Advice please: Increase 5K time with just 2 sessions per week

accensi0n

Hey,

I've been running since the end of December. The longest distance I've done is 11.2K in 1hr 15mins. My PB for 5K is 24mins 22secs.

I'm currently running 3 days per week.

I lift weights 3 days a week as well for strength training. Mainly squats and deadlifting. When I go running the day after a gym session my legs feel pretty knackered. I want to focus on the strength training so I am going to cut my running to 2 days per week.

My main running goal is to improve my 5K time.

I'm looking for advice on what to do on my two running days.

The plan is to do the strength training on Monday, Wednesday & Friday and the running on Tuesday & Saturday. The Tuesday run will be very easy and the Saturday run will be tough since I'll have 2 days to recover.

From what I've read: To improve your time you need to do speed work: sprinting, hill running, fartleks...but also to continue doing your longer easier runs.

So, my idea is the below:

(Alternating Week A &

Week A

Tuesday: 45-55min run
Saturday: Fartlek

Week B

Tuesday: 35-45min run
Saturday: Sprint work


What do you think?

Cheers.

aburke

To improve a 5km time with just two running sessions a week...

Forget about fartlek, speedwork, hills, track, tempo etc.
I believe they only make sense if you are getting in 4 running sessions a week or more.

Just get in the miles at a nice steady pace.
Maybe, maybe a fast few miles in the middle of a longer run, every month or so.

More miles will make you quicker.

Alan

--amadeus--

Yep, aburke is on the money. Your time/pace will improve naturally as you get fitter - don't forget you haven't been running that long.

Running and weights are a funny mix as well - I know that there are people who swear that a good S&C routine can improve your times & prevent injury but not if you are sacrificing running time to lift weights. And extra muscle mass above the waist is just dead weight to carry, from a running POV. If lifting is your priority and you still manage a couple of runs a week you will see running gains. But if you want to make serious running gains the weights routine has to be changed / dowgraded.

misty floyd

accensi0n wrote: »

I lift weights 3 days a week as well for strength training. Mainly squats and deadlifting. When I go running the day after a gym session my legs feel pretty knackered.

Are you doing squats 3 days a week? :eek: I'm interested to see what people think of the benefits of squats also. I would have thought doing squats once a week was more than enough. I stay away from squats but only because my legs are sore and tired for at least two days.

ecoli

I find it also fairly perplexing your logic as i find squats and that sort of weight session is usually used to compliment your training and not as a substitute. At such an early stage in your running career all i would advise is getting the mileage into you and natural progression will become evident in your times. I wouldn suggest cutting down your actual running training if you are hoping to achieve quicker times

accensi0n

Thanks for the responses.

The strength training is my priority. Yes I squat 3 days a week.

So I guess I should just keep doing runs as normal and not bother with sprint work or doing the fartlek runs.

Should I be varying/increasing my running distance in the two runs or would I make gains by just doing two 40 minute runs a week?

Cheers.

lecheile

accensi0n wrote: »

Thanks for the responses.

The strength training is my priority. Yes I squat 3 days a week.

So I guess I should just keep doing runs as normal and not bother with sprint work or doing the fartlek runs.

Should I be varying/increasing my running distance in the two runs or would I make gains by just doing two 40 minute runs a week?

Cheers.

accensi0n - if strength training is your priority but you want to run faster, why not include some running specific strength drills which will help acieve both. I'd start with some hill reps - find a nice hill and try sprinting up it 5+ times with short recovery and also start doing single-leg squats (you can add weight if you find it too easy) - recommendation is to start with 3X8 reps on each side - great for balance also.