Training week · Edition 01 · Archive
Four runs, two lifts.
One hard session, two easy runs, a long run, and two lifts built to make all of them cheaper. Written to be run around a job, not instead of one.
Jump to the weekBefore you start
Four rules that outlast any one week.
Easy means easy
About 80% of your running time this week should be conversational. If you finish every run slightly tired, your easy days are too fast and your hard day will be too slow. The two problems are the same problem.
Lift on the hard days
Heavy leg work leaves a shadow on running economy for a day or two, so the lifts sit where they cannot contaminate a quality run. Nothing heavy goes in the 48 hours before Sunday.
Strength is for economy, not size
Low reps, real load, full recovery between sets. The adaptation you want is stiffer tendons and better neural drive, which makes every stride cost less. Chasing a burn gets you fatigue without the payoff.
Adaptation happens between sessions
Seven to nine hours of sleep and 1.6-2.0g of protein per kg of bodyweight per day. The training is the stimulus; the rest of your life is where it becomes fitness.
3-9 Aug · 4 runs, 2 lifts
The week.
3 Aug
Monday
1 session35-45 minutes
Easy run
Run
Easy run with strides
- The session
- 35-45 minutes at conversational effort, any route you enjoy
- Finish with 4 x 20 seconds strides on flat ground, building smoothly to about mile-race effort over the first 8 seconds
- Walk back fully between each stride
- Effort
- RPE 3-4 out of 10, roughly 65-75% of max heart rate. The test is that you can speak in full sentences without gasping.
- Why it is here
- Aerobic volume at the cheapest possible cost, plus a neuromuscular reminder of what fast feels like before tomorrow.
Get this rightIf you are watching pace and worrying about it, you are running this wrong. The strides are not a workout - they should feel easy and quick, never strained.
4 Aug
Tuesday
2 sessionsAbout 55 minutes
Hard session
Run
6 x 3 minutes hard
- The session
- Warm-up: 12 minutes easy jog, then leg swings, A-skips, high knees and butt kicks, 2 x 20m each, then 3 x 20s strides
- Main set: 6 x 3 minutes hard with 90 seconds easy jogging between
- Cool-down: 10 minutes easy jog
- Effort
- 5K to 10K race effort. RPE 8 out of 10 - three or four words at a time, not a sentence.
- Why it is here
- Eighteen minutes of accumulated work near maximum aerobic effort. This is the one session in the week that pushes the ceiling rather than the floor.
Get this rightThe session is judged on the last rep, not the first. All six should land within a few seconds of each other. If reps five and six fall apart, you started too fast - that is a pacing error, not a fitness one.
45 minutes
Strength
Gym
Strength A: squat, unilateral, push
Squat pattern, single-leg strength, upper push, anti-rotation core
| Exercise | Sets | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Back squat (or goblet / front squat) | 4 x 5 | RPE 7-8, leaving two to three reps in reserve. Rest 2-3 minutes between sets - the rest is part of the prescription. |
| Bulgarian split squat | 3 x 6-8 each leg | The unilateral cornerstone. Running is a single-leg sport and this is the closest a barbell gets to admitting it. |
| Single-leg calf raise | 3 x 10-12 each leg | Three-second lower. Your soleus absorbs several times bodyweight on every stride and is chronically undertrained. |
| Dumbbell bench press or push-up | 3 x 8-10 | RPE 7. Balances the pulling work on Thursday. |
| Pallof press | 3 x 10 each side | Anti-rotation. Your job is to resist the twist, not create one. |
| Pogo hops | 2 x 10 | Only if the legs still feel springy. Stiff ankles, minimal ground contact, stop the moment it gets sloppy. |
- Warm-up
- 5 minutes easy bike, glute bridges 2 x 12, banded lateral walks 2 x 10 each way, bodyweight squats 2 x 10
- Why it is here
- Heavy, low-rep loading is the most reliable way to improve running economy without adding running volume, and it is one of the strongest interventions available for cutting overuse injury risk.
Get this rightLeave at least six hours after the run if you can. If you cannot, do it straight after the cool-down and drop the top-set weight rather than skipping the session.
5 Aug
Wednesday
RestNo running
Recovery
Recovery
Rest, or 20-30 minutes walking and mobility
- Why it is here
- Yesterday was the hardest thing in the week and Thursday carries a run and a lift. This day is doing more work than it looks like.
Get this rightA walk, easy cycling or swimming is fine. A 'quick easy 5K' is not - that is the grey-zone habit that quietly ruins polarised weeks.
