Finishing your first 5k is an incredible accomplishment and a running milestone that few runners ever forget.
However, in our relentless quest to always be chasing the next bigger goal, many runners soon move on from the 5k and venture into longer distance races such as 10ks, half marathons, and even full marathons.
Although there is certainly merit to increasing your endurance to tackle longer distances, another completely valuable running goal is to improve your 5k time with an advanced 5k training plan.
However, if you are a seasoned runner with quite a few miles under your legs at this point, it can be hard to find an advanced 5k training plan that feels challenging enough to not only help you feel like you’re excited and progressing forward as an experienced runner, but that also will help you nail a 5k PR.
In this article, we have created an advanced 5k training plan for experienced runners who want to hit a 5k PR.
So, if you’ve run a couple or a couple of dozen 5ks in your lifetime and want to step up the intensity of your 5k training to run a faster 5k, consider giving this 8-week advanced 5k training plan a try.
We will discuss:
- Who Should Use an Advanced 5k Training Plan?
- Advanced 5k Training Plan
- 3 Tips for Hitting a 5k PR
Let’s get started!
Who Should Use an Advanced 5k Training Plan?
This 8-week advanced 5k training plan is designed for experienced runners who have previously run at least a couple of 5k races, if not many, or longer distance races as well.
You should be comfortable running 5 to 6 days a week, hitting a mileage of at least 25 to 30 miles per week with a current long run ability of 7 miles.
If you’re not quite up to this training volume, consider following an intermediate 5k training plan or taking a couple of weeks to build up your base before starting this program.
Ramping up your mileage and intensity too rapidly can be a recipe for injuries.
On that note, this 8-week advanced 5k training plan is designed to be just that—advanced— so there are two speed workouts per week (an interval workout on the track and a threshold or tempo run that can be done on any terrain).
If you have not been doing speed workouts recently, be careful about jumping in with too much intensity.
Listen to your body, and if you need to drop a few repeats or shorten a tempo run, feel free to do so.
Lastly, we highly recommend supplementing this advanced 5k training plan with 2-3 total-body strength training workouts per week, including plyometrics.
Resistance training can help prevent injuries by strengthening your muscles, connective tissues, bones, and joints.
This reduces the relative musculoskeletal demands of running and enables you to have a more powerful running stride.
Additionally, strength training can help prevent muscle imbalances, which, in turn, optimizes your running economy and helps reduce the risk of injuries.
Advanced 5k Training Plan
This 8-week advanced 5k training plan involves cross-training, speed workouts on the track, general distance runs, threshold workouts and tempo runs, long runs, and rest days.
Long runs should be run at an easy, conversational pace (usually 90-120 seconds slower than your goal race pace), as should regular distance runs.
Threshold workouts are designed to increase your lactate threshold or the point at which your body is no longer able to clear lactate from the muscles as quickly as it is being produced.
The lactate threshold occurs around 83-88% of your VO2 max, which is roughly the pace you could hold at max effort for an hour of running. For most runners, the threshold run pace is somewhere between 10k-15k race pace.
Tempo runs are specific threshold workouts that involve maintaining threshold effort for a sustained 20 minutes or more.
Tempo runs and threshold workouts condition the metabolic system to clear metabolic byproducts and waste at the same rate it is being produced to prevent muscular fatigue and discomfort while also conditioning the cardiovascular system to deliver and utilize more oxygen at faster speeds.
These workouts also challenge your mental fortitude to keep going when you are uncomfortable or to “get comfortable being uncomfortable.”
The rest days and cross-training days are important for recovery and give your legs a break from the pounding of running.
3 Tips for Hitting a 5k PR
Following this advanced 5k training plan along with your strength training workouts should be an effective way to increase your fitness and get you towards a new 5k PR.
Here are some additional tips that can help you run a 5k faster and achieve a new 5k PB.
#1: Work On Your Pacing
If you tend to go out too hard in your races, work on settling into a steady pace right off the bat. Running even splits—or even negative splits—can help you run a faster 5k.
#2: Dial In Your Diet
Once you take care of the basics in terms of training, hitting a 5k PR comes down to additional improvements you can get from your body through optimizing your lifestyle choices—the things you’re doing when you’re not running.
For example, you should eat a nutritious diet with minimally-processed foods and a wide range of healthy natural foods, drink plenty of water, and limit alcohol and soda.
