This sounds a lot like FIRST training to me. My biggest concern with a training program that's all quality runs and rest/ X-training is a) you don't get the overall aerobic development (this doesn't mean just lungs, it also means legs) that you would from higher, easier miles and b) there's a real injury danger running those kind of intervals. I certainly would approach any long race on a low mileage basis, but I think you'll be ok since you''re doing a 5k. When are you hoping to peak? Because 12 weeks puts you at end of Jan/ beginning of Feb -- hardly peak Spring racing season. I could see using a program like this as the final 12 weeks leading up to a big race, but I would be sure to have a really solid base of easy miles before embarking on it. FWIW, I ran a similar 5k to you last year (19:42) and I, too, am hoping to improve on it. My main goal is to be doing 40~50 mpw by the end of the year, and then begin quality work early in 2009.

This sounds a lot like FIRST training to me. .

Yes, it is. I'm trying the 5k/10k program. There's alot of data and results from people using this for marathon training, but I can't find any results for the shorter distances. As far as races, I'll run a 5k at the end of this training cycle to see how it worked. Of course in Feb the weather could be a major contributing factor to my race time.

I just finished training with this kind of plan and did a PB in both HM and marathon I ran this year. Three "quality" runs a week. One long run. One tempo. I didn't do the interval the third day but did tempo or easy depending on how I felt. Most importantly, the other days I did at least three 1 hour workouts, either spinning, cycling or swimming. The x-training workouts were also quality. I found the cross-training key. I was able to push my cardio much more than when I was running alone. Next time around I think I'll add the interval training and try doing a few shorter races. You can find the programs for the different distances on this site: http://www.furman.edu/first/fmtp.htm