Speeding up for Spring

The general philosophy is to run 3 key club sessions a week, Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. Saturday is also an easy run or if you run #notparkrun flat out each week then this should count as a key sesssion. If you are racing on any given weekend then speak to one of the coaches about your training during the preceding week.

This week:

4 weeks 4 days to go

Monday
Tuesday	2x 15 min Kenyan Hills
Wednesday
Thursday	10-12 x {300m (1m pace=1'41'') [100m walk of at least equal time of your 300m run]}. Total 3000-3800m.
Friday
Saturday	4 miles Easy (48 mins)
Sunday	5 miles Easy, 2 miles Steady (1h22)

Customization

The schedule shown is for a runner hoping to complete a 5KM race in a time of 00:30:00.

No optional days selected.

Full Schedule:

Use our pace calculator to find out more about the terms used in the schedule.

Week 1

04/01/21-10/01/21

Monday
Tuesday	Paddington. 5 miles Easy (1h00)
Wednesday
Thursday	10 x {200m (1m pace=1'07'') [200m jog]}. Total 2000m hard, 2000m recovery.
Friday
Saturday	4 miles Easy (48 mins)
Sunday	6 miles Easy (1h12)

Week 2

11/01/21-17/01/21

Monday
Tuesday	Paddington. 5 miles Steady (55 mins)
Wednesday
Thursday	800m (warm-up) 2x {200m (5k pace) [200m recovery]} 3-5 min rest, 3000m time trial. Total 3400 hard, 1200 recovery.
Friday
Saturday	4 miles Easy (48 mins)
Sunday	7 miles Easy (1h24)

Week 3

18/01/21-24/01/21

Monday
Tuesday	2x 10min Kenyan Hills
Wednesday
Thursday	4 x {200m (1m pace=1'07'') 200m (3k pace) 400m (5k pace) 400m (10k pace) [3min]}. Total 4800m
Friday
Saturday	4 miles Easy (48 mins)
Sunday	5 miles Easy, 2 miles Steady (1h22)

Week 4

25/01/21-31/01/21

Monday
Tuesday	2x 15 min Kenyan Hills
Wednesday
Thursday	10-12 x {300m (1m pace=1'41'') [100m walk of at least equal time of your 300m run]}. Total 3000-3800m.
Friday
Saturday	4 miles Easy (48 mins)
Sunday	5 miles Easy, 2 miles Steady (1h22)

Week 5

01/02/21-07/02/21

Monday
Tuesday	Tussauds. 5.5 miles Easy (1h06)
Wednesday
Thursday	4-5x {400m (10k pace=2'30'') 400m (5k pace=2'24'') 200m (3k pace=1'10''), 200m (1m pace=1'07'') [3min]} Total 4800-6000m
Friday
Saturday	Chingford League provisional
Sunday	7 miles Easy (1h24)

Week 6

08/02/21-14/02/21

Monday
Tuesday	Canal. 1mile Easy, 2 miles Threshold, 1mile Easy (44 mins)
Wednesday
Thursday	8-10 x {400 (1m) [2min]}. Total 3200-4000m.
Friday
Saturday	4 miles Easy (48 mins)
Sunday	6 miles Easy, 1mile Steady (1h23)

Week 7

15/02/21-21/02/21

Monday
Tuesday	2x 20 min Kenyan Hills
Wednesday
Thursday	6-8 x {600 (1m) [3min]}. Total 3600-4800m
Friday
Saturday	4 miles Easy (48 mins)
Sunday	6 miles Easy, 3 miles Steady (1h45)

Week 8

22/02/21-28/02/21

Monday
Tuesday	40 min Progression Run: 10 min easy, 40 min starting at MP +20s getting 10s faster every 10 minutes, 10 min easy
Wednesday
Thursday	3 miles easy with 4 x 100m Strides. Total 5200m
Friday
Saturday	Chaser 1 mile at PH provisional - book own slot
Sunday	9 miles Easy (1h48)

Advice

It's important to be flexible out your schedule. This plan is just an outline and it is important to pay attention to how you feel. Here are some tips:

If you are ill or injured, rest.
If you miss some sessions, just let them go. Don't try and catch up and don't beat yourself up. Everyone misses some sessions, you don't have to hit every one to achieve your goal.
Don't worry if you have a bad session or even a couple of bad weeks. It happens to all of us. But if you do continue to find the schedule too tough, ease off.
All times and distances are approximate. If you're doing a tough route, run by time rather than distance as it is the effort you put in that counts not the distance.