Improving for short distances, 5K ish

Quigs Snr

Background.. cyclist. Bored, struggling to keep the weight off as I near the big 4-0 in the off-season. Thinking of doing a duathlon or two so I have something different to target in the early spring.

Running... can't do it, haven't done it since the late 90's apart from as a part of a soccer league about 7 or 8 years ago. Been doing short runs the last couple of weeks, just done 3 or 4 of them now. 4k in total (2 laps of a local park), I do an easy first lap and a hard second lap just to see how it feels.

Stats came up like this last time I ran.. first lap, easy, 150bpm (my max is 202), about 8:30 a mile pace according to my garmin. Second lap.. hard, average heart rate is 190 for the lap, topping out at 196, so thats me pretty much tapped out. A shade over 8 minutes for the 2k (which is mostly flat with a few little digs in it), average mile pace for the 2k was 6:31 I think.

How do I improve for 5k runs ? Keep running and let the body adapt to running would be a good start I suppose, just wondering what are the max distances are that I should do.. what kind of intervals etc...

LloydChristmas

To become a better runner you just have to run more. For new runners just getting out the door 4-5 times a week will lead to big gains...

Starting out I would suggest 4 runs a week doing about 20-25 miles in total for the week.
Your easy pace is probably 9.30-10 min miles. Just make sure you can comfortably hold a conversation when running is one way to judge your pace. If you can't, your going too fast

Something like the below should be ok to get you going. Just try not to get carried away doing everything too fast or you will be asking for an injury

MON 5 miles easy
Wed 4 miles with 6*100m sprints (take 2 mins rest between)

Thurs 5 miles easy

Sat 8 miles easy

PVincent

For newer runners 5 times a week will lead to injuries like shin splints. Take your time. Patience is the key here. Start by making sure that you do 3 runs a week. But forget any of that hard pace. Just run for the enjoyment until that 4k becomes easy and you can then do 6k . Make sure you have good running shoes. It's a slow build as you body adjusts to a new way of fitness. It will take time, you will lose weight. Cross train with the bike will help. But don't start by saying I want to get my 5k time down, start by saying I want to be able to run 5k easily and then and only then can you give yourself further challenges. When you are at that stage the Parkruns are brill if you are near to one. 5k every sat morning .

ecoli

Going by your cycling background you probably have a decent aerobic level of fitness the muscles used in running however are completely different to those used in cycling so you need to focus on time on your feet for now and preparing your body to the specific muscle actions of running

Simple fact is time on your feet will help so the aim should be to slowly increase frequency of runs (how many times you run a week) followed up by increasing distance.

As was mentioned overuse injuries will be one of the biggest obstacles so you need to give your body a chance to adapt to the mobility and range of movements needed and as such ankle mobility will be one to focus on initially to prevent any calf muscle issues.

Forget speed initially and just focus on time on your feet for a few weeks and you will see major improvements

Quigs Snr

Thanks folks.

Will be keeping the biking up too. I tend to specialise in TT's, so operating at threshold for long periods of time is a strength of mine. I do realise now after a few runs however that my aerobic engine is outstrips my biomechanical abilities as a runner right now. Like a V8 engine stuffed into a 1980's Skoda.

Will turn down the pace, bring the distance up a little bit and try do 3 days a week. (one of those will overlap with a cycling day).