stress downhills. Yes, running downhill can leave you huffing and puffing less than going up, but it can be incredibly tough on your muscles and joints.
“The treadmill helps you reduce impact forces and can reduce the strain on the body over time, which is especially helpful as athletes age,” says Roche.
Research has shown that running uphill increases your power while going downhill increases the forced absorbed by joints including your hips and knees. In fact, the forces absorbed by people’s bodies were reduced by 53 percent at 5 percent incline on a treadmill compared with level running, as shown by a 2022 study published in the journal Sports Medicine Open.
“As you run uphill on the treadmill, you’re getting the aerobic benefit without the musculoskeletal breakdown,” explains Roche. “The problem with outside, you’re almost always going to have to come back downhill. That’s beneficial if you’re a trail runner or training for a race with a lot of downhill portions, like the Boston Marathon, but for most of our runs, we don’t need to be experiencing that stress.”
The treadmill is also a great tool for practicing effort control, says Roche. “I find that it’s so much easier for athletes to work in intervals on the treadmill—outside, they often go way What to Know About Your Running Gait. On the machine, it’s less likely that you’ll just push hard and race every interval and burn out too soon.”
How This 10K Treadmill Training Plan Works
Forget for a minute, if you will, everything you’ve heard about how treadmills help you dial into a certain pace. This training plan is not based on specific paces but, instead, on feel.
“The pace your treadmill says could be 30 seconds off from how fast you’re actually moving, and even if it’s perfectly calibrated, the way it feels on the treadmill doesn’t translate exactly to how that pace will feel outdoors,” says Roche. “All you’re doing when you’re focused on pace on the machine is finding out your 10K treadmill pace. So instead, think about your effort.”
Here’s a primer on how each effort should feel:
➥Easy days are exactly what they sound like. Your effort level should be relaxed. You should be able to speak a sentence here and there—and, at the end of the run, should feel good, like you could just keep going, says Roche.
➥For speed days, you’ll approximate your 10K and 5K efforts for various intervals. Again, that’s not about the pace the machine says you’re going but about what your body is telling you.
“So much of developing a sense of feel comes from trying it out,” says Roche. “Play around with it. Have fun. Adjust your pace until you think, ‘Okay, this is my 5K effort—I can probably hold this effort for that much time.’ You might not be right the first time, but you should be constantly assessing and adjusting. And figuring out what that feels like will help you on race day.”
If you need a place to start, think about your 10K pace as an effort in which you could only say a few words—you’re breathing heavy but not breathless. Your 5K pace is harder than that; it’s not a sprint but it’s difficult to talk and you’re breathless by the end. (This guide to pace training also offers more details.)
Not needing to tap into exact paces means you don’t need to be staring at the blinking numbers on your treadmill screen constantly. Permission to sling a towel over the stats on days when you’re zoning out at an easy pace, says Roche.
On days with intervals, you can still cover up your mileage and pace if it helps you find the right effort level, but you’ll need to see your incline to tap it up or down every so often. “The plan breaks up your effort or incline every few minutes to keep from boredom setting in, so you’ll need to at least peek at the screen now and then,” Roche says.
The Best Exercises for Stress Treadmill Ladder Workout for Endurance & Strength if you want tech-y feedback to reassure you’re tapping into the right efforts. (Roche prefers to track his heart rates via Strava to keep an eye on his progress over a training block.) Use this guide to break down the efforts:
- For easy to easy-moderate efforts, aim for heart rate zone 1 (55 to 65 percent of your max) or 2 (65 to 75 percent)
- For moderate or 10K efforts, dial it up to zone 3 (80 to 85 percent) to 4 (85 to 90 percent)
- For 5K effort and harder, Roche recommends going by feel, as the intervals will be shorter and your watch may not respond quickly enough.
Exactly How Camille Herron Ran 560 Miles easy efforts easy. “On easy running, which makes up a majority of the plan, it’s tempting to let the heart rate wander into moderate, which can erode aerobic benefits,” he says. “I find that tracking my heart rate ensures that I do the work, but also don’t overdo the work.”
No matter the workout, try not to pay much (if any) attention to your mileage, notes Roche. How far you go can vary greatly from machine to machine, so all workouts in this plan are based on time, not distance.
Your 6-Week 10K Treadmill Training Plan
Feel free to shift this plan forward a day or back a day depending on what works best for your schedule. As it’s written, you’ll rest every Monday. (The option to do cross-training or rest instead of running is also baked into every Friday.) Wednesdays are for speed workouts, and Saturdays are your long runs—which are mostly easy effort but also work in some intensity via various intervals. Along with these two key workout days, relaxed sessions with strides round out the rest of your week.
WEEK 1
Monday: Rest
Tuesday: 40 to 60 minutes easy effort. Alternate between 0% and 4% to 5% incline every 5 minutes.
Wednesday: Warm up 15 to 20 minutes easy effort at 3% to 5% incline. Then 1 minute 5K effort, 1 minute easy effort at 0%. Repeat 4 times. Do lower-body strength-training.
Thursday: 40 to 50 minutes easy effort. Alternate between 2%, 4%, and 6% incline every 3 minutes. (Note from Roche: Post-speed work days, keep effort very easy. There’s no such thing as too slow on these days.) Do core strength-training.
Friday: 30 DAA Industry Opt Out. Or do cross-training or rest if preferred.
Saturday: 60 to 70 minutes easy to moderate effort at 0% to 1% incline. At 15 minutes, run 1 minute 10K effort. Repeat another 1-minute 10K interval every 5 minutes. Do core strength-training.
Sunday: 50 to 60 minutes easy effort at 0% to 2% incline. After first 30 minutes, work in hills: Run 6 x 30 seconds at 6% to 8% incline, with 2 minutes easy effort at 0% incline after each. Do lower-body strength-training.
