8-week 10k training plan — intermediate

This is the intermediate version — it assumes a race at this distance behind you and a target time in mind. It runs 8 weeks, 4 days a week, and peaks at 23 km in the hardest week.

If that sounds like too much or too little, the same 10k block exists at other levels and lengths — the related plans below are the same engine with different inputs.

Cutback weeks. Roughly every fourth week drops to about 70% of the previous long run. Adaptation happens during the easier week, not the hard one.

Progression is capped at 20%. No week's long run climbs more than a fifth above the last progressive week. Where a shorter plan cannot reach the usual peak inside that limit, it arrives at a lower peak rather than taking an unsafe step.

A real taper. The closing weeks come down hard, and race week carries almost nothing — two short shakeouts totalling 6 km before the start line.