6 Aug
Thursday
2 sessions40-50 minutes
Easy run
Run
Easy run
- The session
- 40-50 minutes at conversational effort
- Rolling terrain is fine, flat is fine, pick somewhere you want to be
- No strides today - Strength B follows this evening
- Effort
- Identical to Monday. Conversational, RPE 3-4.
- Why it is here
- The single largest driver of aerobic fitness is time spent running easily. This run has no other job.
Get this rightNot 'a bit quicker because I feel good'. Same effort as Monday. Feeling good on an easy day is the system working, not an invitation to spend it.
45 minutes
Strength
Gym
Strength B: hinge, unilateral, pull, core
Posterior chain, single-leg control, upper pull, anti-extension core
| Exercise | Sets | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Romanian deadlift | 4 x 5-6 | RPE 7. Hinge at the hip with a neutral spine. You should feel it in the hamstrings, not the lower back. |
| Single-leg Romanian deadlift | 3 x 8 each leg | Go light. This is balance and hamstring control under load, not a strength contest. |
| Step-up to knee-height box | 3 x 8 each leg | Drive through the heel and lower under control. No pushing off the trailing foot. |
| Single-arm dumbbell row (or chin-up / lat pulldown) | 3 x 8-10 | Arm drive contributes more to running than most runners assume, and it is the first thing to collapse when you are tired. |
| Nordic hamstring curl (assisted) or slider curl | 3 x 5 | Lower as slowly as you can control. Eccentric hamstring work has some of the strongest evidence in sports medicine for reducing soft-tissue injuries. Expect real soreness the first time - halve the sets on your first attempt. |
| Side plank | 3 x 30-45 seconds each side | Hips stacked and lifted. Quality over duration. |
| Dead bug | 3 x 8 each side | Ribs down, lower back flat against the floor throughout. |
- Warm-up
- 5 minutes easy, hip hinge patterning with a dowel 2 x 10, dead bugs 2 x 8 each side
- Why it is here
- Hamstring and glute strength is where most of your injury protection lives, and the posterior chain is what holds form together in the last third of a long run.
Get this rightKeep this one moderate. It is three days out from the long run and should not still be in your legs on Sunday. If in doubt, cut a set rather than an exercise.
7 Aug
Friday
RestNo running
Recovery
Recovery
Full rest
- Why it is here
- Clearing the decks so Sunday is run on fresh legs rather than salvaged ones.
Get this rightNothing to do here. That is the session.
8 Aug
Saturday
RestNo running
Recovery
Recovery
Rest, or 15 minutes of mobility
- Why it is here
- Optional loosening before the longest run of the week.
Get this rightIf you are experienced and want a fifth run, a 25-30 minute shakeout belongs here - but only if Monday and Thursday were genuinely easy.
9 Aug
Sunday
1 session60-90 minutes
Long run
Run
Long run
- The session
- 60-90 minutes continuous at easy effort
- Over 75 minutes: take 30-60g of carbohydrate per hour and drink to thirst
- Keep it to roughly a quarter to a third of your total weekly running time
- Effort
- No faster than Monday. RPE 4 out of 10, continuous, conversational throughout.
- Why it is here
- Time on feet builds the aerobic base everything else in the week is drawn from. It is also the session that most rewards company.
Get this rightEvery long run that gets raced is an unplanned hard session, and it is the most common single reason a training week falls apart. Walking a hill is a tactic, not a failure.
Make it fit
Scale it to your week.
New to structured training
Cut Tuesday to 5 x 2 minutes. Monday 25-30 minutes, Thursday 30-35, Sunday 45-60. Drop the last exercise from each lift and stay with bodyweight or light dumbbells for the first three weeks. Getting all six sessions done badly beats getting three done perfectly.
Experienced, 50km-plus weeks
Push Tuesday to 8 x 3 minutes, extend Sunday to 100-110 minutes, and add an easy 30-minute shakeout on Saturday. Take the squat and the Romanian deadlift to RPE 8-9.
Coming back from a break or injury
Replace Tuesday's intervals with a third easy run and keep both lifts. Rebuild the aerobic base before you add intensity, and never add volume and intensity in the same week.
Only have four days
Keep Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday, and fold Strength A onto Tuesday and Strength B onto Sunday afternoon. Monday's easy run is the one to drop - it is the least load-bearing session in the week.
Edition 01
Do it together.
A new week lands every Monday and replaces this page, while this edition stays at its permanent archive URL. The hard session and the long run are both easier in company.
Find a group run this week