A 10 week training course for 5K races as presented by Thom W. in his article Zero To Hero.
Important words from Thom for following the plan:
Please remember that this is a gradual plan, I am not asking you to go from not running to running 3 miles overnight. This is a 10 week progression plan to get you from Zero to Hero. There will be some sore muscles and hurt pride at the beginning, but we all have had to start somewhere, and this will only be temporary.
The plan calls for you to commit to running/walking 3 days a week. The spreadsheet I will provide has defaulted to Monday, Wednesday and Friday. You can use any 3 days you want, I just ask that you leave a day between workouts for recovery. Feel free to submit to me any questions or concerns, I am here to help you meet this challenge!!
Disney Driven Life Zero to Hero Plan
| Week | Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rest | Walk 20-30 Minutes | Rest | Walk 20-30 Minutes | Rest | Walk 20-30 Minutes | Rest |
| 2 | Rest | W: 3 Minutes R: 30 - 60 Seconds Repeat for 20 - 25 Minutes | Rest | W: 3 Minutes R: 30 - 60 Seconds Repeat for 20 - 25 Minutes | Rest | W: 3 Minutes R: 30 - 60 Seconds Repeat for 20 - 25 Minutes | Rest |
| 3 | Rest | W:2 Minutes R: 1 Minute Repeat for 25 - 30 Minutes | Rest | W:2 Minutes R: 1 Minute Repeat for 25 - 30 Minutes | Rest | W:2 Minutes R: 1 Minute Repeat for 25 - 30 Minutes | Rest |
| 4 | Rest | W:1:30 Minutes R: 1:30 Minutes W: 3 Minutes R: 3 Minutes Repeat 3 times for 27 minutes | Rest | W:1:30 Minutes R: 1:30 Minutes W: 3 Minutes R: 3 Minutes Repeat 3 times for 27 minutes | Rest | W:1:30 Minutes R: 1:30 Minutes W: 3 Minutes R: 3 Minutes Repeat 3 times for 27 minutes | Rest |
| 5 | Rest | R: 3 Minutes W: 1:30 Minutes R: 5 Minutes W: 2:30 Minutes R: 3 Minutes W: 1:30 Minutes R: 5 Minutes W: 1:30 Minutes R: 5 Minutes W: 2 Minutes 30 Minutes Total | Rest | R: 3 Minutes W: 1:30 Minutes R: 5 Minutes W: 2:30 Minutes R: 3 Minutes W: 1:30 Minutes R: 5 Minutes W: 1:30 Minutes R: 5 Minutes W: 2 Minutes 30 Minutes Total | Rest | R: 3 Minutes W: 1:30 Minutes R: 5 Minutes W: 2:30 Minutes R: 3 Minutes W: 1:30 Minutes R: 5 Minutes W: 1:30 Minutes R: 5 Minutes W: 2 Minutes 30 Minutes Total | Rest |
| 6 | Rest | R: 5 Minutes W: 3 Minutes Repeat for 30 Minutes | Rest | R: 5 Minutes W: 3 Minutes Repeat for 30 Minutes | Rest | R: 8 Minutes W: 5 Minutes Repeat twice for 26 minutes total | Rest |
| 7 | Rest | R: 5 Minutes W:3 Minutes R: 8 Minutes W: 3 Minutes R: 5 Minutes 24 Minutes total | Rest | R: 10 Minutes W: 3 Minutes R: 10 Minutes 23 Minutes Total | Rest | R: 10 Minutes W: 3 Minutes R: 10 Minutes 23 Minutes Total | Rest |
| 8 | Rest | Run 25 Minutes | Rest | Run 25 Minutes | Rest | Run 25 Minutes | Rest |
| 9 | Rest | Run 28 Minutes | Rest | Run 28 Minutes | Rest | Run 28 Minutes | Rest |
| 10 | Rest | Run 30 Minutes | Rest | Run 31 Minutes | Rest | Run 5k | Rest |
Thank you so much for posting this! I was about to message Thom and ask for a copy! Wine and Dine Half Marathon 2011, here I come! 🙂
Keep your eyes open. As the time gets closer to the Princess 1/2 and the Wine and Dine. I will be publishing a 16-week training plan for those Half-marathons. If you can run 3 miles, then my Half-marathon training plans will work to get you through the 13.1
Cool Thom. I’m interested in that plan… though I’m thinking my first 1/2 will be 2012 half – Princess seems too soon, and I don’t want my first one to be at night.
Thank you – I will definitely watch for that. I used to run before kids, so I am hoping that I can right back into the swing of things. I really appreciate you sharing this. As a mom of three, I find that when I have a few minutes to start researching a running plan or putting something together, someone suddenly needs help with something, or needs to use the potty, or I am ending a dispute over who had the toy first! You are making my life much easier by sharing this, so it is greatly appreciated!
Good!! I have big plans for this. I am hoping that for 2012 I can also over the full marathon training plan as well. I would also like to potentially have an “unoffical” DDL team with shirts to wear for it.
I was just about to start looking for a plan like this and then it popped up on my reader! I’m so excited to start. I’ve been active my whole life but haven’t done any actual serious running since I was pretty young (like 14). This will be a new adventure for the maturing me.
I LOVE THIS!! MY SON AND I ARE TRAINING FOR THE 5K IN JANUARY, AND THIS PLAN WILL OOK SO MUCH MORE “OFFICIAL” THAN THE ONE I OUTLINED FOR US. PHYSICAL THERAPIST OR NOT, HOW MUCH COULD A MOM REALLY KNOW?!
Thanks Thom! I had no idea a month ago that a Disney blog would get me motivated to run, and what better excuse to plan a trip back to Orlando. Just finished Day 1 of the second week of the Zero to Hero plan, and if all goes well, I’ll be anxiously awaiting the other plans.
THANKS THOM- WE CAN HONESTLY SAY THAT, AFTER FOLLOWING ALONG FOR 10 WEEKS, THE BUZZ AND WOODY 5K WAS ACTUALLY “EASY”…. HALF- HERE WE COME 😀
Hi Thom- I am on week three of your plan & I love it! I am hoping to run a Disney 5K & this is a great plan to get me there.
Thom, your 5K plan worked great for me. Do you have something similar for the half-marathon?
I do have a plan that I can put on here.  I think it might be time to upgrade Zero to Hero to cover the Half-marathon.
That would be fantastic! I’m wanting to run the half this fall if possible. Thanks.