Free weekly-updated 5k training plan.
Designed by Thomas Solomon PhD.
Scientist. Athlete.
Running coach. Nutritionist.
Exercise Physiologist. Personal Trainer.
Running coach. Nutritionist.
Exercise Physiologist. Personal Trainer.
Run. Sometimes hard. Rest. Repeat.
A structured, periodized, scientific, and educational exercise training plan to help newbies or fun-runners improve their 5km or Parkrun times while learning how to train smart.
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FITNESS TEST:
Before joining this free weekly training for the first time, complete the following time-trial fitness test. The result will help ensure you are working at the correct absolute intensity during your running sessions and will, therefore, help maximise your performance gains. "Fitness test" weeks recur during the training cycle to see how things are improving and to re-calibrate your absolute training intensities. If you are re-joining the training after a break (due to illness, injury, or apathy), please repeat the time trial.
Start with Run Warm-up (see suggestion here), then:
Race 3 kilometres as fast as you can.
Either run 7.5 laps of a 400m running track, or find a flat, uninterrupted route using Mapmyrun (or set-up a 3km distance function on your GPS watch). Compare your finish time against the pacing table (see chart here) to see what your training paces should be.
Finish with 5-mins of EASY running followed by Cool-down exercises (see suggestion here).
NOTE: all Warm-up and Cool-down exercises are described in a section further down this page.
Once you have completed the time-trial fitness test, you are ready to rock!

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The training plan above is structured around two macrocycles each with three mesocycles:
Macrocycle 1: Base-phase (Dec to Feb), Transition-phase (Mar and Apr), Race-phase (May and Jun).
Macrocycle 2: Base-phase (Jul), Transition-phase (Aug), Race-phase (Sept and Oct). November is a "rest phase".
Every training block within a mesocycle runs in 4-week cycles: "stress", "stress", "taper", "recovery".