Your Speed/Distance Training Zones: 18 minute 5k
| Pace per Mile/ Km | Treadmill Pace | 400m / 800m Splits | 5km Race Pace |
|---|---|---|---|
| 05:45 / 03:35 | 10.4 mph / 16.6 km/h | 86s / 2:52 | 17min 55s |
Your 18 minute 5k Training Plan
| Day | Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Rec. Week |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monday | 30mins easy | 30mins easy | Examples | Rest/ Cross-train |
| Tuesday | Reps@3:35 per km / 90s 5:45p/m (90sec rec.) | Reps@84s per 400m/ 5:35p/m (60s rec.) | Reps@3:35 per km / 90s 5:45p/m (90sec rec.) | Rest/ Cross-train |
| Wednesday | 30mins easy | 30mins easy | 30mins easy | to include 3miles @6:00 p/m |
| Thursday | Reps@2:49 per 800m /5:40p/m (200m jog rec.) | Examples | Examples | Rest/ Cross-train |
| Friday | Rest/ Cross-train | Rest | Rest/ Cross-train | 30mins easy |
| Saturday | 30mins easy | Reps@2:49 per 800m /5:40p/m (200m jog rec.) | 30mins easy | Rest/ Cross-train |
| Sunday | Long run | Long run | Long run | Rest/ Cross-train |
18 Minute 5k Training Plan Components
Breakeven Sessions – 18 minute 5k training plan
These sessions are used for maintaining fitness & recovery. Preparing you for breakthrough sessions:
- Steady/ Easy Run – this run should be according to how you feel, don't worry about the time, make sure it's no quicker than 07:45 p/m. Concentrate on recovery and form.
- Long Run – slow & steady run, this should be less than 1 hours work.
- Fartlek – unstructured training. Example Fartlek sessions.
Breakthrough Sessions – 18 minute 5k training plan
These sessions are meant to be challenging intense efforts, treat them as mini-milestones towards your target:
- 400m Reps – these need to be at 5:35 p/m pace (84s per lap) with a 60sec standing recovery.
- 800m Reps – should be reps at 5:40p/m pace (2:49 per 800m) with a 200m jogged recovery.
- 1km Intervals – hit 5:45p/m pace (3:35 per km) with a 90sec jogged recovery.
- Hills: Kenyans/ Hill Sprints – alternate between Kenyans and Hill Sprints to get a balance of power and endurance training. Example Hill Training Sessions.
About this Plan
Remember that to even consider following this 18 minute 5k plan you should already be able to run at a target race pace of 5:45 for at least a mile (3:35 p/km) and/or have a PB under 20 minutes.
The core work for the 18 minute 5k training plan is set over a 3-week period with the addition of 1 week's recovery. At the end of the first 4-week cycle you can repeat and/or tailor the plan to your individual needs to focus on your particular 5k event.
It is recommended that after three months following the 18 minute 5k plan that you reduce your training for a period of one to two weeks to allow your body time to recover from the impact of running. This should mean more time cross-training with a couple of nice easy runs every few days to keep the legs ticking over.
what do you suggest for training the week before a Saturday morning 5K race
Hi Mark,
I find that tapering is quite a personal thing to each athlete and depends on distance and importance of the event to your overall training goal. In this instance I would be looking to train normally up to about Tuesday and then ease off before Saturday; I wouldn’t do any major speed sessions after Tuesday and then before Saturday look to do one or two gentle runs with the odd brisk mile thrown in. Personally, I would take the Wednesday and Friday off running completely (and swim), do a gentle run or low-gear spin on Thursday and you should arrive at the line on Saturday morning with your legs itching to start running.
Hope that helps!
Cheers
Should you run 800*6 in faster pace than 400*10? I think it should the same pace as 1000*4.
Hi, I have made a slight modification to the timing for the 800m sessions. I wouldn’t recommend doing these at the same pace as your 1km reps, but slightly quicker at 5:40 per mile which is 2:49 per 800m or thereabouts. The variations in speeds between the sessions should now give you a good range that’s easy to remember.
This is exactly what I’m looking for Matt, many thanks! Quick question about the Steady and Long runs. You say no quicker than 6:20 pace for the steady – is it intended to be a fairly hard run then? What would be the ideal pace? And what about the long runs? When marathon training I’d do these slow so 7:30-8:00 p/m. Same here too?
Maybe you explain this in the ‘Breakeven and Breakthrough’ section but the link above just comes back to this page.
Thanks again!
Why 4×1000 and not 5×1000?
Hi, thanks for posting.
There is already a 6×1000 further on in the training block and by doing the 4×1000 here you’ll have plenty in the legs still for the 6x800s to come in a couple of days.
Hey Matt why do state that the long run should be less than 1 hour? Many similar plans say a long run of 75-90 mins.
Hi Stephen,
Most plans quite often just state a generic ‘long-run’ based upon an arbitrary assertion that your long-run must be a certain % (usually 25-40%) of your weekly mileage. I’ve found that for 5k focussed training going longer than an hour/hour and a quarter has no real benefits. Sure, if you are doing 10k’s as well then longer is fine, but for 5k an hour is plenty to get all the benefits that your body will derive from the long run. Use the extra half hour as recovery so you can get the most out of the high-intensity sessions! Good luck.
“6x800m
Reps@2:44 per 800m /5:45p/m (200m jog rec.)”
I am wondering how to read that?
2:44 per 800 m is 5 30 per mile not 5:45 🙂
Hi, apologies for the typo there. I have now corrected it, you were quite right it should be 5:30 p/mile. Thanks for letting me know and hope the training is going well.