Guide · Running · All levels
Running at the same pace every time works for the first few weeks, but you soon stop improving. Runners who keep progressing combine several types of workouts, each with a different goal: building an aerobic base, raising your threshold, gaining speed or making your legs more resilient. Here are the 8 most common methods, how to do them and how to spread them across your week.
Around 80% of your miles should be easy, at a pace where you can hold a conversation, and only 20% hard (tempo, intervals, hills). It's the split used by everyone from beginners to elite athletes: easy volume builds the engine and hard sessions fine-tune it. The most common mistake is running everything at a medium pace: too fast to recover and too slow to improve. Find your zones with the heart rate zone calculator.
The most important session and the one you do most often. It builds your aerobic base, strengthens tendons and helps you recover.
Your weekly endurance session. It teaches your body to use fat and to handle time on your feet.
Swedish for "speed play": pace changes without stopping. Ideal for easing into intensity.
A "comfortably hard" pace you could hold for about an hour. It raises your threshold so you can run faster without gasping for air.
Repeats of 800 m to 2 km that improve your maximal oxygen uptake, key for the 5K and 10K.
Repeats of 200-400 m to improve speed and form at fast paces.
Uphill running is strength training in running shoes: glutes, calves and a powerful stride with less impact than on flat ground.
Short accelerations at the end of an easy run to loosen your legs and work on form without fatigue.
| Day | Session | Type |
|---|---|---|
| Monday | Rest or strength (see the strength guide) | — |
| Tuesday | 15 min easy + 5 × 1,000 m at 5K pace + 10 min easy | Long intervals |
| Thursday | 40 min easy + 5 strides | Easy run + form |
| Saturday | 10 min easy + 20 min tempo + 10 min easy | Threshold |
| Sunday | 60-75 min very easy | Long run |
If you only run 3 days, drop Thursday and swap the intervals for a fartlek. Work out the exact pace for each session with the running pace calculator and predict your finish time with the race time calculator.
Add them 2 times a week after an easy run
Calves and soleus: they absorb every stride.
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You can progress with 3 days; with 4-5 you'll improve faster. More important than the number of days is keeping most sessions easy and being consistent.
Fartlek is more flexible and better for easing into intensity; intervals let you control paces and recovery more precisely. Ideally, use both depending on the phase of your season.
At a pace where you can hold a conversation, usually 60-90 seconds per kilometer slower than your 10K pace, or in heart rate zone 2.
8-week plans with sets, reps and progression, built for your sport. Includes a downloadable PDF.
A more efficient stride, tougher calves and tendons and fewer injuries, without cutting miles.
