Collection

Classic 5K Workouts

The staples 5K and 10K runners keep coming back to: reps at 5K effort from 400 m to 1,600 m, a broken 5K, fast-finish 800s, a 20-minute tempo and a 5K time trial to measure the result. A few carry names — The Michigan, the Mona fartlek, Billat's 30/30s — and their pages cite where they come from. Every rep is set by effort, so the same session works at any pace.

12 workoutsRunningFree

The sessions

RunTestDifficulty 3 of 5 — Hard
5K Time Trial
Warm-up + strides, 5 km all-out, cool-down
Run≈51 min
RunRace-specificDifficulty 5 of 5 — Elite
The Michigan
1600 · tempo mile · 1200 · tempo mile · 800 · tempo mile · 400
Run≈1h23Inspired by Ron Warhurst
RunFartlekDifficulty 3 of 5 — Hard
Mona Fartlek
2×90 s · 4×60 s · 4×30 s · 4×15 s hard, equal floats — 20 min
Run47 minInspired by Steve Moneghetti
RunVO2maxDifficulty 3 of 5 — Hard
Billat 30/30s
16–20 × (30 s at vVO2max / 30 s easy)
Run43 minInspired by Véronique Billat
RunThresholdDifficulty 2 of 5 — Moderate
20-Minute Tempo Run
20 min continuous at threshold
Run47 min
RunSpeedDifficulty 4 of 5 — Very hard
Fast-Finish 800s
6–8 × 800 m, surge the last 200, 2–3 min rest
Run≈1h06
RunVO2maxDifficulty 3 of 5 — Hard
5 × 1K at 5K Pace
5 × 1 km at 5K effort, ~90 s jog
Run≈54 min
RunVO2maxDifficulty 3 of 5 — Hard
6 × 800 at 5K Pace
6 × 800 m at 5K effort, 75–90 s jog
Run≈54 min
RunVO2maxDifficulty 3 of 5 — Hard
4 × 1200 at 5K Pace
4 × 1200 m at 5K effort, ~2 min jog
Run≈54 min
RunVO2maxDifficulty 4 of 5 — Very hard
3 × 1600 at 5K Pace
3 × 1600 m at 5K effort, 2–3 min jog
Run≈53 min
RunVO2maxDifficulty 3 of 5 — Hard
12 × 400 at 5K Pace
12 × 400 m at 5K effort, 200 m jog or 60 s
Run≈1h
RunRace-specificDifficulty 4 of 5 — Very hard
The Broken 5K
2 km + 2 km + 1 km at 5K effort, ~2 min rest
Run≈51 min

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