VO2max Engine.
Eight weeks of running and nothing else, built around the one stimulus that reliably raises VO2max: repeated bouts at 95–100% of the speed you could hold in a 3K–5K race, supported by enough easy volume to absorb them. Two quality sessions a week (Tuesday intervals, Thursday threshold), three easy runs, and a long run that grows week by week. Weeks 1–4 build the interval volume and deload; weeks 5–8 run the same reps slightly faster and peak before a taper. Week 1 and Week 8 both include an optional 12-minute field test so the change is a number you can see rather than a feeling. No gym, no equipment beyond shoes and a timer.
Eight weeks built around the session that most reliably raises VO2max — repeated 3-minute efforts at 3K–5K race pace — with a threshold session and easy running around it so you can absorb the work.
Find your paces
Do the field test first if you have not raced in the last six weeks — everything here is anchored to it. Tuesday is one repetition short on purpose: today you are calibrating, not proving anything. Interval pace should feel like something you could hold for about 12 minutes if you had to, and every repetition should finish at the same pace as the first. If repetition four is slower than repetition one, your pace was wrong, not your fitness.
Week 1 of 8 · weeks unlock as you log