I review weekly and adjust what comes next, with access to in-app messages.
5K Coaching
12 Weeks to a New Personal Best
Adjusted as your fitness develops.
Personalized at Every Level
Every workout
Every session is chosen for a specific purpose and adapted to your strengths, weaknesses, and current fitness. I set your training zones from a recent race or time trial, and update them as your fitness changes.
Every week
I build your week around your preferred running days and space the key sessions to match your recovery profile. Leave a note after any session and I rebuild the next week around your feedback and training data.
Every question
Send me an email any time, and you get a reply within 24 hours, seven days a week. A niggle, a session that went wrong, a fueling question, you get an answer before the next run.
Athlete Results
Sandro’s expertise and attention to detail has helped me improve more than I had thought possible. Through his online coaching, I broke my 20 year 5K PR by 21 seconds to 15:48 and I was able to break my half marathon PR by almost 4 minutes to 1:14:29.
Shai Birmaher
The structure and guidance helped me execute a new marathon PR with a first place overall finish in 2:39:37 on a hilly course. Sandro’s scientific approach ensures that every run and workout has a purpose, arriving at the starting line fit, healthy, and fresh.
James Mount
Sandro’s very well thought out coaching has assisted my running greatly, being able to fit my runs around the changing hours I work with my job. I am certain I would not have managed a 2:58 marathon PB at 45 years old without Sandro’s coaching.
Richard Leary
12-Week 5K Preparation
01 Foundation
Weeks 1 to 3 refresh your aerobic base and build muscular strength. Easy mileage spiked with strides and short hill sprints, developing the aerobic and muscular foundation the next phases sit on.
02 Threshold
Weeks 4 to 6 raise your lactate threshold. Tempo and threshold runs build the high-end aerobic base the 5K demands, while 400s at 1500m pace keep your legs sharp for the intervals ahead.
03 VO2 max
Weeks 7 to 9 enhance your maximal aerobic capacity. Intervals at 5K to 3K pace to boost VO2max, with cruise intervals to hold the threshold you just built.
04 Peak
Weeks 10 to 12 turn your fitness into race readiness. Long 5K race pace intervals, ladders, and a taper that leaves you fast rather than flat on the start line.
Sandro Sket, CSCS
NSCA-Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist
I’ve been an endurance athlete since my teenage years, racing everything from the 400m to the marathon. I know what it takes to push through hard track sessions and demanding long runs.
For 12 years, I’ve helped competitive amateur runners go from training hard without improving to making measurable progress, so they show up on race day ready to set a new personal best.
How it Works
1. Apply for coaching
Tell me about your running background and your 5K goal.
2. Get set up
If we are a good fit, set up a FinalSurge account and add me as your coach.
3. Train with a coach watching
5K Coaching
12 weeks | 3 × $125-
Training delivered on FinalSurge
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Custom training built around you
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Weekly coach review
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Race planning and strategy
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Weekly plan adjustments
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Email support within 24h
Move to another race.
Who is coaching me?
All coaching and communication is handled directly by me, Sandro Sket. I don’t outsource coaching or delegate athlete management to assistants. My approach is based on the belief that training decisions and performance oversight require direct involvement to maintain quality and consistency.
To ensure that level of attention, remote coaching is intentionally limited to a small number of athletes.
What if I get injured?
If injury stops your training before week 6, you carry the block to any race within 12 months at no extra cost. Tell me in WhatsApp when it happens and we sort out the timing together.
Do you coach runners of all levels?
Yes, I coach runners at different performance levels, but the common thread is intent. This block is built for runners who train consistently, want feedback, and have a 5K race on the calendar they care about.
Do you coach internationally?
When should I start?
Start any time. We count back from your race date and begin when the 12 weeks fit. If your race is further out, sign up when you’re 12 weeks from it, or write to me and we’ll work out what to do with the time in between.
How does coaching work?
Coaching starts with understanding your current fitness, training history, and your goal race. I build your training around that context and adjust it continuously based on how you respond to the training stimuli.
Your training is reviewed regularly using your training log data and your feedback in the comment section. Based on that, I update sessions week to week to manage load, progression, and recovery so training remains productive and sustainable as fitness develops. All workouts include clear instructions and can be uploaded to your watch for execution.
Over the 12 weeks your training moves through four phases, and each one is built on what you actually completed in the last.
Training is delivered through FinalSurge by default. TrainingPeaks is available for athletes who prefer to stay on that platform. I initiate coach-led email reviews each Sunday. You can also reach me on WhatsApp whenever questions come up during the week.
How much improvement can I expect?
More than a plan gets you, and here’s why.
A generic plan gives every runner the same twelve weeks. But two runners with the same 5K time rarely need the same work. The fast-twitch runner has speed to spare and fades in the last kilometer, because the aerobic support underneath that speed is too thin. The slow-twitch runner sits on pace all race and has nothing left to close with. Same time on paper, opposite limiters, and one of them is about to spend three months training the wrong thing.
That distinction changes how the twelve weeks get spent. A strength responds fast, so it needs less time to sharpen and holds once it’s there. A weakness is slower to move and needs the longer build, which means it starts early and gets the bulk of the block. Get that order wrong and you arrive at the start line with the same limiter you had in week one.
I work out which runner you are before week one, then allocate the weeks accordingly. That’s where the seconds come from, and it’s the part no plan and no app can do, because neither of them ever looks at you.
How much you gain depends on your training history and how your body responds to training, which is why I can’t predict a time. What I promise is that nothing in your twelve weeks is there by default.
How do I get started?
Sign up for the 12 week block. I’ll email you to ask about your running background, your goal race, and where your training stands now.
From there you set up a free FinalSurge account and add me as your coach. Your plan is built around your paces and your training days, and week one starts as soon as it’s in.
If you have questions before you commit, write me at sandro@runningfront.com
Serious About Your Next 5K?
Who this is for
- Runners targeting qualification standards or time goals
- Runners who value structured, data-driven progression
- Runners who strategically train for a peak performance
- Runners who have outgrown generic training plans
Not for
- Runners without a goal race on the calendar
- Runners unwilling to train consistently 4–7 days per week
- Runners who frequently skip sessions without adjustment
- Runners who don't want feedback on their training
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