Aerobic Base to Race — 16 Weeks
Sixteen weeks from aerobic base to race day. Five weeks of easy volume, five at threshold, a deload, then five weeks of VO2 work and race-pace practice.
- GOAL
- Endurance
- LEVEL
- Intermediate
- LENGTH
- 16 weeks
- SESSIONS
- 5 per week
A sixteen-week endurance build for a runner or rower with a race at the end of it. The first five weeks are almost entirely easy aerobic volume with one strength session to protect the tissue — dull on purpose, and the phase most people skip. Weeks 6 to 10 introduce tempo and threshold work while easy volume holds. Week 11 is a deload. Weeks 12 to 16 add VO2 intervals and race-pace rehearsal while total volume comes down, finishing with a two-week taper into the race. Roughly 80 percent of weekly time stays easy in every phase, including the hard ones.
- →Has a race 16 weeks out, from 10 km to half marathon
- →Already trains four or five times a week
- →Willing to run most of their volume genuinely slowly
- →Wants a structured build rather than accumulating random hard sessions
- →Can run or row continuously for 60 minutes
- →Six months of consistent aerobic training with no more than two weeks off
- →Access to a heart rate monitor or a reliable sense of conversational pace
- →No current bone stress injury or unresolved lower-limb pain
Accumulate easy aerobic volume and build the tissue to carry it. No hard sessions at all in this phase, by design.
- MondayRest
- TuesdayAerobic Base SessionEasy. If you are breathing through your mouth, slow down.
- WednesdayHome Dumbbell Full BodySingle-leg work and calf loading. Not a hard session.
- ThursdayAerobic Base Session
- FridayEasy 30 min walk
- SaturdayAerobic Base SessionThe long one. Add 10 minutes a week to this session specifically.
- SundayPost-Long-Run RecoveryWithin a few hours of Saturday's session where possible.
PROGRESSIONAdd 10 percent to total weekly duration each week for four weeks; week 5 drops back to week 3's volume. All aerobic work below the first ventilatory threshold — conversational, nose breathing where possible. Strength session stays at 3 sets of 8, adding 2.5 kg a week.
Raise the pace you can hold for a long time. Tempo and threshold work is introduced while easy volume holds flat.
- MondayRest
- TuesdayTempo and ThresholdComfortably hard, sustainable. If the last interval falls apart, the pace was wrong.
- WednesdayHome Dumbbell Full BodyMaintenance only now — 2 sets, hold the load from week 5.
- ThursdayAerobic Base SessionEasy. Day after threshold.
- FridayEasy 30 min walk
- SaturdayAerobic Base SessionLong and easy. Volume holds, does not climb, this phase.
- SundayPost-Long-Run Recovery
PROGRESSIONTuesday becomes threshold: 3 × 8 minutes at threshold pace in week 6, adding 2 minutes per interval per week to 3 × 16 by week 10. Recovery 3 minutes. Saturday long session holds at week 5 duration. Easy days do not get faster — if they do, the threshold work is too easy.
Ten weeks of building leaves fatigue that masks fitness. Clear it before the sharpest phase of the plan.
- MondayRest
- TuesdayAerobic Base SessionHalf the usual duration, all easy.
- WednesdayHip Mobility
- ThursdayAerobic Base SessionShort and easy.
- FridayRest
- SaturdayAerobic Base Session60 percent of the phase 2 long session.
- SundaySoft Tissue and Roll
PROGRESSIONCut total weekly duration by 40 percent against week 10. All easy, no threshold, no intervals. Keep session frequency the same and shorten each one — frequency maintains the habit, duration carries the fatigue.
Add high-intensity work and race-pace rehearsal while total volume falls. The last two weeks are a taper, not training.
- MondayRest
- TuesdayVO2max Intervals — 4 × 4Hard, controlled, evenly paced. Not a race against yourself.
- WednesdayHip MobilityStrength work stops from week 14 onward.
- ThursdayAerobic Base SessionEasy only. Day after the hardest session of the week.
- FridayRest
- SaturdayTempo and ThresholdRace-pace block inside an easy run. Week 16 this becomes the race.
- SundayPost-Long-Run Recovery
PROGRESSIONWeeks 12 to 14: Tuesday is 4 × 4 minutes hard with 3 minutes easy, adding one interval per week. Saturday includes a race-pace block — 20 minutes in week 12, 30 in week 13, 40 in week 14. Week 15: volume down 30 percent, one short interval session, race-pace feel only. Week 16: volume down 50 percent, two easy sessions, race on Saturday.
- →Week 11 is a mandatory deload. Add a second one at week 6 if resting heart rate rises more than 5 bpm for three days running.
- →Roughly 80 percent of weekly training time stays easy in every phase, including the sharpening phase.
- →Never increase weekly volume by more than 10 percent, and never increase volume and intensity in the same week.
- →Two hard sessions per week maximum, always separated by at least 48 hours.
- →If a hard session cannot be completed at the prescribed pace, stop it and run easy for the remaining time. Do not grind it out.
- →Any new lower-limb pain that changes your gait means two easy days and a reassessment before the next hard session.
- →2 km time trial, week 1, week 11 and week 15
- →30-minute time trial to set threshold pace, week 1 and week 11
- →Resting heart rate on waking, logged daily
- →Heart rate at a fixed easy pace, week 1, week 6 and week 12
- →Weekly training duration and percentage spent easy, logged throughout