Free 5k and parkrun training plan.
Run. Sometimes hard. Rest. Repeat.
Boost your fitness, improve your 5k or Parkrun time, and learn how to train smart, run fast, and be strong.
A structured, periodized, scientific, and educational running training plan.
For 5k and parkrun newbies and fun runners.
Informed by experimental and empirical evidence.
Designed by me, Thomas Solomon PhD.
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IMPORTANT: If you have never exercised before, this training may not appropriate for you. By voluntarily opting to complete the fitness tests and use the free sessions, you do so at your own risk and you are confirming that for the last 3-months you have engaged in at least 30-minutes of moderate-intensity exercise on at least 3-days per week, and that you are medically-cleared to participate in structured exercise. If there are any reasons that increasing your activity levels may impose a health risk (existing injury, illness, or cardiovascular, metabolic, or renal disease), you should consult your GP before joining this training. If you incur any illness or injury you must stop exercising and consult your GP immediately.
FITNESS TESTS:
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 — e.g. either run 7.5 laps of a 400 metre running track, or find a flat & uninterrupted route using Mapmyrun, or set-up a 3 km 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!
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".
IMPORTANT: When running on hilly/mountainous terrain or doing uphill efforts, these estimated "flat terrain" paces are useless and should not be used as targets. In such circumstances, ignore pace and use the RPE scale along with the Breathing and Talk test descriptions (see section above) to exert the correct level of effort.
When going up steep inclines on an "Easy" run, it is very likely that you will have to lower your pace to a hike in order to keep the intensity low. That is totally fine! Even Jon Albon, Kilian Jornet, Lindsay Webster, and Courtney Dauwalter hike when the grade gets steep.
Activation exercises:
Progressive effort walk-jog-run on flat terrain:
Dynamic drills:
Strides: