Hammer & Axe Training Plan Insider

Passionate about training? This newsletter is for you. At Hammer & Axe, we offer a wide range of training plans tailored for every type of runner—whether you're tackling your first 5K, chasing a sub-4 mile, or gearing up for a marathon. This week, we asked our coaches to break down a plan they've written, diving into the training progression, key workouts, and added tips for training and racing.

Interested in getting a training plan? Keep reading until the end for an exclusive discount code for our SPRING TRAINING PLAN SALE!

Plan Outline

• Week 1-2: Getting your legs adjusted to running 3-4xweek.

• Week 3-5: Adding in hill repeats and lighter fartlek workouts

• Week 6-8: Track workouts at goal mile race pace. 

• Week 9-10: Tapering to get ready for a new mile PR.

Key Workout

15 minute easy run warmup.

6x400 at goal mile race pace with 3 minute standing rest between each rep.

After the last rep, easy run until 35 minutes total is complete on the day.

What This Workout Accomplishes:

• Improves speed and efficiency at goal mile pace.

• Enhances race-specific endurance by teaching your body to sustain high-speed efforts.

• Strengthens neuromuscular coordination, making your running form more efficient.

• Develops mental toughness, as each rep challenges you to hold race pace.

• Balances recovery and effort, thanks to the extended rest, allowing for better execution of each rep without excessive fatigue.

This is a great middle-distance runner’s workout, helping to bridge the gap between speed work and endurance, making it ideal for sharpening up before a race or building race-specific fitness.

Mile Training and Racing Tips:

• Negative splits- make sure you save something for the last 600m of the race. If you go out too fast- it will be a slow painful death to the finish line. 

•  Get strong! Many athletes think that the mile is only about speed. However, most of the best milers in the world spend a lot of their training working on their stamina and endurance. The less tired you are at the end of the race, the better.

•  Race visualization: The mile is fast from the start, so it's good to practice this during intervals by mentally preparing yourself to be running hard from the gun. Make sure that you focus during intervals and really try to visualize what you will experience on race day. 

Plan Outline

• Week 1-3: This is where we focus on introducing some short tempos and 1 minute pickups while we slowly increase your volume close to the max volume for this build. The goal is to get your legs used to moving smoothly and the reps are shorter to help keep you from fatiguing. The first week is 5:30 hours of total running and by the third week you will be up to 6:20.

• Week 4-6: This block is focused on increasing intensity while keeping the volume steady. The tempo has increased to 2-4 miles at this stage and the reps are getting up to 3 minutes. The total weekly time for this block will increase from 6:10 to 7:00 total. Overall you should start to feel fitness building and the paces to be getting easier to hold for longer.

• Week 7-9: We continue the trend of increasing intensity while we keep the volume steady in the block. The tempo is now up to 5-6 miles and the reps are increasing in number and distance. My favorite workout in this block is the 2 x 2 miles at threshold. This will help you find a sustained effort at a longer rep just like you would feel in a 10k. Total time this block ranges from 6:10-7:00 hours.

• Week 10-12: The first couple weeks of this build round out the finishing touches on a great build with longer tempos and mile repeats. The final week includes a nice taper to get your legs feeling fresh and ready to dip under 40 minutes for your 10k race!

Key Workouts

5x1 mile at tempo (7:20-7:00/mile) + 30 second hills - this workout is perfect for building aerobic capacity and help you feel comfortable over the 10k race distance. 

7x3 minute at threshold (6:50-6:35/mile) + 30 second hills - this is a staple Tinman workout and is the perfect for getting you ready for being right on the lactic threshold! The hills after help to build speed when you are tired without pounding the body too much.

10K Training and Racing Tips:

• Prioritize recovery: The adaptation from the run happens during your sleep. So if you aren’t getting enough sleep your body isn’t able to repair the muscles and create fitness improvements.

• Practice your fueling needs: Do this in training so that on race day you know what works best. I like to eat a meal 3 hours before the race that consists of 30 grams of carbs and 10 grams of protein. Find what sits well with your stomach and keep it bland.

• Visualize the outcome: Take the time throughout workouts and before the race to visualize the race. Think about the sights, sounds and feelings as you go through each step of race day.

• Stay focused during the race: Your mind can only think about one thing at a time. So try and focus on neutral or positive statements and not about pain or what can go wrong. This will help you stay present in the moment and try to break the race down into smaller more manageable segments.

Plan Outline

Reed brings some of his favorite workouts and personal marathon experience into this training plan. The plan is designed for advanced-level athletes aiming to run under 3:00 in the marathon. Throughout the course of the 12-weeks, you will progress from 4 runs/week to 5-6 runs/week. The first 9 weeks of the plan will gradually build up mileage and intensity, before beginning a three-week taper into race day. Good luck, have fun, and enjoy the pursuit of your goal!

• Week 1-3: Building up the volume! These first few weeks are all about getting into the rhythm of marathon training and getting your long run up to 2 hours.

• Week 4-6: Now that we're into the swing of things, it's time to add quality into the long run. You’ll likely hit your first 20 miler of the build and get some work at marathon pace on tired legs.

• Week 7-9: Time for the big weeks. You'll hit your longest runs and biggest sessions as we peak, accumulate fatigue, and prepare for the taper.

• Week 10-12: You made it! The last few weeks are all about keeping some routine and normalcy in place while reducing volume and intensity to make sure your legs feel fresh on race day.

Key Workout

One of the long runs during this build features a 3 mile, 2 mile, 1 mile cutdown workout after about an hour of moderate running. I like this session because it's a great replication of the mental grind of the marathon, and teaches your legs to continually pick up the pace when they're tired. The hour moderate serves as the first half of the marathon, you'll feel like you're working comfortably hard. From there, the effort only goes up and you'll have to work harder to hit the goal paces—just as it gets harder to stay on pace in the last 10K of a marathon.

Marathon Training and Racing Tips:

•  Practice fueling early and often. Don't wait until your last big long run to start taking gels or fluids. You'll feel better on the long runs, train your gut to avoid GI distress, and feel confident in your routine on race day if you consistently fuel on long runs.

• Be patient, in training and on race day. It's easy to get carried away early when training for or racing a marathon, but if you can stay calm and look at the big picture of the build and the race, you'll be ready to execute.

• Keep a journal on race weekend. Jot done how you're feeling, what you did for your last few runs, what you're eating, when you're eating it, etc. If the race goes well, you'll have a blueprint to follow for your next one. If the race goes poorly, you'll have a record of the things you may want to change next time.

Plan Outline

This training plan is designed for runners who have been sidelined for 4 or more weeks due to an injury and would like to get back to running 40 miles per week. The primary goal of this plan is to gradually rebuild mileage and reintroduce full running workouts over an 8-week period.

• Week 1-2: Reintroduce easy running

• Week 3-4: Reintroduce faster running while increasing mileage

• Week 5-6: Get back to 2 workouts and a long run per week, still increasing mileage

• Week 7-8: Get back to pre injury workout volumes and mileage.

Key Workout

5x3 minutes @10k pace with 1 min jog rest  + 4x30 seconds @3k to mile pace with 30 seconds jog rest

Return From Injury Tips:

• Don’t rush things. Doing too much too soon is likely what got you injured in the first place. Taking a couple extra weeks to get back to your peak mileage can make a world of difference.

• There will likely be hiccups along the way. It’s okay to have to take a step back and cross train for a couple days or reduce mileage for a week.

• Stay positive. It may feel like you’ll never get back to your pre injury self but it WILL happen with enough time and effort.

Plan Outline

This 10-week training plan is designed to help runners achieve their goal of a 17-minute 5k time. It is recommended for runners who have a solid base of running underneath them. The plan starts with runners at approximately 35-40 miles per week and works to 50-55 at the peak. There is one rest day/cross-train day per week built into this plan. 

Double Threshold Basics

The goal of this plan is to build fitness by incorporating as much threshold running as possible into your training week. This is a great option for aspiring runners of all levels because threshold is something easily gaugable, trackable, and growable over time. This plan can function as a base-building phase, building into a race/set of races, or just as a way to grow running fitness in general. 

Key Workout

Here's an introductory double threshold workout. 

