Training Plan
Measures where you are today and builds the weeks to your goal, then adjusts it each month from what you actually did.
What Nia brought · a 10K she had signed up for
“I’ve signed up for a 10K in May. I’ve trained twice in five weeks and both times I could barely walk the next day.”
What the prompt returned
Baseline 1.2 miles in 20 minutes with walking breaks; 14 weeks on three days a week, starting at 20 minutes of walk-run and adding five minutes a week, with weeks 4, 8 and 12 easier.
The analysis · Two sessions in five weeks, both too hard to repeat
A plan starts from a measured baseline and the days that genuinely exist in the week. It progresses in small planned steps with an easy week every fourth, because most injuries in new training come from doing too much too soon.
- Screening before planning: chest symptoms, dizziness, injuries, conditions, pregnancy and medication are asked about first, and anything flagged holds the plan until a doctor has been spoken to.
- Three days, not five: she has two children under ten and a desk job. A plan built on five days would have been abandoned by week three.
- The goal is a distance, not a weight: no calorie target, no goal weight, no rate of loss. The measure is 10K without stopping, on 16 May.
Takeaway: measure where you are, plan on the days you really have, and build in the easy weeks from the start.

