What's the simplest training plan to get good at running?

As the first response indicated. It’s simple:

- double as many days as possible. It’s easier on body to split into two runs, and you can just let body dictate volume increases by adding 5-10 minutes onto individual runs when you feel good. Start by taking a step back from what you know you could handle and then just let volume/pace increases come by feel.

- run easy when tired, steady when you feel good. Don’t force it.

- For “speed” work-> Run lots of intervals, fast but totally under control. I think you could call this “aerobic speed”. This could be considered anything from short strides or more Daniels-style Reps and just let the pace come to you but ideally should be progressing anywhere from 5k to 800m pace. Again, the key is that they are done without incurring acidosis and going into oxygen debt, (once a few weeks out from a peak, then it’s ok to bring on the more anaerobic/ vo2 max type efforts where you are trying to push into oxygen debt and acidosis). This could be broken up into short daily micro-speed sessions or 1-3 “workouts”; it is up to you. The real thing to dwell on is that you are progressively adding more volume and speed over time, (I.e. first week start with say ~800m at 5k effort; 20 weeks later you’re running 3-4 miles a week at speeds touching on as fast as 800m pace… key is that you let it come to you as you adapted to the training and never forced it).

- For “aerobic stamina” —> No need to have structured interval / tempo workouts, just don’t be afraid to race often and run steady when you feel good. Never press too hard on any given training day; save it for racing… (Note: if you are wanting to peak, I’d let the speed work mentioned above morph into structured “vo2” / “aerobic power” workouts. I’d encourage you to race a distance just above or just under target race versus doing any kind of “threshold/critical velocity” workout… remember, the aim of this is SIMPLE training :)

- Long Runs—> not necessary unless a few weeks out from a marathon, (peaking for marathon is a different beast and can provide more thoughts on another post)… It is ok to have a day where you “double up” your normal daily volume into one run to get an afternoon off, but remember that the real goal is to build total weekly volume both globally and at various paces. If you overdo it on a single long run, this will compromise that goal over time.

**Big Picture thoughts: Unless you are 4-8 weeks out from your peak event, avoid the temptation to dwell on any no one single session. The goal with training is progressive overload to continue to develop one’s aerobic abilities. This means continuing to run more volume at a variety of speeds AEROBICALLY to stimulate the different muscle fibers. Yes, despite what some will tell you, you can actually get pretty damn fit running close to the same steady effort/pace twice per day as long as you keep healthy and slowly progress the volume BUT you can get even fitter and be way less likely to get injured if you run all kinds of different paces, letting your current fitness and how you feel that given session dictate the effort.

If you could only think about one thing; consider this, the goal of intelligent training should be to provide a progressive training load that will grow over time as your fitness improves. Training load is simply duration/volume x intensity/pace x frequency. I’d form some kind of simple system to track this (or get a GPS and geek out with TrainingPeaks/strava/etc…) and just make sure you don’t get too greedy and progress too quickly OR not at all.

I too remember people in the 70's racing a lot more than most folks do these days. But gosh, most races I entered cost under a dollar, most of the ones that cost more were at most two dollars. A marathon might have cost five dollars. I could never have raced as much as I did then if entry fees were in line with today's. Of course for those fees all you got was a race maybe with a water stop along the way and maybe three trophies at the end.

Run a lot. Mostly easy. Sometimes fast.

I wouldn't exactly call that "simple"

It depends on your running history and/or current training volume, but here's a sample schedule for someone running roughly 80-100 kms p/wk.

Monday: 50 min jog

Tuesday: Vo2 Max Intervals e.g. (8 x 600m @ 3-5k pace, 1:30 jog recovery) or (5 x 1k @ 5k pace, 2 mins jog recovery), etc...

Wednesday: 70 min jog

Thursday: 30 min jog or rest day

Friday: Lactate Threshold/Tempo e.g. 25 mins @ LT (the pace you could hold all out for an hour) or 3 x 10 mins @ LT, 3' jog recovery

Saturday: 50 min jog

Sunday: Long Run (25% of overall volume)

It's important to address the body's 3 main systems for distance running performance: Vo2 max, Lactate Threshold and Running Economy. Any balanced schedule should address these. However, some will periodise training to work on different systems at different times of the year.