Morning on Treadmill or Track: (2 miles warm-up + 4 x 1600m + 2 mile cooldown)

Evening on Treadmill or Track: (1 mile warm-up + 5 x 1000m + 1 mile cooldown) Rest is 90s jog rest between 1600s and 90s jog rest between 1000s. Total volume for the day is like 13 miles.

Double Threshold Training Tips:

• Keep the warmups and cooldowns short. Focus on getting the sessions in as prescribed.

• Take as many variables out of the equation as possible. I like having my athletes do their sessions on the treadmill or track because those venues are always flat. If it's windy or bad weather outside, I usually say it's best to stay inside on the treadmill. If you do go outside to other places where there are more variables, slow your threshold pace down to account for them. You don't have to be a hero... just get the session in. 

• Be patient. Doing a lot of threshold running can be boring, but if you can build a really strong base of threshold over a long duration, you will be very fit. This training style is not glamorous, and you will not look cool on strava, but it works if you stay patient.

• Attack the other sessions in the week. Training plans centered on threshold running will be catered to a lot of threshold running where you're purposely staying in a certain zone and not pushing yourself. When you do have a session like hills or track work or maybe a designated long run workout, it's ok to push yourself a little bit!

Plan Outline

This training plan is designed to help anyone best prepare themselves to run in the 18-19 minute 5k range. Those who want to train with this plan should have at least 3 weeks of running, building up to 3-4 runs/ week. Training includes workouts every Tuesday and Friday, as well as a long run on Sunday. Training plan designed to end on race day, so race day prep/ taper training included. Weekly mileage progresses every week, with targeted "optional recovery" days, letting the athlete dictate the target mileage they wish to run weekly.

• Week 1-2: Establishing routine. Get in the habit of running 5-7 times a week with 2 workouts and a long run. Workouts are an introduction to types of workouts you will be doing throughout the training plan.

• Week 3-4: Workouts are a step up in distance from the first 2 weeks. We start introducing interval workouts that are more 10k-8k focused, providing opportunities to build strength for a 5k race.

• Week 5-6: We start running 5k pace specific workouts to get you feeling comfortable running at goal race. Other workouts and long runs target your threshold zones to continue building fitness.

• Week 7-8: All in on the 5k. Workouts include “under distance” training; intervals at 3k and mile pace to give you the speed needed to kick hard the last stages of the race

Key Workout

This is the workout assigned 10 days before your race. This targets “under-distance” training, meaning we will work shorter intervals at 3k race pace, to give you the opportunity to run faster than your goal 5k pace. Int theory, this will help make 5k race pace feel “less fast,” on race day, and you can run comfortably for the first 2-3k, as 5k pace won’t be as big of a shock.

Warmup: 15-20 minutes; run easy ~10-12 minutes, 4x20 seconds at 5k with 40 second jog recovery, jog 2-3 minutes easy 

Workout: 1 mile at threshold effort (anywhere from 6:25-6:15)

Take 3-5 minutes to change shoes if you want, hydrate, etc. Then you will do 5x600 meters at 3k effort with 3 minute walk/ jog recovery between reps (Split Target: 1:57, 1:56, 1:55, 1:54, 1:53). Take another 5 minutes. Then, do 5x60 meter sprints at 400 meter effort with full walk back recovery (~3-4 minutes) 

Cooldown easy after the strides to reach 60-65 minutes total on the day.

5K Training and Racing Tips:

• RECOVER, RECOVER, RECOVER – you can’t run well in a 5k if you overtrain. Make sure to take advantage of those optional recovery days if you need it. Recovering means adapting and adapting leads to racing well

• CONSISTENCY – You can’t pick and choose what workouts to run and skip in the build to a 5k. Keeping a consistent weekly schedule of training, no matter how intense or not, will help you run well on race day. Inconsistency leads to inconsistent racing.

• HAVE FUN – We’re doing this because we enjoy it. The 5k is a very hard but very rewarding event. Try and feel as comfortably uncomfortable as you can for the first 3k, and then expect it to be very challenging the last 2k. If you prepare and trust in your training, you will be good enough to finish strong!

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