From run/walk or from your last race: Pulsar builds the weeks from where you are, and every run says how far, how fast and why.
On a computer? Scan it with your iPhone camera.
A 5K is 5 kilometers, 3.1 miles. It’s the most popular race distance there is: short enough that almost anyone can train for one, and long enough to be a real test when you race it.
If you can only run for a few minutes at a time, the first goal is to run the whole way. That’s a run/walk plan: three sessions a week, the running a little longer and the walking a little shorter each time, until you run for 30 minutes without stopping. It takes nine weeks, and Pulsar never squeezes it.
If you already run, a faster 5K comes from a few things done every week: mostly easy running, one faster session, and a long run that stays short. For a 5K the most useful fast session is intervals at about race effort, because they rehearse the race itself.
Pulsar builds the plan from your answers: how long you can run without stopping, the days you can train and your latest 5K if you have one. It recommends at least six weeks for a newer runner and four for a trained one. With less time the plan gets tighter, and Pulsar tells you so.
I trained for three marathons alone. Pulsar is the coach I wish I’d had.
Four things every Pulsar plan does for you, shown the way they look in the app.
How long can you run without stopping?
An honest answer sets the right starting point — there’s no wrong one.
Pulsar asks how long you can run without stopping, which days you can train and your latest race time, if you have one. Week 1 is built from those answers.
Aerobic Easy
Week 7 · Tuesday Upcoming
4.1 mi · ~45 min
Coach’s insightTap to ask
Keep your heart rate in Zone 1-2. You should be able to hold a conversation easily. If you’re breathing hard, slow down.
Target heart rate
Z1 RecoveryZ2 Aerobic123–148 bpm
Structure
Easymax 10:50 /mi
4.1 miRepeat ×4
Strides7:55 /mi
100 mWalk recovery
1 min Each run carries its distance, the pace to hold, the heart-rate zone to stay in and what it’s for, in plain words.
PULSAR Coach
Why is my easy pace so slow?
Because easy runs do a different job. They build your engine — heart, lungs, legs — without leaving you tired for Thursday’s 400s. If you can talk in full sentences, you’re right where you should be.
AI-generated guidance, not medical advice. Talk to a doctor about health concerns.
After every run, a short note on what it meant, with your numbers. Between runs, ask about pace, fueling or a missed week.
The voice coach, in your earbuds: “Slow down, 20 seconds fast.”
Voice cues in your earbuds when a tempo or interval drifts off pace, and the whole workout on Apple Watch, with or without your phone.
Two runners, two 5K plans, both built by the app. Switch between them to see how the weeks change with the starting point.
Built for someone who can’t run nonstop yet, three days a week: Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Miles per week as the app built them, race week without the 3.1-mile race; yours are built from your goal, your days and how you run today.
Built for a 27:30 5K runner aiming at 26:00, four days a week, long run on Sunday. Miles per week as the app built them, race week without the 3.1-mile race; yours are built from your goal, your days and how you run today.
Four steps from here to the start line.
It’s free to download on iPhone. Your plan lives on the phone, and on Apple Watch if you wear one.
A race and its date, a distance, a time to beat, or running without stopping. Then how you run today.
Open today’s run and start it. Pulsar gives you the pace and the zone, and talks you through every segment.
The plan builds week by week, then eases off before race day so you arrive fresh, not tired.
Every session has a job. These are real workouts from the two plans above, laid out the way the app shows them.
Run / Walk
Run/Walk
Week 1 · Tuesday
2.0 mi · 29–32 min
Structure
Warm-up walkBrisk walk
5 minRepeat ×8
Runmax 13:00 /mi
1 minWalkRecovery walk
1 min 30 secCool-down walkBrisk walk
5 minOne minute of running and ninety seconds of walking, eight times, with a brisk walk before and after. Each week the running gets longer and the walking shorter.
Easy run
Aerobic Easy
Week 5 · Tuesday
2.9 mi · 36–40 min
Structure
Easymax 11:25 /mi
2.6 miRepeat ×4
Strides8:20 /mi
100 mWalk recovery
1 minEasy enough to talk the whole way, and most of your week. Four 100-meter pickups at the end keep your legs quick without making the run hard.
Intervals
Fartlek Intro
Week 3 · Tuesday
3.7 mi · 41–46 min
Structure
Warm upmax 11:40 /mi
1.2 miRepeat ×4
10K pace9:15 /mi
400 mWalk recovery
1 min 5 secCool downmax 11:40 /mi
1.2 miThe first faster running in the plan, in week 3: four 400-meter pickups at 10K pace with a walk between each one.
Intervals
800 Repeats
Week 5 · Thursday
3.7 mi · 40–44 min
Structure
Warm upmax 11:25 /mi
1.2 miRepeat ×2
Threshold9:05 /mi
800 mWalk recovery
3 min 5 secCool downmax 11:25 /mi
1.2 miYour first interval sessions are run at tempo pace. You learn the shape of the session first; the speed comes a few weeks later.
Intervals
Pyramid
Week 6 · Thursday
4.1 mi · 46–51 min
Structure
Warm upmax 11:25 /mi
1.2 miThreshold9:05 /mi
300 mWalk recovery
1 min 15 secThreshold9:05 /mi
400 mWalk recovery
1 min 40 secThreshold9:05 /mi
500 mWalk recovery
2 min 5 secThreshold9:05 /mi
400 mWalk recovery
1 min 40 secThreshold9:05 /mi
300 mCool downmax 11:25 /mi
1.2 miUp and back down: 300, 400, 500, 400 and 300 meters, each followed by a walk that grows and shrinks with the rep.
