Hal Higdon: 5K Advanced: This is the Advanced 5K Training Program. Are you ready for it? Only a small percentage of runners have trained hard enough before or have the natural ability to succeed with a plan this difficult.. If you are a seasoned veteran of the running wars, an individual who has been running for several years and who has run numerous 5K races and races at other distances, there comes a time when you want to seek maximum performance. Regardless of your age or ability, you would like to run as fast as you possibly can. You want a training program that will challenge you. Here it is! Each day I will send you an email message telling you what to run, also offering tips. For more information and directions, visit my website at halhigdon.com.

Advanced 5K is aimed, first, at runners who want to train fast but short, whose main focus is on short-distance races. But the program also is useful as a prelude to a more endurance-based program aimed at a full or half marathon. Or after having completed such a program. In other words, work on your speed, then work on your endurance. Or the opposite, work on your endurance, then work on your speed. And don't forget a relatively "easy" period where you take a month or two off, continuing to run but without a goal race. Thus, Advanced 5K is a specialty program, useful for your improvement as a runner.