As many of us are setting our running goals for the new year, you may be wondering which training plans are out there, if there are free online running plans, and if so, where to find them! The good news is that there are many training plans available on the web that you can use to train for a 5k, 10K, half marathon or marathon.
HAL HIGDON TRAINING PLANS
Hal Higdon, an author of a ton of running books and writer for Runner’s World, has a number of plans online that you can use to train for all distances from the 5K to the marathon. His plans are broken down into novice, intermediate, and advanced levels. Higdon’s training plans feature a combination of strength, stretching, easy runs, cross-training, and long runs. There are also accompanying apps for iPhone and Android available for $9.99.
COOL RUNNING
The Cool Running website also offers a combination of programs for varying distances. Most plans are 12 weeks long and vary according to the distance. The plans include a variety of speed workouts including fartlek and interval workouts.
JENNY HADFIELD
Jenny Hatfield is a running coach that often contributes to Runner’s World (in addition to a number of other publications!). She offers a variety of free training plans (in addition to paid personal coaching). You can preview the plans on the web, but you need to provide your email address to download a PDF of the plans. She provides training programs for the very beginner, 5K, 8K, half marathon, marathon, and 50K. Her plans use perceived rate of effort (RPE) for completing most workouts, i.e. easy, moderate, hard effort.
COUCH TO 5K
You can find this beginner running program for the 5K online. If you would like a more in-depth description of the plan and why I think it’s the best beginner running program, you can check out my article HERE.
NIKE RUN CLUB
The Nike Run Club has some great plans you can download for beginner runs (first 10 runs), 5k (8 weeks) and 10k (8 weeks). The plans include speed and endurance works, and I love that they include a pacing chart and glossary to help you decipher running jargon!
Have you found any free training plans to add to the list?
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