Couch to 5K Plan Week by Week: Free 8-Week Schedule

Key Takeaways

Eight weeks, three sessions a week. Each session is 25 to 45 minutes, including a 5-minute walk before and after.
Week 1 is one-minute jogs between 90-second walks. If that's still too much, a four-week walking start comes first.
No week 5 cliff. The longest run grows 1, 1½, 3, 5, 8, 15, 20 and finally 35 minutes. The classic plan jumps from 5 to 20 minutes in week 5.
Repeat any week. Move on when the last session of the week felt manageable, not when the calendar says so.

How to Use This Plan

Three sessions a week, with a rest day between them. Three is the right number for your first months.
Every session starts with a 5-minute brisk walk and ends with a 5-minute easy walk. They're not in the lists below, but they count.
Run slowly enough to talk in short sentences. If you can't, slow down, even to a shuffle. Slow is exactly right.
Walk breaks are the method, not a failure. Here's why walk-run intervals work.
Repeat a week whenever the last session felt hard. It's how most people actually finish. If you get stuck, read what to do when Couch to 5K feels too hard.
Already running a bit? If you can run 5 minutes without stopping, start at week 2. Ten minutes: week 3. Fifteen: week 4.

You'll need a timer (any phone timer works) and comfortable shoes. That's all.

The Plan, Week by Week

Week 1: one-minute jogs

Session 1: run 1 minute, walk 1 minute 30 seconds. Do it 6 times. (25 minutes with the walks before and after)
Session 2: run 1 minute, walk 1 minute 30 seconds. Do it 8 times. (30 minutes)
Session 3: same as session 2. (30 minutes)

Week 2: a little longer

Sessions 1 and 2: run 1 minute 30 seconds, walk 2 minutes, 4 times. Then run 1 minute, walk 1 minute, 2 times. (28 minutes)
Session 3: run 1 minute 30 seconds, walk 2 minutes. Do it 6 times. (31 minutes)

Week 3: the first 3-minute run

Sessions 1 and 2: run 1:30, walk 1:30, run 2:30, walk 2:30, run 2:30, walk 2:30, run 1:30, walk 1:30. (26 minutes)
Session 3: run 2 minutes, walk 2. Then run 3, walk 3, twice. Then run 2, walk 2. (30 minutes)

Week 4: up to 5 minutes

Session 1: run 3 minutes, walk 2. Then run 4, walk 3, twice. Then run 3, walk 2. (34 minutes)
Session 2: run 3, walk 2. Then run 5, walk 3, twice. Then run 3, walk 2. (36 minutes)
Session 3: run 3, walk 2. Then run 5, walk 2, twice. Then run 3, walk 2. (34 minutes)

Week 5: the week other plans get hard

Session 1: run 5 minutes, walk 3, run 6, walk 3, run 5. (32 minutes)
Session 2: run 5, walk 3, run 8, walk 5, run 5. (36 minutes)
Session 3: run 8, walk 5, run 8. (31 minutes)

Week 6: double figures

Session 1: run 10 minutes, walk 5, run 10. (35 minutes)
Session 2: run 12, walk 3, run 8. (33 minutes)
Session 3: run 15, walk 3, run 5. (33 minutes)

Week 7: your first 20 minutes

Session 1: run 18 minutes, walk 3, run 3. (34 minutes)
Session 2: run 20 minutes without stopping. (30 minutes)
Session 3: run 20, walk 3, run 5. (38 minutes)

Week 8: no more walk breaks

Session 1: run 25 minutes. (35 minutes)
Session 2: run 30 minutes. (40 minutes)
Session 3: run 35 minutes. (45 minutes)

The button prints just the eight weeks, on their own, ready for the fridge door.

If One Minute Is Too Much: Start With Walking

A minute of jogging is a big ask if you haven't moved much in a while. That's what this four-week walking start is for. It leads straight into week 1 above. Another gentle route is Jeff Galloway's run-walk-run method, which starts with 5 to 10 seconds of running and keeps the walk breaks for good.

Week 1: brisk walks of 15, 15 and 20 minutes.
Week 2: brisk walks of 20, 20 and 25 minutes.
Week 3: jog 30 seconds, walk 2 minutes. Do it 6, 6, then 8 times.
Week 4: jog 45 seconds, walk 1 minute 30 seconds. Do it 6, 8, then 8 times.

How It Compares With the NHS Plan

The NHS Couch to 5K plan is nine weeks with the same three-a-week rhythm, and it's the one most people mean when they say Couch to 5K. The first four weeks of both plans look almost the same. The difference is in the middle.

Week	Longest run, NHS plan	Longest run, this plan
1	1 minute	1 minute
2	1½ minutes	1½ minutes
3	3 minutes	3 minutes
4	5 minutes	5 minutes
5	20 minutes	8 minutes
6	25 minutes	15 minutes
7	25 minutes	20 minutes
8	28 minutes	35 minutes
9	30 minutes	(done)

In the NHS plan, the longest run goes from 5 minutes to 20 within a single week. That's where a lot of people stall: in a study of 110 people following it, almost half had stopped by the halfway point. This plan takes the same climb in smaller steps (8, 10, 12, 15, then 18 minutes) and reaches 20 in week 7.

Both end with half an hour or more of running. Neither guarantees 5 km in that time: at a beginner's pace, the full distance often takes a little longer. There's more on that in how long Couch to 5K really takes.

Following It With an App

Full disclosure: this is our app. This page is the same plan Just5K's First 5K program runs, session for session, with the walking start as its Gentle Start. In the app, a voice in your headphones tells you when to run and when to walk, the timer keeps going with the screen locked, and you move forward by finishing sessions: miss a week and your next session waits for you.

Just5K is in a free public beta on TestFlight now, and after the App Store release the whole road to your first 5K stays free. If you'd rather use a different app, there's a comparison of five in the best couch to 5K apps for 2026.

FAQ

How many weeks is Couch to 5K?

The NHS plan is nine weeks. This plan is eight, or twelve with the walking start. Either way, repeating weeks is allowed, so most people take a little longer than the number on the box.

What is week 1 of Couch to 5K?

In the NHS plan: a 5-minute walk, eight 1-minute runs with 90-second walks between them, and a 5-minute walk. In this plan, week 1 starts with six 1-minute jogs and builds to eight by the second session.

Can I skip weeks?

Only if you can already do what they ask. If you can run 5 minutes without stopping, start at week 2; 10 minutes, week 3; 15 minutes, week 4. Skipping to get it over with usually means repeating weeks later.

What if I can't finish a session?

Walk, finish the time, and repeat that session or that week next time. Nothing resets. One hard day doesn't set you back.

Is this plan free?

Yes. Follow it from this page, print it, or use it in the Just5K app, which is free all the way to your first 5K.

Small steps, every week. Eight weeks of short sessions, walk breaks that are part of the plan, and no week where the run suddenly quadruples.