Bill Pierce and Scott Murr started FIRST, the Furman Institute of Running and Scientific Training, in 2003, when both taught health sciences at Furman University. Its clinic tests runners' VO2 max and lactate threshold. The method began when the two cut back their running to make room for triathlon training and found their run times held. Murr has finished 12 Ironmans, and Pierce has run Boston in five decades. All 5 plans we review from the third edition of their book, Run Less, Run Faster, are on this page: a 5K, a 10K, a half marathon, a marathon and a novice marathon.
Each plan is graded on the same 31 measures we use for every plan, Buena Vida's own included, with the research behind each measure linked. The ladder is strict. A C is a decent plan with gaps worth knowing about. Open any plan to see what it does well, where it falls short, and who it suits.
- Plans reviewed
- 5
- Goals
- 5K, 10K, Half Marathon, Marathon
- Length
- 12–16 weeks
- Run days
- 3 a week
- Peak mileage
- 17–37 miles a week
5K plans
10K plans
Half Marathon plans
Marathon plans
Training with Run Less, Run Faster
The title is the promise: 3 runs a week, each with a set pace and a job, and 2 days of cross-training in place of easy miles. The three Key Runs are a track session, a tempo run and a long run. But "run less" doesn't mean train less. The cross-training days are real workouts on a bike, in a pool or on a rower, so five days of your week ask something of you.
Paces come from a current 5K time, from a race or a test of 3 × 1,600 meters, read through the book's tables. They're never set from a goal time. They move only after a faster race, or once all three Key Runs start to feel easy. Before week 1, the book asks for three months at about 15 miles a week (about 25 for the marathon) and a long run of 5 to 15 miles, depending on the plan. Once you start, you can move days as long as the Key Runs don't land back to back, add an easy run or two, and drop a missed workout rather than make it up.
All 5 earn a C. Getting you ready for race day is the clear strength, with 4 of the 5 plans at full marks for it. The long runs build (the marathon plan reaches 20 miles five times), and nearly every week holds the sustained hard running a race asks for. The gaps sit elsewhere. Strength and stretching have chapters in the book, but neither reaches the schedule. In the 5K and 10K plans the mix of hard sessions stays much the same through the whole build, though plans that shift their emphasis in phases race better than plans that hold one load the whole way. And nearly every run has a fixed pace, with no effort to fall back on when a day goes badly.
These plans suit a healthy runner with a recent 5K time, a bike or pool close at hand, and only 3 days to run. The novice marathon still asks a lot: week 1 opens with an 8-mile run, and every pace comes from a recent 5K. If you'd rather run by feel, or you're coming back from an injury, read the reviews closely first.
Get more out of your running with Buena Vida
Buena Vida was built by a runner to bring the whole job of training into one place: a plan that fits your schedule and your fitness, coaching on every run, and food targets that keep up with the work you do. Members get personal training & nutrition plans, plus full access to the catalog of pre-written plans for every running goal.
In research studies, runners on plans fit to them improved as much as or more than runners on fixed plans, and fewer of them stalled.
Try it FREE for 7 days. After that, it's $99.99 a year or $14.99 a month, and you can cancel anytime.
Scan to get the app on your iPhone