“Non Elite Runner” Michael Ko Programmed His 9-Day Training Plan With “Really Positive” Results

Most runners follow a seven-day training plan. (You know the drill: one long run, one to two speed workouts, and plenty of Running Shoes - Gear). Australian Sprinter, 16, Runs Record-Breaking 200m Your Marathon Training Plan. Recently, YouTuber Michael Ko, “kofuzi,” joined the fray with a nine-day workout schedule that produced “really positive” results.

Ko ran a personal best of 2:56 at the Tokyo marathon earlier this year while following a nine-day training cycle. In a recent YouTube video, Major Changes Hit Northern Arizona Elite.

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“The problem for me [in a seven-day cycle] is that one quality session never seemed like enough to progress. Having two [speed sessions] in the same week, I could do for a couple of weeks, but then I’d have to back off a little bit because it started to feel like it was just too much,” he says. As his training block continued, he noticed that his recovery runs became slower and more challenging, which led him to believe that he wasn’t giving himself ample time to recover between hard efforts.

His new, nine-day schedule allows fast workouts to take precedence. “I’m generally running seven days a week, and it’s a quality session, easy day, easy day, quality session, easy day, easy day, quality session, easy day, easy day,’ says Ko. “For me, what my body responds to do really well when I’m getting ready for a marathon is to do a lot of threshold work, mile repeats at threshold pace with relatively short recoveries, so I wanted to create a workout plan that kind of had a lot more of that in it.” He adds that he’s been infusing his long runs with speed as well, warming up before heading into 10 miles at marathon effort and a cool down, for example.

In his training block leading up to Tokyo, Ko started to see the fruits of a nine-day training cycle. He noticed that his easy runners were actually feeling easy, he could bring his full effort to those speed training sessions, and—most importantly—he was just enjoying his running more because he felt recovered. “Overall, I just didn’t have that same Best Running Shoes 2025 that I normally get when I’m really deep into a marathon training block,” he says.

That said, Ko says an extended training plan isn’t for everyone. For example, if you’re an athlete who feels like you need plenty of long runs in every block, this cycle won’t be for you. Plus, because of the way the schedule works, you’ll have to run a fair amount of long runs during the week—which may just not be doable if you have a nine-to-five.

Still, if you’re looking for a way to add a little extra juice to those threshold workouts, it may be worth giving the nine-day run week a shot.