Five mile race - General running

forever

08/07/2005 at 11:01

I have been training really hard over the last 7 weeks since my last 10k. My time was 46.00 over a very hilly course on a hot day. The thing is I have never done a 5 mile race and am unsure as how to approach it. The weather is perfect it is known as a pb course and I really want to do well.Do i just run it at the speed of a 10k or try to go a bit faster from the start. Am looking at under 36 minutes is this realistic?? Any thoughts very welcome - thanks.

JARHEAD

08/07/2005 at 13:27

Bambi,very hard to say,what do you normally train at ie pace etc..how did you feel after the 10k...you could start to fast and blow up half way round..if this is all new to you ,my advice would be to start at 10k pace and feel your way into the race...ie 1-2 miles at a good speed and if you feel comfortable ...kick in and have a go.
Some of my best races though have been when i have thrown caution to the wind and then just gone for it..some times you suffer,but thats running.

Tmap

08/07/2005 at 13:30

You want to be running at an uncomfortably fast pace right from the start, and you need to be warmed up. Warmed up for a race like that doesn't just mean loose and stretched, it means already breathing hard.

Target time sounds quite sensible to me.

Blackers

08/07/2005 at 14:05

Try this calculator from RW <a herf="http://www.runnersworld.co.uk/news/article.asp?UAN=1681">here

Sure enuf, 46min 10k = 36'41" 5M

Go for it! If it's a flatter course, try 1 or 2% quicker even!

forever

08/07/2005 at 14:22

Thanks for the help people. All sounds good to me - i definitely set off too fast on my last 10k as I hit the 5k point at 22.27 but I was thinking that maybe being that little bit shorter, flat and a very cool day here today I should go for that initial pace again. Have done a long run of 9 to 11 miles every week since my last 10k averaging about 36 miles a week with one day being a faster session. Prior to this I had only managed a coulple of weeks at 30 plus miles so heres hoping......

brownyboi

08/07/2005 at 19:39

I'm glad someone else doesn't know how to pace one of these as well! I've got my first 5 miler in a couple of weeks and I've never done that distance either.

I was thinking of just going for it from the very start, but I think that 5 miles is just long enough that it could go badly downhill in the last mile.

Maybe I'll just go for a hard 10k pace...

forever

08/07/2005 at 22:41

Just to let you know I set off at a hard pace managed to hold it quite well and came away with a time of 36.05. Pretty pleased with that as it was quite breezy aswell. Thanks again everyone your advice really did help me and gave me the confidence to start fast!!

brownyboi

09/07/2005 at 10:34

Nice time!

Right, sounds like a plan to me :-)

We'd love you to add a comment! Please login or take half a minute to register as a free member