Training Plan(s)

There’s all sorts of  training plans to gin speed for a 5k out there…but a member of the Gomernation, Brad Kinnear, volunteered to make a plan just for the Gomers and their goals.  That’s the first plan below, and you welcome to  join us as we train.   The below plan has 4 runs per week, starting six weeks out from the race.  Happy Running!

Workout #1 – Hill Repeats

Hills make you faster. And if there are hills in your 5k, you’ll be ready for them. Keep these simple: Find a stretch of hill 100 meters long. Sprint up it and then walk or jog back down. Then repeat.

Week 1 – 4 x Hills

Week 2 – 6 x Hills

Week 3 – 8 x Hills

Week 4 – 6 x Hills

Week 5 – 4 x Hills

Week 6 – No Hills!!!

Workout #2 – Timed Intervals

Go for a run of a specific length of time but don’t worry about distance. During most of the run, keep a relaxed pace but every two minutes, sprint for 15 seconds. So run relaxed for two minutes, sprint for 15 seconds, run relaxed for 1:45, sprint for 0:15, run relaxed for 1:45, sprint for 0:15, and so on.

Week 1 – 20 minutes.

Week 2 – 24 minutes.

Week 3 – 28 minutes.

Week 4 – 30 minutes.

Week 5 – 24 minutes.

Week 6 – 16 minutes at the most.


Workout #3 – Distance Intervals

Find a quarter-mile stretch that you can run repeatedly. Run that quarter-mile in the following amount of time: Steven – 2 minutes (2:00). Anthony – 2 minutes, 15 seconds(2:15). After each quarter-mile, rest for two minutes (no jogging or running during rest time… let your heart rate drop) then go again.

Week 1 – 4 x ¼ Mile.

Week 2 – 5 x ¼ Mile.

Week 3 – 6 x ¼ Mile.

Week 4 – 6 x ¼ Mile.

Week 5 – 5 x ¼ Mile.

Week 6 – No Distance Intervals!!!

Long Run

Run one ‘long run’ per week. Don’t worry too much about speed (you’re not trying to set your PR during these workouts), but don’t shuffle through them either. Your long runs aren’t like in the marathon… you aren’t building a ton of endurance in this training. This is just to get you in the mindset of running several miles at a time in the midst of all this speed stuff.

Week 1 – 3 miles.

Week 2 – 3 miles.

Week 3 – 4 miles.

Week 4 – 4 miles.

Week 5 – 3 miles.

Week 6 – Race!!!

 

 

13 Responses to “Training Plan(s)”

  1. this plan looks awesome.
    Would it be possible for you guys to also post your half-marathon plan again as well?
    Thanks

    brandon said this on September 14th, 2009 at 10:04 pm

  2. Weeks 18 & 19 are looking pretty heavy still. Most plans that I’ve seen don’t have such long runs during the last two weekends.

    Frank said this on November 6th, 2009 at 8:59 am

  3. Wow that’s a lot of running lads!

    Miguel said this on November 26th, 2009 at 11:52 pm

  4. I still don’t understand why you are advised NOT to run the 26.2 miles until just before the race. The closest you come is 20 miles 4 weeks before the race. other than that you don’t even come close to 26.2 miles. I always thought that when preparing for an athletic event you do MORE in the preparation than you do in the actual event, so that the event seems easy by comparison. When and why did that philosophy change?

    Robert Grahmann said this on November 27th, 2009 at 8:56 pm

  5. It’s so you don’t hurt yourself, mostly. If you’re building up to a huge distance, then week after week you’re doing more than your body is accustomed to. So without cutting back, you never really recover, and you’ll end up completely crapping out before race day. With the long runs going back & forth for the last few weeks, you do get to recover without losing conditioning, and as long as you’ve had ample recovery time, you should always be able to do about 30% more than what you’re conditioned for. So since going all the way up to (or past) 26.2 isn’t necessary, the safe bet is to just condition yourself up to where 26.2 is within that extra 30% range.

    Mark said this on December 6th, 2009 at 12:16 pm

  6. The best way I’ve heard the reason why you dont run a marathon while training for one, was if you where climbing Everest you wouldn’t practice by climbing Everest. You’d practice on smaller mountains, then progressivly bigger mountains, then you’d have a try at Everest.

    Tim Jarrett said this on January 2nd, 2010 at 10:29 pm

  7. Okay; a complete surprise for me: I am exactly at where the Two Gomers are. I was listening while on a scheduled 14 mile run when I heard that they had just done their 14 mile runs. Also the first marathon they are training for is the same one I’m working towards. Very cool. But, I blew off my first 1/2 Marathon this Sunday since it was 27F (w/ice) and waited until it warmed up to 42F (and sunny!) and ran 17 miles (a new record for me). So, since I’m right where they are, I’m switching to their schedule. Maybe I’ll see y’all in Atlanta for the ING Marathon in March. Caio!

    Paul said this on February 4th, 2010 at 12:59 pm

  8. Where did you get this plan?

    Joshua said this on May 20th, 2010 at 9:25 am

  9. I am still unclear about what the speed work outs. If I am doing track workouts, how long (time or distance) do I run at 3k pace? How many intervals? If I am running hills, how do I know if its a “good” hill? The description mentions that “The steeper the hill, the shorter you can make the intervals”. How steep should the hill be? Is this a HR issue? If so, what should the target HR be?

    Also, as to the running more then marathon to train for marathon, Galloway’s plans call for at least one run longer then 26.2 during the training. I think its just what you are comfortable with.

    Zach said this on February 9th, 2011 at 9:25 am

  10. I’m going to ditto one of Zach’s questions- what are the speedwork days supposed to entail? Based on the numbering, it feels like there is supposed to be a set plan or a series of interval workouts but they aren’t listed here. I’m also curious what track work is suggested.

    Any chance we can get that info posted? I’d love to get started. :)

    Alison said this on February 22nd, 2011 at 4:56 pm

  11. Zach and Alison,
    If it’s okay with the Gomers, I’ll post the specifics for the speedwork sessions as comments on their Facebook page.

    Brad said this on February 28th, 2011 at 7:50 pm

  12. With the speedwork, is the number the length you have to run?
    Like Speedwork 1, does that mean that you only have to do 1 mile?

    Emi said this on August 13th, 2011 at 11:38 pm

  13. the plan looks great guys:) thanks to the brad im doing my first official 5k race soon so i wanted a plan:) anyways happy running!

    grant said this on June 23rd, 2012 at 8:44 am

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