5K

Nick Windsor 4 wrote (see)

I'm wary of applying excessive pressure so I'm saying team Mike will be happy at under 18:30 and looking at the weather it could be more

Nick Windsor 4 wrote (see)

Mike - I have read your post and it's clear to me that you have pure talent, why not try a triathlon I'm sure you could win some of the ironman competitions already, as most triathletes only do them because they can't compete in single events. Then when you're trained up maybe run a couple of marathons, at that pace for 5k you'd probably finish in about 2:20, and a few more weeks training I think you could be talking medals.

Nick Windsor 4 wrote (see)

Mike reading through the responses I see my comments have been called sarcastic and hilarious but obvious these people don't understand what it feels like to have natural athleticism. I am sure you'll use your raw talent to take your 5k into the 16 minute zone very quickly, don't be put off by what you hear and I suggest just get chatting to last weeks winner then follow him around I guess you could probably do that, you can then out sprint him at the end, theworst you'll do is post a fast time, Post your result please I'm sure it will cause a stir on Saturday afternoon, and don't be put off by the doubters on here, I have a fair bit of confidence you'll manage a big improvement

at least keep your trolling consistent.

Im running in the Heaton Parkrun tomorrow instead of Bolton, mainly because the Bolton course has been changed and its nice to run in different scenery against different people. Its generally a faster race than the Bolton one but hopefully I can push for that first place!

Mike, had a quick look at today's result, what happened ?

Well you can never predict what happens with a change of course but I'm sure we'll find out

Yeh, 19:08. 

I tried to do as suggested and keep up with 1st place, and was with him until the 3km mark then I started to get abit of pain in my chest(lungs), that combined with my inexperience of the route led to my bad time, 6-7 people overtook me on the last 2km. I was very annoyed because my legs weren't that tired, I just couldn't breath, is that unusual?

19:08 - 14mpw - going to up it to around 20mpw this week, this weeks result has made even more determined. 

Mike, first of all you need to understand the difference between someone giving you good realistic advice, and someone being sarcastic and on a wind up.

The guy who said keep up with 1st place also said you'd be a top triathlete, and would crack 2hr 20 for a marathon! Check out the power of 10 website and see how many UK men do that each year!

You found out today what we've all found out. Run well above your limit and you simply blow up!! That's what's given the breathing and chest issues.

Next race, understand that 18.48 is your pb, and have a vague idea that the km pace is 3.45 per split.

Then, if you find yourself going through kms in 3.30s you're likely to be on course to blow up again.

Pacing is the most key thing you'll ever learn in racing.

Gentle up in mileage certainly won't hurt. You could do worse than doing some KM reps in training too at 3.45 pace (your current 5k pace)

Just read through this as I am considering running my local Parkrun again after injury, spent an hour reading through it, expecting some decebnt 5K advice, it's like a good book I couldn't put it down.

Mike I'd take 19:08 any day it's 6 minutes better than I could hope for, so good for you.

The rest of you, Tricky Dicky and NW4 fantastic bit of banter, very entertaining, you should be a double act, and some of you are quite negative, but all credit to you Mike and don't let this ruin your enthusiasm.

Yeh ive learnt to stay out of the front and storm through in the last 2km now. What would you recommend for intervals stevie? 

I think I could do 2 intervals a week, one interval running at 3:30km x 5 200m rec. and another session working on my 400m - 1:15 x 5 200m rec.

What do you think? 

Graham - Glad you enjoyed it! 6 minutes behind me is the same time my dad gets and he was a good runner back in the day(he's 48 now) 

Get back into the parkrun mate, running it every week is so enjoyable! 

Mike, you need to reset your mentality for the long term game, there are no quick fixes here.

Your best bet is to sign up at your local athletics club. A coach there will quickly get you running the sessions to best improve you.

In the meantime I'd get used to running 20-25miles a week comfortably (easy pace) to build a bit of a base.

5x1k at 3.30 repping off 200m jog, is simply too fast in your position.

Think more current fitness than desired fitness.

Something like 5x1k at 3.45 pace off 60sec recovery would do you more benefit.

ok, yeh I plan to join an athletics club very soon.

Just a question though, you say 3:30km is too fast, thats a 17:30 5k, and im running on flat ground and I get a recovery, I know your more of an expert, but could you elaborate on why that pace would be too fast for me? 

I'd suspect you wouldn't be able to handle 5x1k at 3.30 off 200m at the moment, or the effort would smash you and takes a while to recover from.

By training at your current fitness (or slightly quicker, say 3.42-3.44), you're doing 2 things. Learning what the race pace should feel like, but not working yourself too hard, so that the rest of your week's training is affected/risking injury.

If you can put out 5x1k at 3.42-3.45 range, off 60secs, you'll find come race day, you should be able to put regular kms, and even add a little bit becauseof race day magic.

For example, with my 5k, my 5k pace would technically be around 5.30, but my 5k training pace might dip to the 5.20s

ok thanks for the help stevie, what about quantity? Should I do 2 of these a week, or do 2 a week doing this and say 400-800 reps for another session, or maybe go easy for the first couple of weeks and do 1 interval session?

I'll be doing 1 hill reps a week and two 6 mile steady runs plus some recovery runs, structured though. I will slowly build up the distance of my steady runs and recovery runs to increase the mileage weekly.

At your stage, i'd spent a good few weeks getting that 15miles up to 20-25 at easy pace.

And only when you've handled that step up in mileage, add a quality session.

Certainly don't do 2 interval sessions until you're well down the line.

Intervals are high reward but high risk.

ok, will do around 20mpw this week, 14mpw felt easy.

Going to do 1 interval session and once i surpass around 35-40mpw I think I shall do 2  intervals. Going to push for 3:40km x5 200m rec which equates to 18:20 5k and see how I feel.

PS. Congrats to Mo for winning Gold!