Fitness · 12 recordsRun a first 5K

The training is deliberately gentle and the routines carry it. What makes this different from an app is the entered race at the end — a date somebody else set, which is what stops week 4 becoming the last week.

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Goal

Run 5 kilometres without stopping Month 2

At an entered event, on a date somebody else set.

Nine weeks of building Week 8

Run-walk at first. The gentle start is the part people skip.

  • Do the first run-walk sessionDo firstDay 2
  • Get to twenty minutes of continuous runningWeek 5
  • Run the full distance once in trainingWeek 8

Enter something Week 3

A date somebody else set, so week 5 happens.

  • Find a local 5K about nine weeks outDo firstDay 5
  • Enter it and pay for itDo firstWeek 2

Routines

  • Runweekly
  • Walk on the off daysdaily
✦ It puts something in the calendar

Dates you will not have to remember

The 5K

Month 209:3090 min
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Week 4 is the one

Most beginner running plans stop around week 4, once the novelty has gone and it still feels hard. An entered race is the cheapest available reason for week 5 to happen anyway.\n\nIf you miss a week, repeat it rather than skipping ahead. The nine weeks are a sequence, not a calendar.

Questions

Run a first 5K, answered.

No. The plan assumes you are starting from nothing and builds on a run-walk pattern for the first few weeks, which is the part people skip and then wonder why the second week hurts.
Because it is a date somebody else set. Week 4 is where most beginner running plans stop, and an entered event is the cheapest available reason for week 5 to happen anyway.
Repeat it rather than skipping ahead. The nine weeks are a sequence rather than a calendar, and the only thing a missed week costs is a later race date, which is a much smaller price than an injury.
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