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The eight-week plan

The full schedule, plus what to do about the weeks you don't follow it.

Three sessions a week, never on consecutive days. Every run segment at conversational pace. Every week written on the assumption that you’ll miss something.

The schedule

  • Week 1 - 8 x (90 sec run / 2 min walk)
  • Week 2 - 7 x (2 min run / 2 min walk)
  • Week 3 - 6 x (3 min run / 90 sec walk)
  • Week 4 - 5 x (4 min run / 90 sec walk)
  • Week 5 - 4 x (6 min run / 90 sec walk)
  • Week 6 - 3 x (9 min run / 2 min walk)
  • Week 7 - 2 x (15 min run / 2 min walk)
  • Week 8 - one continuous 30 to 35 minute run, which is your 5K

Warm up with five minutes of walking, and finish with five more. Those ten minutes are not optional padding; they’re where a lot of the injury prevention quietly happens.

The rules for missed sessions

Missed one session in a week? Carry on as though you hadn’t. Missed a whole week? Repeat the last week you completed, then continue. Missed three weeks or more? Drop back two weeks and rebuild. Never double up to catch up - compressed volume is precisely the thing this plan exists to avoid.

The two questions everyone asks

Can I add a fourth session? Not yet. The rest days are load-bearing.

Can I go faster instead of longer? Also not yet. Duration first, then pace, in that order, for at least the first few months of running.

Week eight

Pick a flat route, go slower than you think you should for the first kilometre, and expect the middle to feel worse than the end. Five kilometres at conversational pace takes most beginners somewhere between thirty and forty minutes, and the number is the least interesting thing about the day.

Progress is saved to your account.