12-Week 5K Training Plan

Runners who already run 3–4 times a week and want to race a 5K properly, not just finish one. Pick a max weekly mileage between 20 and 70 miles; 20–30 miles runs 4 days a week with cross-training on the others, 30–40 runs 5 days, and 40 miles and up runs 6 days.

One workout a week works at any mileage: one quality session, a long run and a lot of easy running builds a lot of fitness. Two workouts (Tuesday and Friday) need room around them, so the plan offers them from 30 miles a week and makes them the default from 40. At 30–40 miles two workouts leaves only two easy days between the hard ones, so most runners there do better with one.

Start from what you run now. Your max is your biggest week of the plan. About 10 miles per week above your current average is a sensible build over 12 weeks for a 5K; the speed work is where the gains come from, not the mileage. If you have had injuries when mileage climbs, pick the lower end.

Most of your running should be at a conversational effort, well slower than race pace. Enter a recent race time above and the plan shows your easy, threshold, 5K, 3K and mile paces. If you have no recent race, run on feel: easy means you could hold a full conversation.

Long enough to build aerobic fitness, not so long that it costs you the Tuesday session. This plan tops out at 9 miles for 20–30 mile runners and 13–14 miles for 50 miles and up, and never over 2 hours. Long runs stay easy; the race-specific work happens on the track.

About ten days. Two weeks out, keep most of your mileage and shorten the hard sessions. In race week, cut volume more: a short set of 400s at 5K pace on Tuesday, a rest day midweek, strides to stay sharp, and a 3-mile shakeout the day before. Cut the amount of hard running, not the easy running: easy miles keep you loose, hard sessions are what you need to recover from.

Skip a missed run rather than squeezing it in later. After a week off for illness, repeat the previous week before moving on. This is where a static plan stops helping: it can't tell whether you should push on, hold, or pull back. That judgment is what a coach adds.

Yes, if you already have a running base. Twelve weeks is enough to build threshold fitness, add real speed and VO2 work, and taper. If you are starting from zero, spend a few weeks building up to 15–20 miles a week first.

Yes. There is a sample PDF at the default mileage with effort cues instead of paces. Enter a recent race time on the page and the PDF and Excel downloads carry your own distances and paces.

This plan is the same every week no matter how your training goes. Toga builds your plan from your own runs, adjusts it when you miss days, get sick or feel great, and coaches you through each workout on your phone and watch.