Who this plan is for
- ✓You've finished a half marathon in 2:33–2:50, or a 10K in around 68–75 minutes
- ✓Your comfortable easy run pace is around 7:55–8:45/km (12:45–14:04/mi)
- ✓You can run 7–9 km comfortably without stopping
- ✓You run 3–4 days per week and need a plan that works around family and work commitments
- ✓You want to understand why each session is on the plan, not just follow a schedule blindly
- ✓You're ready to commit consistently for 12 weeks — showing up, even imperfectly
What your training actually looks like
Every session in the plan comes with a plain-English reason, not just a pace. Choose your schedule below to see what Week 1 looks like.
💡 Aerobic foundation: every run should be conversational this week. Easy runs are doing real work — mitochondrial density, fat oxidation, connective tissue conditioning. Miss a session? Skip it and move on.
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Build my Sub 2:30 Plan plan →The four phases
Base phase (weeks 1–3)
Three to four easy runs per week with the long run growing from 9 to 12 km. All sessions conversational. Building the aerobic base that everything else sits on.
Strength phase (weeks 4–6)
Tempo runs of 2–3 km at 6:35–6:41/km introduced. Long run reaches 13–15 km. One hard session per week, everything else easy.
Speed phase (weeks 7–9)
400m intervals at 6:05–6:15/km added for VO₂max stimulus. Long run peaks at 16–17 km. Volume near maximum for this training level.
Taper phase (weeks 10–12)
Volume drops 28–35%. Intensity maintained in shortened sessions. Race week: two short easy runs, then race.
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Build my Sub 2:30 Plan →Frequently asked questions
What is goal pace for sub 2:30?
To finish in 2:29:59, you need to average 7:06/km (11:26/mi). Tempo sessions run at 6:35–6:41/km (10:37–10:47/mi). Easy runs sit at 8:05–8:50/km (12:59–14:13/mi). The large gap between easy and tempo pace is intentional — it means you arrive at quality sessions ready to work.
Is it okay to walk during the race?
Absolutely. Many runners targeting sub-2:30 use a run/walk strategy — 8 minutes running, 1 minute walking, for example. A planned walk strategy is consistently faster than running until you're forced to walk. If you're considering this approach, practice it in training, especially on the long run.
How many km per week will I be running?
Weeks 1–3 average 25–30 km. Peak weeks (7–9) reach 35–42 km. Taper weeks drop to 18–25 km. At 3 days per week, individual sessions range from 5 km easy runs to 16–17 km long runs.
What's the most common mistake runners make at this level?
Running easy days too fast. At sub-2:30 level, easy pace is 8:05–8:50/km. Most runners go 7:20–7:40/km on what they call easy days — that's too fast to recover from properly. The result is arriving at the long run or tempo already tired, and getting less adaptation from the hard sessions.
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