How do I train for my first 5k or 10k?

Run three times a week with a rest day between runs. Start with run-walk intervals: the NHS Couch to 5K plan takes most beginners from one-minute runs to 30 minutes of running without stopping in nine weeks. For 10k, keep the three runs and make one of them a little longer each week. Add two short strength sessions on the days between, and eat as you normally do; a 5k needs no special fuel.

The runs are yours. Nume plans the week around them: the strength work, the food at your eating times, and the race day itself.

From walking to 5k

The NHS Couch to 5K plan runs for nine weeks or longer, with three runs a week and rest days in between. Week 1 alternates one-minute runs with 90-second walks. By the end you’re running for 30 minutes without stopping, the plan’s 5k goal.

Run at an easy pace: the NHS test for moderate effort is that you can still talk, but not sing. Slower than feels natural is right for most first runs, and it is what lets the minutes grow. If a week feels too hard, repeat it before moving on.

In Nume: put your three run days on Week, or tell Talk “run Monday, Wednesday and Saturday at 6:30”. They sit on your week at your times, and Nume plans your food and any workouts around them. Following a plan from a coach or an app? Bring it in: your run days and their minutes sit on your week, marked as yours or your coach’s, and Nume plans your food around them. See check a plan you already have.

From 5k to 10k

Once 30 minutes of easy running feels comfortable, keep the same three runs a week. Make one of them your longer run and add a little to it each week, while the other two stay easy and about the same length. When the longer run reaches about the time a 10k will take you, you’re ready. The next section sets how fast to add.

How fast should I add distance?

Slowly, especially in the first months. In a study of 874 new runners who were given GPS watches and followed for a year, those who raised their weekly distance by more than 30% over two weeks tended to have more injuries of the kind that come from distance, such as runner’s knee and shin pain, than those who added under 10%, though that difference fell just short of statistical significance. A review across studies found new runners had 17.8 injuries per 1,000 hours of running, against 7.7 for recreational runners.

So add a few minutes at a time, and hold a week steady when your legs feel it.

In Nume: log each run with a tap, with its minutes and how hard it felt. Progress shows your movement minutes against the WHO’s 150 a week and the energy your movement used above resting, so the weeks add up where you can see them. Today shows each logged run with the energy it used above resting, as a range, and says “Today’s workout keeps leg work light.”

Strength on the days between

Strength work is one of the best-supported ways to cut sports injuries. A review of randomised trials found that strength training cut them to under a third, while stretching made no difference.

Two short sessions a week, on non-run days, covering:

Legs: split squat or step-up.
Calves: calf raises, straight-legged and bent-kneed.
Hips: glute bridge and single-leg Romanian deadlift.
Trunk: plank and side plank.
Upper body: a row and a press, for posture late in a run.

If you’ve never lifted, where to start at the gym has the first four weeks.

In Nume: Nume writes these sessions with sets, reps and rest, at home or at a gym, and after a full session the next one steps up. On the day of a run and the day before, leg work in Nume’s workout uses only bodyweight or bands, so your legs are fresh for the run. Tell Talk “more calves and hips for running” and Nume keeps it for the workouts it writes next.

Eating around your runs

A run under 45 minutes needs no food during it, only water if it’s hot. A morning run can be done on a small snack such as a banana, or on nothing if that suits you; have your first eating time after. For an evening run, eat as you normally do, and add a light snack if your last meal was four hours or more before. Have some protein at the meal after: about 0.3 g per kg is the sports guidance, around 20 g at 65 to 70 kg. More in protein.

Running to lose fat around the middle? See lose belly fat.

In Nume: the meal before a run of real effort is planned a little lighter, and the one after a hard or long run is planned larger with more protein, and each meal says why. If your last meal was four hours or more before the run, Today offers a light snack about 45 minutes before. With “Before you train” on, a note in Talk about two hours ahead says what helps, with the weather at that hour when it changes what you do.

Race day

For a 5k, eat a familiar meal two to four hours before and nothing new on the day. A first 10k often takes over an hour, and for efforts that long the sports guidance is 1 to 4 g of carbohydrate per kg in the 1 to 4 hours before, such as toast with honey, rice, oats or a bagel with banana. Drink normally, warm up with a few minutes of easy jogging, and start slower than you think you should.

In Nume: ask Talk for 5k and 10k races in your city on the dates you want, up to 120 days ahead. Put the race on its date, and Nume plans the day around it: a lighter meal before, a larger one after, and no hard leg work that day or the day before. Put a race weekend on Week as an all-day event and, if a Nume workout is planned that day, Nume asks “Training on Sat?” with Keep, Make it light or Rest.

Run with Nume

Your run days go on your week, from setup, Week or a sentence in Talk. Nume plans your meals at your own eating times around each run, writes strength work that stays off your legs before a run, and plans the race day when it comes. Two or more runs a week above light effort count as training, which puts your protein at the training range. Choose “Perform better” as your goal, or keep the one you have: see choosing a goal. Missed a week? Back on track covers restarting. Training for longer? See half or full marathon.

Common questions

Is it fine to walk in a 5k?

Yes. Run-walk is how the NHS plan starts, and many people walk parts of their first race.

Should I run every day?

Not at first. The NHS plan uses three runs a week with rest days between, and new runners pick up injuries more easily than experienced ones.

Do I need gels for a 5k or 10k?

No for a 5k. Under 45 minutes, no carbohydrate is needed during the run. For 45 to 75 minutes, the guidance is small amounts, such as a few sips of a sports drink.

What about iron?

Iron and vitamin D come up often for runners. See vitamins and minerals.

Checked on 12 November 2026 · The Nume team