Work on figuring out the timing of your running and eating so that you feel energized and fueled without being bloated and full. Focus on carbohydrates before you run and a balance of protein and carbohydrates to refuel afterward.
#3: Include Mobility, Stability, Flexibility, and Balance Work In Your Routine
Mobility, stability, flexibility, and balance exercises, such as foam rolling, single-leg drills, core exercises, dynamic stretching, yoga, Pilates, and massage, can help prevent injuries and leave you feeling limber and loose rather than wound up and tight.
Think of these modalities as “prehab” practices, bulletproofing your body to reduce the risk of running injuries.
They are great accouterments to a training plan, especially when you’re pushing your body and striving for a PR.
See yourself as a runner, not just someone who runs. When you do all the little things the right way, they can add up and help you hit a 5k PR.
Click on our mobility and proprioception guides to get you on your way with your supplemental training.
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5k Training Plan: Advanced
| Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday |
| Cross training: 30-45 minutes | Speed workout: Warm up and cool down 1-2 miles (2-3 km); 10 x 400m at goal 5k pace with 200m jog | Distance run: 3 miles (5 km) | Rest | Threshold workout: Warm up and cool down 1 mile (2 km), 5 x 4 minutes at tempo pace | Rest or Easy run: 4-5 miles (7-8 km) | Long run: 7 miles (11 km) |
| Cross training: 40-45 minutes | Speed workout: Warm up and cool down 1-2 miles (2-3 km); 6 x 800m at goal 5k pace with 200m jog | Distance run: 4 miles (7 km) | Rest | Threshold workout: Warm up and cool down 1 mile (2 km), 4 x 5 minutes at tempo pace | Rest or Easy run: 4-5 miles (7-8 km) and 4 x 75m strides | Long run: 8 miles (12-13 km) |
| Cross training: 45 minutes | Speed workout: Warm up and cool down 1-2 miles (2-3 km); 6 x 1,000m at goal 5k pace with 200m jog | Distance run: 5 miles (8 km) | Rest | Threshold workout: Warm up and cool down 1 mile (2 km), 3 x 7 minutes at tempo pace | Rest or Easy run: 4-5 miles (7-8 km) and 4 x 75m strides | 5k time trial |
| Cross training: 45 minutes | Speed workout: Warm up and cool down 1-2 miles (2-3 km); 10 x 400m at mile pace with 200m jog | Distance run: 5 miles (8 km) | Rest | Threshold workout: Warm up and cool down 1 mile (2 km), 2 x 10 minutes at tempo pace | Rest or Easy run: 4-5 miles (7-8 km) and 4 x 75m strides | Long run: 10 miles (16 km) |
| Cross training: 45-60 minutes | Speed workout: Warm up and cool down 1-2 miles (2-3 km); 5 x 1,200m at 5k pace with 200m jog | Distance run: 6 miles (10 km) | Rest | Tempo run: Warm up and cool down 1 mile (2 km), 20 minutes at tempo pace | Rest or Easy run: 4-5 miles (7-8 km) and 4 x 75m strides | Long run: 10-12 miles (16-19 km) |
| Cross training: 45-60 minutes | Speed workout: Warm up and cool down 1-2 miles (2-3 km); 6-8 x 600m at mile pace with 200m jog | Distance run: 7 miles (11 km) | Rest | Tempo run: Warm up and cool down 1 mile (2 km), 25 minutes at tempo pace | Rest or Easy run: 4-5 miles (7-8 km) and 4 x 75m strides | Long run: 10 miles (16 km) |
| Cross training: 45-60 minutes | Speed workout: Warm up and cool down 1-2 miles (2-3 km); 6 x 800m at goal 5k pace with 200m jog; 4 x 200 at mile pace | Distance run: 6-7 miles (10-11 km) | Rest | Threshold workout: Warm up and cool down 1 mile (2 km), 2 x 10 minutes at tempo pace | Rest or Easy run: 4-5 miles (7-8 km) and 4 x 75m strides | Long run: 6 miles (10 km) |
| Cross training: 30-40 minutes | Speed workout: Warm up and cool down 1 mile (2 km), 2 x 800m at goal 5k pace with 200m jog | Easy run: 4 miles (6 km) | Rest | Shake out: 20 minutes and 4 x 75m strides | 5k | Rest |
Other Suggested 5K Training Plans
- Couch To 5k Training Plan (4 Week, 6 Week, 8 Week, and 10 Week Plans)
- 3-Week Tune-Up 5k Training Plan
- Advanced 5k Training Plan