To gradually increase volume, you could start by adding in doubles (start with 1 or 2 for the first month, then add in another every month after). You could then adjust the long run to realign with 25% of overall volume. Once you've reached 4 doubles, then start to gradually increase the volume of your sessions from 15-30 mins of intensity to 20-40 mins and so on.

Alternate hard and easy days

A hard day is a long run or a fast run.

An easy day is a short, conversational run.

I like this, but easy days aren't usually "short" in my experience.

Average distance +/- roughly 25%, perhaps?

This is the answer. Expected way more "track, tempo, long run" posts to be honest. I think hills is the mandatory 4th workout. It's a natural fartlek that works different muscles you don't use on flat ground and is great at preventing injuries.

Copy/paste of a nearly 20 year old LRC post that I’ve saved. I used this simple plan too with good success.

“Training through the early months of parenthood is tough but doable. Tinman's schedule is similar and excellent. You could sustain that schedule and improved for a long time training like that. Throw in one or two races per month and you've got a nice recipe.

If you're like me, you may find out that you prefer this type of training to your previous methods. I have been following the same basic schedule for three years now:
M-50 minutes with 7 miles @aerobic threshold (5:45 pace)
T-50 easy plus striders
W-50 minutes with 3 x 1 mile at 12k pace (90 second rest)
R-50 minutes easy plus striders
F-50 minutes easy plus striders
St-2 hours medium with striders
Sn-50 minutes easy plus striders

On this training, I have run 15:12 5k, 31:30 10k, and a 2:28 marathon---not PRs, but within 2.5%. That is, I'm training at 50% of my former training mileage, but racing at 97.5% of my personal bests. I actually like running
again too.”

I was trying to keep it as simple as possible. "Short" would be about half of "long." If a long day was 6 miles, a short day would be 3-4 miles.

Eventually, as fitness improves, "long" would feel easier and the distance can be increased. Eventually, "fast" would feel easier and fast days could be faster.

Would I train like this? No. In fact, almost no one trains "simple" anymore. Even casual recreational runners buy $300 Garmins. Plus, simple will only get you from poor to good. Not that there's anything wrong with "good" as a goal. It's just not my goal.

Running an hour a day every day.

It will get you in shape for everything from the 1500 to the mile, and would probably be a better training plan for a marathon than many beginner marathon training plans.

Run more than you are now. Don't get burned out or hurt.

Run your easy days hard and your workouts harder.

Simple training for mile-half marathon

Easy + 8x 20s relaxed strides

4-8x 5:00 @Threshold w/1:00 rest (5k pace + 30-40s per mile)

easy + 8x 20s relaxed strides

easy + 8x 20s relaxed strides

25-50 min continuous @MP (threshold pace + 20s per mile)

easy + 8x 20s relaxed strides

Long run (20-25% of weekly mileage)

When you get 4-6 weeks out from a race just replace one of those sessions with something harder like 6-8x 800 @5k pace w/2:00 rest or 6-8x 400 @mile pace w/2:00 rest. Keep the easy days easy and the workouts relaxed!

Run 6-7 days a week.

Run two quality sessions per week.

Mid week faster session/VO2 max.

Incorporate threshold and/or marathon effort into long runs.

All other runs at conversation pace.

Take a down week when you need it, but consistency is key.

This is the answer. I would only change it to "Run faster once or twice a week." You can't go wrong with this advice.

At the most basic level I 100% agree with you, but imo this may be too basic/general to be productive enough for a runner like OP trying to “get good.” I think adding a little more structure actually makes training simpler for an athlete as opposed to letting them figure it out on their own.

I'm just addressing this because it somehow got 100+ upvotes.

Only doing one fast run a week is a recipe for very slow progress at anything below the half marathon distance.

If you've already maximized your potential in the 5k and below, and you're looking for pure aerobic gains, this plan is fine. One fast run will probably maintain your speed.

If you're beginner, which we'd assume someone asking this question would be, you need 2-3 fast runs a week to make gains in your speed.

In other words, intervals, tempo and a hills/fartlek if you live somewhere flat.

I know a ton of novices who slog for an hour and do one fast session. Sure, they can do a marathon within a minute of their 5k pace. Too bad they can't even break 22 in the 5k.