You already have the assistant — Meta AI. 10K Coach installs into it: 15 questions route you to one of three proven tracks, every pace is calibrated from your actual fitness with VDOT, and the whole cycle is built around the workout that actually decides a 10K — your threshold session. $19 once. No app, no subscription, no $150/month coach.
A PDF plan runs $10–50 and never changes. A running app runs about $15 a month — $180 a year — and never intervenes when your log shows three rough weeks in a row. A human coach sees all of it, for $150+ a month. 10K Coach reads your log every Sunday and costs $19 once.
A PDF can't read your training log. An app counts your miles but won't tell you the tempo is drifting into interval effort, won't recalibrate paces when your fitness changes, won't hold you to the threshold-progression arc, and won't adjust a thing when you get sick. You follow the plan; the plan never follows you.
No app at all — it installs into the Meta AI you already use. $19 once, yours forever. Fifteen onboarding questions assign you one of three researched tracks. Every pace comes from your actual fitness via VDOT, checked by a goal-time realism gate. Every workout carries both pace languages (Daniels T/I/R, Pfitzinger LT/VO₂max/speed). And every Sunday the coach reads your training_log.csv and applies tiered intervention rules — green, yellow, red — with the threshold-progression arc enforced in order, the neck rule, and a missed-session protocol that adjusts instead of guilt-trips.
Anyone can hand you a schedule. Coaching is what happens between the schedule and reality — the tempo that came out too hard, the threshold volume that quietly outgrew the week, the cold that needs the quality sessions canceled, not just eased. 10K Coach is built for the gap: your data lives in a training log the coach actually reads, and the rules it applies are the ones a good human coach would.
VDOT calibration turns a recent result into every training pace — easy, threshold, VO₂max. The goal-time realism gate checks your target against where you actually are, so you train at paces your fitness supports instead of paces your ambition wants.
Every session lands in training_log.csv — a plain file you own, readable anywhere. Trends, threshold-dose vs. cap, tempo-effort creep, and mileage spikes are computed from it every Sunday. Your data isn't a dashboard decoration; it's what the coaching decisions are made from.
Threshold capped at 10% of weekly mileage per session, the arc that gates intervals behind 30 minutes of comfortable threshold, scheduled down weeks, the neck rule with the 10K corollary (quality first canceled when sick), back-off detection for overtraining signals. When the log says stop, the coach says stop — plainly, before your body says it louder.
Whether or not you ever buy anything, here is the method that works — the same one 10K Coach is built on, from Pfitzinger & Latter and Daniels. Six habits. None of them require an app.
One threshold session a week — cruise intervals first, then continuous tempo, then longer tempo — is the load-bearing event. 10K pace sits at or just above threshold for most runners, so every threshold gain is a race-pace gain. Build everything else around it.
Daniels' exact words: the proper threshold pace is comfortably hard, not hard — hard is reserved for interval running. The self-check: could you hold this pace 30–40 minutes? If not, slow down. A tempo that feels like a race is training the wrong system.
Cruise intervals → continuous tempo → longer tempo → VO₂max intervals → race-specific 10K work, in that order. Intervals never appear before 30 minutes of comfortable threshold. Duration first, intensity second, specificity third.
Set workout paces from a recent result, not the goal. Goal times are earned across a cycle, not declared on day one. Aspirational threshold pacing is the #1 way self-coached 10K runners blow up.
Because it does: 15–20 minutes easy plus strides and brief threshold/pace priming, finishing about 10 minutes before the gun. A cold start ruins a 10K — in a marathon it barely matters. Then pace it honestly: controlled first 1–2 km, settle, lift the final 2 km.
This is the part a PDF can't do: read the log every Sunday, spot the third straight tempo that's too hard, and intervene — a dose downgrade, a pace recalibration, or a plain-spoken "back off." Your job is running; the watching is the coach's.
Fifteen onboarding questions — goal race, current mileage, recent results, threshold experience, injuries, availability — route you deterministically to one of three tracks, each researched against the canonical training systems. Graduation is earned by demonstrated durability, never by ambition alone.
Higdon-accessible × Pfitzinger base. First 10Ks, 5K graduates, rebuilders. Three to four days a week, one quality session alternating threshold and race-pace work, strides as the safe speedwork. Peak 15–25 miles a week. The goal: reach the start line healthy and finish strong.
Daniels / Pfitzinger threshold-centric. Durable runners chasing a time. Four to five days a week; the threshold session is the week's centerpiece; strides weekly; VO₂max intervals layered in during the race-specific phase. Peak 25–40 miles a week, with a tune-up 5K ~2–3 weeks out.
Pfitzinger 8K–10K top tier. Experienced runners with a deep base. Five to six days a week, two quality sessions (threshold + VO₂max/race-specific) on deep easy volume; hill sprints in base, strides all cycle. Peak 40–60 miles a week. Hard entry gates: ambition alone never qualifies.
Track 1 graduates to Track 2 after 8+ weeks at 20+ miles a week with a 8-mile long run and 30 minutes of comfortable threshold work. Track 2 graduates to Track 3 after 8+ durable weeks at 30+ miles a week with a 10-mile long run and absorbed VO₂max work. Race the 10K, and the coach writes a graduation packet that hands you into the half-marathon pack. The coach watches the log and proposes the move — you never have to figure out "what's next" alone.
No apps to download. No accounts to create. It installs into the assistant you already use.
Pay $19 securely via Stripe.
Your license key appears instantly on the success page.
Tell your Muse: install the 10k coach powerup from poweruppacks.com
Goal race, goal time, recent result, mileage, longest run, running age, availability, course, environment, threshold experience, strength, sleep, injuries, vibe — then your track is assigned and your first week is programmed.
Secure checkout via Stripe · Questions? [email protected] · or see all the packs
A free plan is a schedule, not a coach. It can't see your training log, won't recalibrate your paces when your fitness changes, won't notice your tempos drifting too hard, won't call a down week when the log shows strain, and won't adjust when you get sick. 10K Coach checks your log every Sunday and applies tiered intervention rules — green, yellow, red — so the plan follows you instead of the other way around.
From your actual fitness using VDOT calibration — never your goal time. A goal-time realism gate checks whether your target is reachable from where you are now. Every workout pace is one your current fitness supports, and every workout carries both pace languages: Daniels (T / I / R) and Pfitzinger (LT / VO₂max / speed).
Yes — that's exactly what the Finish Strong track is for: first 10Ks and 5K graduates, 3–4 days a week, one quality session alternating threshold and race-pace work, strides as the safe speedwork. You don't need to be fast; you need to be consistent, and the track is built for that.
The coach adjusts instead of guilt-tripping. The neck rule governs illness — above the neck versus below — with one 10K-specific corollary: quality is the first thing canceled, never "easy plus the tempo." Back-off detection flags overtraining and pain signals. The missed-session protocol re-plans the week around what actually happened instead of pretending it didn't.
Your sessions, logged to training_log.csv — either from a connected source or manual reporting after each run. The Sunday check-in reads the log: threshold-session completion and effort, T-volume vs. the cap, mileage, long-run ratios. The more honest the log, the better the coaching.
Yes. The five phases — Base, Build (threshold emphasis), Race-specific, Taper + race, Post-race recovery — scale to your timeframe, whether you're 12 weeks out or building a base first. The 8-week tune-up reminder, taper-week, and race-week nudges keep the runway on track.
Email [email protected] within 14 days and you get a full refund. No forms, no hassle.
"Install the 10k coach powerup." — that's the whole install.
Get it for $19