The first thing you will notice are rest days. Rest is important for any running plan as it helps you recover. For this reason we put a rest day after the long run. You will see "CT" written in a day, this means it's a cross training day (elliptical, bike or swim). This will be easier than running but will give you a further fitness boost. For the long run on a Sunday you're given the amount of minutes to run.
| Week | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat | Sun |
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| 1 | Rest | 1 mile | CT | 1 mile | Rest | CT | 15 minutes |
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| 2 | Rest | 1 mile | CT | 1 mile | Rest | CT | 20 minutes |
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| 3 | Rest | 1.25 miles | CT | 1.25 miles | Rest | CT | 25 minutes |
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| 4 | Rest | 1.5 miles | CT | 1.5 miles | Rest | CT | 30 minutes |
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| 5 | Rest | 2 miles | CT | 2 miles | Rest | CT | 35 minutes |
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| 6 | Rest | 2.25 miles | CT | 2.25 miles | Rest | CT | 40 minutes |
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| 7 | Rest | 2.5 miles | CT | 2.5 miles | Rest | CT | 45 minutes |
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| 8 | Rest | 3 miles | CT | 2 miles | Rest | Rest | 5k Race! |
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As you can see we have 2 days of rest for you a week. You have cross training days in between your run days. You will be running for more than the race distance for a few of the long runs on Sunday. These are to get you running quicker when you go to race at a short distance. For some Wednesday runs, run at race pace or faster so you can go for a good time on race day.
For your Tuesday run, try to run outside so your body can get used to running on the same surface as your race. The 8 weeks plan is quite a long preparation for a 5k race so if you feel you can skip a week then do so. That's it, if this is your first race then take in the atmosphere of the run and enjoy yourself. You won't be the quickest but hopefully you won't be last. Remember your time and see if you can beat it next time.
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