Preparing for a 5km...

...was here a few weeks, had never run before and wanted to prepare for a 10km road race, and was very helpfully given training schedules and loads of tips. Did that run, and felt good about it, so will try and keep going now.

Have entered a relay team in a sprint triathlon in 4 weeks, so will be doing 5km run. Appreciate that this will be a faster pace - guess the goals is 20 mins if possible. Any further tips or will 20 mins hard running every second or third night see me right for that?

earlyevening

http://www.halhigdon.com/5K%20Training/index.htm

Have a look at what Hal has to say.

spurscormac

5k in 20 minutes is a fast enough pace, you'll probably be well up the field with a time like that.

What time did you do the 10k in?
That might give you us an indication of what time you should aim for.

I wouldn't do 20 mins fast pace every second night. You'd be better off to do a couple of 40/50 min sessions and one interval session each week, maybe with a long slow run (LSR) at the weekend.

It all depends on where you're starting from, how many miles you're currently doing etc. Don't increase a huge amount, 10% per week max is the recommendation.

spurscormac

spurscormac wrote: »

What time did you do the 10k in?

48.34. Had trained pretty solidly for 4 weeks, and really put everything into it. So couldn't hand on heart say I'd replicate it tomorrow, though before getting tips here I couldn't have even walked it. Reached 5km in 23.52.

spurscormac wrote: »

You'd be better off to do a couple of 40/50 min sessions and one interval session each week, maybe with a long slow run (LSR) at the weekend.

Was thinking I'd need to rack up the long mileage at some stage alright, if only for variety!

spurscormac wrote: »

It all depends on where you're starting from, how many miles you're currently doing etc.

Last night was first outing since the 10km, did 4.5km in 23 mins. Was really wondering do I keep at that and trying to cover it in shorter time but judging from your post and the link above I gotta start mixing things up.

spurscormac

Deleted User wrote: »

48.34. Had trained pretty solidly for 4 weeks, and really put everything into it. So couldn't hand on heart say I'd replicate it tomorrow, though before getting tips here I couldn't have even walked it. Reached 5km in 23.52.

Thats pretty decent timing there for a first effort, and not a bad split for the 5k.
You'll probably find that with a bit of structured training you can get down to 21:xx, similar to my level. Its when you start to get down further, it becomes more difficult - every minute in a 5k = 12sec per km, not easy to do quickly, once you've reached reasonable fitness level.

Deleted User wrote: »

Was thinking I'd need to rack up the long mileage at some stage alright, if only for variety!

The longer run helps with stamina, but be careful not to increase your mileage too quickly, can lead to injury.

Deleted User wrote: »

Last night was first outing since the 10km, did 4.5km in 23 mins. Was really wondering do I keep at that and trying to cover it in shorter time but judging from your post and the link above I gotta start mixing things up.

If you were just to train at 4-5k all the time, it doesn't work too well.
Mixing it has its reasons, 40/50 mins + an LSR gives you stamina. Interval training gives you speed - you need both obviously.

By training at longer distances, the 5k seems relatively short, so both physically & mentally, you feel like you can push it harder & have confidence that you can finish, of course the speed work then kicks in and you can go faster, whether at the start or finish, or throughout the race.

I'd suggest a mix-up of the intervals sessions, a few sessions of 400, 800 or 1000m reps, throw in a few 200,400,600,800,600,400,200 etc.

You can get an idea of your target times for these sessions from McMillan..
http://www.mcmillanrunning.com/mcmillanrunningcalculator.htm

Great, thanks for all that help.

One other question, what length would you suggest is a 'long slow run'?

BeepBeep67

Deleted User wrote: »

One other question, what length would you suggest is a 'long slow run'?

For a 5k you really don't need to run more than 10 miles, general rule of thumb is - not more than 25% of your total mileage and don't increase by more than 1 mile per week and ideally take a step back every 4 weeks.
So if you were running 20 miles per week now start like this:

1. 5
2. 6
3. 7
4. 6
5. 7
6. 8
7. 7
8. 8
9. 9
10. 8
11. 9
12. 10

This is conservative, but if you increase too quickly you could pick up an injury, ideally pick a route with a few hills on it also.

spurscormac

Deleted User wrote: »

Great, thanks for all that help.

One other question, what length would you suggest is a 'long slow run'?

I'm no expert, and I'd defer to more seasoned athletes for clarification, but an LSR is used more if preparing for a longer race, maybe half to full marathon.
For that, it could be anything from 8/9 to 20 miles.

Not sure if its much use for a 5k training, but if you find a 5k training plan and it mentions an LSR, thats what it refers to.

I haven't really used one, but if I aim for a half marathon, I'll have to start them.
If I was you, I'd follow a training plan that you find suits you - there's plenty of them out there.