12 Week 5k Plan

M - 8 miles @ 7:00-7:20 pace

T - 5 to 8 x 1000 @ 3:10-3:15

W - 8 miles @ 7:00-7:20 pace

Th - 5-6 miles @ 5:20-5:50 pace

F - 8 miles @ 7:00-7:20 pace

S - 10 miles @ 7:30 down to 6:00 pace

S - 5 miles at 7:30 pace or day off

Weekly schedule:

2 days hard,

2 days medium,

2 days easy (1 day 45-60 min, 1 day weights + 3 miles)

1 day very easy run with 4-6 x 100m strides, or rest day

Base: (no intervals)

runs: 2 hard days, 2 med days.

If in HS: runs are 3-6 miles.

After HS: runs are 4-7 miles

Pre-season:

intervals: 1 day med and 1 day hard (hard intervals usually Friday or Saturday),

runs: 1 day hard and 1 day medium.

Season:

intervals: 2 days hard (e.g. Tuesday and Saturday)

runs: 2 days medium (e.g. Monday and Thursday)

Weights + 3 miles: 1 day a week (e.g. Wednesday)

Long run of 45-60 minutes: (e.g. Sunday)

Very easy day (e.g. Friday)

If your meets are Friday instead of Saturday, adjust schedule.

HARD INTERVALS:

* 3 x (3 x 600m): (medium, fast, slow). 3 min jog between intervals, 5 min jog between sets

* 2 x (4 x 400m) at 800m pace: 400m jog between intervals, 10 min jog between sets

* 16 x 200m at mile pace: 200m jog between intervals

* 1000m at 2-mile pace, jog 800m;

then 600m at mile pace, jog 600m;

then 400m at 800m pace, jog 200m;

then 200m at 400m pace

* 6 x 200m at 90% sprint pace, 200m jog recovery;

4-5 miles medium

Just follow this

Thanks everyone. IF you feel you have anything else please post of forum

EZ10Miler wrote:

Just follow this

That plan goes on to say that whatever pace you can hit for 5 by K w/ 400 active recovery is what you can race at. Is that a thing? Sounds optimistic to me, but I've never trained for nor raced 5K so what do I know.

fatsos wrote:

EZ10Miler wrote:

Just follow this

That plan goes on to say that whatever pace you can hit for 5 by K w/ 400 active recovery is what you can race at. Is that a thing? Sounds optimistic to me, but I've never trained for nor raced 5K so what do I know.

I agree it's a little optimistic. I like a 200 jog for that kind of workout. Alternatively, you could run to the 400 recoveries at a decent clip like no more than 90sec/mi slower than 5K pace. Something like that would give you a more accurate idea of what you could do in a race in my opinion

Working Stiff wrote:

I agree it's a little optimistic. I like a 200 jog for that kind of workout. Alternatively, you could run to the 400 recoveries at a decent clip like no more than 90sec/mi slower than 5K pace. Something like that would give you a more accurate idea of what you could do in a race in my opinion

Yeah OK, that does sound more reasonable to me.

Dk your mileage but try to get up to the 70-80+ range. Sub-15 is around the corner.

2 week cycles- 2 @ 5k/10k, 1 @ mile/3k, 1 tempo. long run in the 15ish mile range.

M- easy hour

T- 6 x 1k @ 5k (400s, 600s, 800s, k's, ladders, etc. @ 5k pace)

W- 10-11 miles

T- easy hour

F- tempo- 4-5 miles @ T (straight or broken) + :30 or 200s or hills at the end

S- easy hour

S- 15 EZ/steady (could do this on Saturday with some MP in here & scrap the Friday tempo)

M- easy hour

T- 5 x 800m @ 3k (3-4 x 1k, 5-6 x 600, 8-12 x 400, etc.) + shorter reps

W- 10-11 miles

T- easy hour

F- 5k specific

S- easy hour

S- 15 EZ/steady

This puts you in the 70-80 range. If you want more you can break any or all of the easy hour days into 6/4 (up to 10/6) doubles. The Wednesday run can creep into the 12-13 range. It doesn't have to be rocket science. Put in the work & you'll get results. I would think about the 5k specific days and start with shorter reps and/or longer rest earlier in the build and work up the distance of the reps while dropping the recovery as you go. 2 week taper. Cutting 20% of mileage week 1 & then being around 50-60% during race week. Long run drops to 9-10 1 week out. Race week has a light Tuesday workout like a handful of k's @ threshold + some 200s or just a handful of 300s right around 5k pace.