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.
Hello Matt,
I train running with heart rate monitor most of the time. I wonder, if these breakthrough intervals should really take me to my max heart rate zone which is above 174 bpm or is it relevant at all?
Another question, can a good tempo run replace a break even session i.e. 800m x 6 or 4 x 1 km run because yesterday I had to do my easy 5km run but eventually ended up running a tempo run for the most part of these 5km, – according to my heart rate monitor and fatigue in my legs.
What advice can you give on heavy legs? Often times I feel like I could blast those intervals i.e. 6x1km but my legs are “Nope. Not today, mate.”, which is annoying. Especially, when I have days when I otherwise feel fine but whence I start running it feels like I struggle to make those damn legs move faster.
Hi Matt,
Thanks for this…. I’m on week 3 of the plan and just completed the 6x1K session – I was slightly under target for the first 3k and a little over for the next 3… probably still fatigued from the hills yesterday.
With regards to targeting a race when would you look to race based on this plan – end of week 3 but miss the fartlek or week 4 after an easy week on fresh legs?
I’m feeling so much stronger this week than previous and looking at targeting a 5k after the first cycle to see where I am
Hi matt,
What is the Tempo Run?
Thanks a million!
Hi Matt – just about to launch into this. I’ve been doing 80-90km weeks with marathon in mind (it’s southern hemisphere summer so not marathon season yet), but not enjoying it this year as life is too busy for 90-120km weeks. Speed has always been my first love and I hover around 18:25-18:50 for Parkrun (I’m nearly 51), but never having shortened the weeks I don’t know what my true pace could be. The mind shift is to cut the kms and increase the speed this year and get rid of the 30km long runs! I’ll keep you posted, but this looks the goods.
Hi Stephen, thanks for letting us know your plans and good luck. Let us know how you get on.
Hi Matt,
Thanks for the plan…just wondering if week3, and , with it’s potential layout might be too intense in terms of recovery time?….a succession of a long run Sunday (@6:30 min/mile….hills in this part of the world)…Monday(hill sprints)….then on Tuesday followed by 6x1km @5:45?….I’m struggling getting on pace for Tuesday’s session after managing everything else on the weeks so far…… @ 44 yrs old , maybe I just need an extra day of recovery ….I tend to run on the Friday too, that might be taking it’s toll too?
I had a similar issue to you in week 3 Matt. I’ve re-arranged the 3 workouts to be tue, thu and sat instead of mon, tue, thu.
Most probably not ideal but works better for me in terms of recovery. I also run the easy/long runs slower than Matt’s recommendations since I find that running these too hard affects my ability to hit the target times in the intervals.
Also, wouldn’t two weeks of recovery after three month cycle downplay the achievemed results and detrain you?
Hi Matt,
Just wanted to thank you for the plan. I managed to take my 5k time from 18:45 to 17:35 in just one 4 week cycle. I wasn’t sure that I was even ready given how tough some of the sessions were… 6x1km Repeats were particularly bad.
Before this, I’d never followed a plan focusing on speed but I’ve really enjoyed it – nice short sessions as opposed to Ultra training! I’ll be starting on the sub-16 plan on Monday. Thanks again, Russ
Hi Russ, well done and thank you for the feedback; it’s always nice to hear some success stories. Pop back sometime and let us know how you get on with the 16 minute plan, cheers.