A nine-week walk-run plan for absolute beginners
From the couch to your first 5K.
Three short sessions a week, nine weeks, no heroics. Tick every session off as you finish it — repeating a week is always allowed, and the plan has no dates, only order.
Ticks are saved in your browser on this device — no account, no sync, nothing uploaded.
- weeks
- 9
- sessions
- 27
- runs a week
- 3
Your route to 5K
0 of 9 weeks behind you
Tap a milestone to jump to that week — the trail fills in as you finish weeks in order.
The plan
Nine weeks, twenty-seven ticks.
Twenty-seven sessions, most of them around half an hour door to door. Do three a week and keep a rest day between each one. Every session starts with a five-minute brisk warm-up walk and ends with a five-minute cool-down walk — both are already counted in the session times.
Week 1 Run 1 min / walk 90 sec
Off the couch
Coach Marta: Slower than feels sensible is exactly right. If you can't say a full sentence out loud mid-run, ease off — this plan works at any speed.
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Week 2 Run 90 sec / walk 2 min
Stretch the run
Coach Marta: Legs may grumble after week one — that's adaptation, not injury. Keep the walking breaks brisk and shake your arms loose between runs.
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Week 3 First 3-minute runs
Three-minute mind
Coach Marta: Three minutes sounds long until you've done it once. Split it in your head: settle in the first minute, cruise the second, count the third one down.
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Week 4 First 5-minute runs
Five in a row
Coach Marta: This is the week most people quietly realise they've become runners. Protect your rest days — they are where the fitness actually happens.
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Week 5 Up to a 20-minute run
The twenty-minute door
Coach Marta: Session three is the famous one — twenty minutes without a walking break. Everyone panics about it; nearly everyone does it. Go embarrassingly slow and let the door swing open.
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Week 6 Up to a 22-minute run
Past the door
Coach Marta: After the twenty-minute run, intervals feel almost gentle again. Enjoy them — this week quietly builds the base for running every session without breaks.
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Week 7 Run 25 min
All running now
Coach Marta: The same run three times: twenty-five minutes, easy. Change the route, not the effort — mild boredom is a sign the engine is getting stronger.
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Week 8 Run 28 min
Almost there
Coach Marta: Twenty-eight minutes is 5K territory for plenty of runners already. Keep the pace honest, keep the bedtime early, and let session two teach you what a strong finish feels like.
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Week 9 Run 30 min — 5K
Race week
Coach Marta: Nothing new this week: no new shoes, no new breakfast, no hero pace on day one. Then go run your 5K — and message me from the finish line.
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Your coach
Train with Marta Reyes.
UESCA-certified running coach · Laurelhurst Park, Portland, Oregon
I'm Marta. I started running at 41 with a plan exactly like this one, swearing at a park bench between sixty-second jogs. Three hundred-odd beginners later, my coaching rule hasn't changed: nobody gets dropped, nobody gets shamed, and the pace that lets you chat is the right pace.
Run the plan on your own with this page, or come do your week's third session with the Saturday group — same plan, better company. Stuck on a week, or unsure about a niggle? Email me and I'll adjust the plan for you.
Group session: Saturdays 8:00 AM at the oak lawn — plan runners welcome from week one.
Good to know
Questions new runners ask.
I haven't run since school. Is this really for me?
Yes — the plan assumes zero running fitness. Week one asks for eight sixty-second jogs with walking breaks, and every week nudges that up only slightly. If a week feels too hard, repeat it before moving on; the plan cares about consistency, not the calendar.
What if I miss a session or a whole week?
Life happens. Miss one session and you simply do it the next time you are free — the plan has no dates, only order. Away for a week or more? Step back one week and rebuild. Your ticks stay exactly where you left them.
Where is my progress stored?
In your browser, on this device — nothing is uploaded and there is no account. That also means ticks won't follow you to another phone, and clearing your browser data or using a private window starts the plan fresh. The reset button at the top of the plan does the same on purpose.
Do I need special gear?
Comfortable running shoes with some cushioning are the only real requirement. Skip the gadgets for now: any phone stopwatch handles the intervals, and even week nine is measured in minutes, not GPS.
What happens after week nine?
You run your 5K, then you keep the habit: three easy thirty-minute runs a week holds your fitness. Come join the Saturday group session, or email me and we'll plan your next block — a faster 5K or the jump to 10K.