Intervals
Cut-down 400s
Week 7 · Thursday
3.9 mi · 42–47 min
Structure
Warm upmax 11:15 /mi
1.2 miRep 18:25 /mi
400 mWalk recovery
2 min 5 secRep 28:20 /mi
400 mWalk recovery
2 min 5 secRep 38:10 /mi
400 mWalk recovery
2 minRep 48:10 /mi
400 mCool downmax 11:15 /mi
1.2 miFour 400s, each one a little quicker than the last. The walks between are almost as long as the reps, so each one starts fresh.
Long run
Fast-Finish Long Run
Week 5 · Sunday
3.1 mi · 34–38 min
Structure
Easymax 11:25 /mi
2.2 miFast finish — steady9:45 /mi
0.9 miAn easy long run with the last stretch at a steady effort. It teaches you to run well when you’re already a little tired.
Easy run
Shakeout Run
Week 8 · Tuesday
2.1 mi · 23–26 min
Structure
Easy runmax 11:10 /mi
2.1 miRace week: two short easy runs to stay loose. The work is done; this is about arriving fresh.
It depends on where you start. If your race date is too close for your starting point, Pulsar tells you before it builds anything and suggests a date or a target you can reach.
Can’t run nonstop yet
10 to 16 weeks
Run/walk first. Nine weeks takes you to 30 minutes of running without a break, and the plan never cuts that short.
Newer runner
6 weeks or more
Pulsar recommends at least six weeks if you run a little but not regularly.
Trained runner
4 weeks or more
Four weeks is enough to sharpen. Eight gives you room to get properly faster.
What matters around the runs: what to eat, how to pace the race, how to recover. The coach in the app answers the rest.
A 5K doesn’t need special fueling. What helps is eating normally around your training: carbohydrates for energy, some protein at every meal for recovery, and water through the day.
Race morning: something familiar, about 300 to 500 calories, two to three hours before the start, low in fat and fiber. You don’t need gels or carb loading for a 5K. Nothing new on race day.
Two short strength sessions a week are a good habit: squats, lunges, calf raises, hip bridges and a plank, about 20 minutes, on an easy day or a rest day. The research on strength training and injuries is mixed, so treat it as a useful extra rather than a requirement. Many runners find hills and the last half mile feel stronger for it.
Cross-training like cycling, swimming or the elliptical builds fitness without the pounding of running. Use it to stay active on a rest day or to add work without adding miles. Keep it easy the day before a hard run, so it doesn’t take anything out of the session that matters.
Most 5K runners, new and experienced, start too fast. Adrenaline makes the first half mile feel easy, and the last mile pays for it.
Pick your pace from your training, not from hope: Pulsar predicts your race time from your runs, and that’s a good pace to start at. For a first 5K, run the first mile slower than you think you need to. There’s no “too slow” when the goal is the finish.
Good running form is mostly about staying relaxed. A few cues that help most people:
Don’t try to fix everything at once. Take one cue into a run and practice it on your strides, where running fast feels most natural.
Fitness is built between runs, not during them. In a 5K plan that means:
If a pain is sharp, gets worse as you run, or changes the way you run, stop and see a doctor or a physical therapist. Pulsar’s coach will tell you the same: it isn’t a doctor, and it won’t guess.
A 5K needs very little:
On race day, wear only what you’ve trained in. New shoes, new socks and new shorts can all wait until next week.
The rules every plan keeps. They’re the same rules the coach explains when you ask why.
Mostly easy
About four-fifths of your running is easy enough to talk through, and Pulsar leans more careful than that on purpose. Easy running builds the engine; the hard sessions only work on top of it.
Every fourth week lighter
Three weeks of building, then a lighter week at about 80 percent so your legs catch up. The week after picks up where the build left off, not beyond it.
A little more each week
Weekly mileage grows by about 7.5 percent for newer runners and 10 percent for trained ones, with a cap on any single jump. Hard days never land back to back.
Paces from today’s fitness
Your paces are worked out from your recent race or how you run now, never from your goal, and they move week by week as the plan goes on.
Long runs have a time limit
In a 5K plan the long run stops at 1 hour 15 minutes, however quickly you cover the ground. A 5K is won in the faster sessions, not in extra miles.
Easier at the end
The last week before the race cuts the miles by 30 to 40 percent and keeps the pace, so you start the 5K fresh.
A 5K is 5 kilometers, which is 3.1 miles.
From zero, about ten weeks: nine weeks of run/walk to 30 minutes of nonstop running, then the race. Pulsar builds those plans from 10 to 16 weeks. If you already run, six to eight weeks is typical, and four is the minimum Pulsar recommends for a trained runner.
Yes. Tell Pulsar you can’t run nonstop yet and your plan starts with run/walk: one minute of running and ninety seconds of walking, eight times. By week nine you run for 30 minutes without a break.
The one you finish. Plenty of people walk part of their first 5K, and nobody minds. Once you have a time, it becomes the starting point for the next one, and Pulsar can build a plan to beat it.
Three is a good start. Pulsar builds plans on 2 to 7 days a week, and a run/walk plan uses up to three, because that’s how the program is designed.
Keep most of your running easy, add one faster session a week, and keep it up for six to eight weeks. For a 5K that session is mostly intervals at about race effort, with some tempo runs. That’s the shape of every Pulsar 5K plan.
Not necessarily. A plan from zero builds to 30 minutes of nonstop running, which covers most of the distance. If you already run, your long runs will reach 3 miles or more. On the day, the crowd carries you the rest of the way.
If you already run regularly, yes: four weeks is enough to sharpen. If you’re newer, Pulsar recommends six. With less time it builds a tighter plan and says so, and if the date is far too close it suggests a target you can reach instead.
Pick the next goal. A faster 5K is one option; a 10K is the natural next step, and Pulsar builds that plan from your new 5K time.