Beginner’s 10-Week 5K Training Plan
- By Mario Fraioli
- Published Dec. 31, 2012
- Updated Jan. 20, 2013 at 10:07 PM UTC
Start from scratch and safely work your way up to running 3.1 miles without stopping.
There are few feelings better than the one of crossing the finish line of a race. Regardless of your age, ability level or experience, the energy and excitement at a road race is contagious and more often than not has a lifelong, lasting effect on a runner.
As a non-runner, the thought of running a long-distance race, and the amount of training that goes into such an endeavor, intimidates you. While you want to replicate the “runner’s high” your marathoning friends live for, you don’t necessarily want to run 26.2 or 13.1 miles to do it. But who says you need to start there?
TRAINING PLAN: Weeks 1-5 (PDF)
TRAINING PLAN: Weeks 6-10 (PDF)
While half marathons and marathons are rapidly growing in popularity, new runners seem to forget about the 5K. While the tendency is to want to go big or go home, there’s nothing wrong with starting small and working your way up the distance ladder.
MORE: Have a little experience under your belt? Run your FASTEST 5K with our advanced training plan!
For running newbies, tackling the 5K distance is the perfect goal to get you going toward your first finish line, and it will set you up to cross many more finish lines in the future.
The workouts in this training blueprint are designed to help you start from scratch and safely work your way up to running 3.1 miles without stopping. Using a run/walk approach, you will gradually increasing the distance you run while decreasing the distance you walk over the course of 10 weeks.
Beyond crossing the finish line of your first 5K, however, this is a plan aimed at encouraging you to embrace the endurance lifestyle: goal-setting, hard work, camaraderie, fun, adventure and accomplishment.
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So give yourself the goal of becoming a runner, commit yourself to training your body over to run these next 10 weeks and reward yourself with that unforgettable feeling of crossing the first of many finish lines.
RELATED: The Beginner’s Guide To Half Marathon
This training plan first appeared in the May 2011 issue of Competitor Magazine.
FILED UNDER: Inside The Magazine / Training TAGS: 5K training / 5K training plans / beginner runners / beginner training plans
Mario Fraioli
Mario Fraioli is a senior editor at Competitor magazine. A cross-country All-American at Stonehill College in 2003, he now coaches the Prado Women's Racing Team in San Diego and was the men's marathon coach for Costa Rica's 2012 Olympic team. His first book, The Official Rock 'n' Roll Guide To Marathon & Half-Marathon Training (VeloPress, 2013) is available in bookstores, running shops and online.