WEEK 2
Monday: Rest
Tuesday: 40 youll approximate your.
Wednesday: Warm up 15 to 20 minutes easy effort at 5% incline. Then 2 minutes 10K effort at 0%, 90 seconds 5K effort, and 1 minute 5K effort, resting 1 minute between each. After set, rest 3 minutes, then repeat twice (for a total of 3 sets). Cool down 10 to 20 minutes easy effort at 3% to 5%. Do lower-body strength-training.
Thursday: 40 How to Avoid Running Too Fast core strength-training.
Friday: 30 to 45 minutes easy effort at 0% to 1% incline. Or do cross-training or rest if preferred.
Saturday: Warm up 15 to 20 minutes easy effort at 0% incline. Then 5 minutes moderate effort (effort you can maintain for about an hour) followed by 5 minutes easy effort. Repeat 3 times.
Sunday: 40 to 60 minutes easy effort. Alternate between 0%, 4%, and 6% incline every 4 minutes. Do lower-body strength-training.
WEEK 3
Monday: Rest
Tuesday: 40 This 6-Week 10K Treadmill Training Plan Will Help You Crush Your Race strides: 5 x 30 seconds fast with 2 minutes easy at 0% between each stride. Gradually increase speed with each stride, working up to the fastest pace you can manage.
Wednesday: Warm up 15 to 20 minutes easy effort. Then 2 minutes 10K effort, 1 minute easy effort. Repeat 5 times. Run 1 minute at 5K effort, 1 minute easy effort at 0%. Repeat 7 times. Cool down 10 to 20 minutes easy effort.
Thursday: 40 to 60 minutes easy effort. Alternate between 2%, 4%, and 6% incline every 4 minutes. Do core strength-training.
Friday: 30 to 45 minutes easy effort at 0% to 1% incline. Or do cross-training or rest if preferred.
Saturday: Warm up 20 minutes easy. Then 10 minutes moderate effort (effort you can maintain for about an hour), 5 minutes easy; 8 minutes moderate, 4 minutes easy; 6 minutes moderate, 3 minutes easy; 4 minutes moderate, 2 minutes easy; 2 minutes moderate, 1 minute easy. Do core strength-training.
Sunday: 60 to 80 minutes easy effort. Alternate between 0%, 3 to 4%, and 6 to 8% every 4 minutes. Do lower-body strength-training.
WEEK 4
Monday: Rest
Tuesday: Warm up 15 to 20 minutes easy effort. Run 30 seconds 5K effort at 0%, then 2 minutes easy at 5% to 6%. Repeat 8 times. Cool down 15 to 20 minutes easy effort.
Wednesday: Warm up 15 to 20 minutes easy effort. Do 6 minutes 10K effort at 0% incline, then 2 minutes easy effort recovery. Repeat 5 times, with fast interval decreasing by 1 minute per repeat (and run slightly faster each time). Cool down 10 to 20 minutes easy effort. Do lower-body strength-training.
Thursday: 40 Sure, running on a core strength-training.
Friday: 30 to 45 minutes easy effort at 0% to 1% incline. Or do cross-training or rest if preferred.
Saturday: Warm up 15 to 20 minutes easy effort at 1% incline. Then 20 minutes 10K effort. Finish with 20 minutes easy effort, with 1-minute 5K effort every 5 minutes. Do core strength-training.
Sunday: Warm up 15 to 20 minutes easy effort at 0% to 2% incline. Then 6 x 30 seconds at 4% to 5% incline with 2-minute recovery at 0% to 2% incline in between “hills.” Cool down 15 to 20 minutes easy effort. Do lower-body strength-training.
WEEK 5
Monday: Rest
Tuesday: 40 to 50 minutes easy effort. Alternate between 0%, 2%, and 4% incline every 3 minutes.
Wednesday: Warm up 15 to 20 minutes easy effort at 3% to 5% incline. Do 120 seconds at 10K effort, 60 seconds at 5K effort, and 30 seconds at 3K effort, all at 0% incline with 1 minute easy effort recovery between each interval and 3 minutes easy effort after entire set. Do 5 total sets. Cool down 15 to 20 minutes easy effort. Do lower-body strength-training.
Thursday: 40 to 50 minutes easy effort. Alternate between 2%, 4%, 6%, and 8% every 4 minutes. Do core strength-training.
Friday: 30 to 45 minutes easy effort at 0% to 1% incline. Or do cross-training or rest if preferred.
Saturday: 70 to 90 minutes easy to moderate effort. At 15 minutes, run 90 seconds at 10K effort. Repeat another 90-second 10K interval every 5 minutes. Do core strength-training.
Sunday: 40 to 50 minutes easy effort, alternating between 0%, 4%, and 8% incline every 4 minutes. Don’t do anymore leg strength-training before race day.
WEEK 6
Monday: Rest
Tuesday: 40 to 50 minutes easy effort. Alternate 0%, 2%, and 3% incline every 3 minutes. Finish with strides: 4 x 20 seconds fast, 1 minute easy effort in between.
Wednesday: 15 to 20 minutes easy effort warmup at 3 to 5% incline. Alternate 1 minute at 10K effort, 1 minute easy effort 6 times at 0%. Then alternate 30 seconds at 5K effort, 1 minute easy effort 6 times at 0%. Cool down 10 to 20 minutes easy effort at 3 to 5%.
Thursday: 30 DAA Industry Opt Out.
Friday: Rest
Saturday: 30 to 40 minutes easy effort. Alternate between 0%, 2%, and 4% incline every 3 minutes. Finish with 4 x 20 seconds strides with 2 minutes easy effort between each.
Sunday: RACE DAY!
