Rest: Rest days are as important as training days. They give your muscles time to recover so you can run again.

Run: Don’t worry about how fast you run — just cover the time suggested. Ideally, you should be able to run at a pace that allows you to converse comfortably while you do so.

Run/Walk: There’s nothing in the rules that suggests you have to run continuously, either in training or in the 5K race itself. Start by running for 3-4 minutes and then walk for 1 minute. Increase the amount of time you run as you get stronger.

Walking: Walking is a great way to cross-train and improve your endurance. Don’t worry about how fast you walk, or how much distance you cover. Begin with about 30 minutes and add 5 minutes a week until you peak with a full hour in Week 7.

Rest: Rest days are as important as training days. They give your muscles time to recover so you can run again.

Tempo Runs: You can get by just fine in a 5K doing just easy miles. However, adding tempo runs improves your fitness and your anaerobic threshold. Tempo runs are a continuous run with an easy beginning, a buildup in the middle to near 10K race pace (or 85-90% of goal 5K pace), then ease back and cruise to the finish. A typical tempo run would begin with 5-10 minutes of easy running, continue with 30-40 minutes at a tempo pace, and then finish with a 5-10 minute cool down. Try an hold a pace during the tempo portion that raises your heart rate and then you can sustain for at least 30 minutes.

Speedwork: If you want to run a faster 5K, you have to practice running faster. We recommend adding 200 to 400-meter sprints into your training schedule with rest intervals of equal distance. Remember: sprinting can be hard on the body, so make sure to start off with shorter sprints and build up to the full 400 meters, especially if you’re new to speedwork.

Hill Workouts: Running on hills builds strength will help on the rolling hills of this course. On shorter runs, incorporate running on hills. If you want to take it up a notch, sprint up the hills for 20-30 seconds

Cross-training: Cross-training is any other form of aerobic exercise that allows you to use slightly different muscle groups than when you run. The best cross-training exercises are swimming, cycling or even walking. Cross-training for an 30-60 minutes will help your muscles recover before the weekend.

Weekly Volume: At a minimum, you should be running three days per week. 4-5 runs per week is ideal for the experienced runners. Even though the race will be a distance of 3.1 miles, many of your training runs should fall somewhere between 3 and 5 miles.