The path to a sub 15:00 5km - Page 2 - Training

Nash01

21/01/2013 at 21:06

Last year I didn't have that much of a track season but I have done a few BMC's and they definitely provide a good enviroment to pb. Saying that I ran my 5000m pb at a low devision mens southern league meet where there just happened to be one fast guy I could race against.

DeanR7

21/01/2013 at 22:22

Nash, I will be following your thread. I ran my first 5k last yr and got a 15.57 and intend to spend late spring trying to reduce it. Whilst a sub 15 will not be my target I'm sure there will be plenty of tips I can pick up / share.

Nash01

21/01/2013 at 22:33

Thanks Dean. That is a pretty impressive debut! Good luck.

Life's Too Short

23/01/2013 at 14:07

Nash01 - just wanted to wish you the best of luck for the sub 15:00 and I hope you have an injury free year & achieve your goal.

My current training is geared towards breaking my own 5k pb and getting sub 20 - I know it's way slower than your pace, but like you I will be improving my training over the coming months to hopefully achieve it.

If you can get to a parkrun on a Saturday morning, they are a very good way of testing fitness over 5k.

will follow this post with interest. All the best!

Nash01

23/01/2013 at 15:26

Thanks for the comment. I think the park runs will be a great tool to monitor fitness and improvement. I have done a couple since being at uni, but previously I had no local event.

Nash01

28/01/2013 at 17:41

So here is my diary from last week:

Monday- 45 minutes with 20 minutes at a good pace

Tuesday- 4x8 minutes tempo with 90s recovery + 5x80m strides

Wednesday- am 45 minutes steady pm gym

Thursday- ill

Friday- still not 100%

Saturday- am 45 minutes steady pm gym session

Sunday- long run 11.9mile in 75 minutes

I ware a heart rate monitor for all my runs and that is how I judge my pace. The run on Monday is not a tough session. What I call "good pace" is roughly marathon pace. Tuesdays session was all on grass but was made a little difficult by all the snow. Thursday I woke up to a horrible cold and still wasn't feeling great on Friday so didn't run either day. I felt really good on Sundays long run. The snow had finally gone, the sun was out and I was feeling strong. I covered about 35 miles over the week and if I hadn't missed Thursday (where I was going to do 2x6x400m) it would have been easily up to 40. Overall fairly happy and feeling like I'm getting fitter.

Nash01

03/02/2013 at 21:23

An overview of the week 28th-3rd Feb:

Monday- a.m. 45minutes steady (7mile) p.m. gym

Tuesday- am 40 minutes easy pm 1200m tempo with 200m jog recovery

Wednesday- 45minutes steady

Thursday- 65minutes easy/steady (didn't want it to be this long but got lost!)

Friday- rest

Saturday- BUCS xc 72nd in the long race. Reasonably happy considering I had done a hard week of training. Found the race tough not helped by ridiculous amounts of mud!

Sunday- 75 mintes steady (12.2miles)

Total weekly millage worked out at about 64 miles. Only one hard session but also did a tough race. A reasonably productive week.

Hobbling Harrier

10/02/2013 at 18:31

Stay uninjured whatever it takes (hours of pre-hab, stretching, foam-rolling, weights work etc. - you should probably be spending more time training whilst not-running than you do running), work on your stride (form drills help) and keep on gradually progressing your training over the space of years not months.

Take advantage of the fact you're at uni and have the time to train pretty much full-time.

I've had a look at your power of 10 profile. You're very young and have the potential to be a truly excellent runner. Your 10 mile time is exceptional and suggests that you've got a real future as a marathon runner. For now though keep honing your speed.

*Should note that I've not run a sub 15 5k myself although a 31:38 10k and sub 70 half puts me in the same ball-park at least.

Nash01

10/02/2013 at 23:54

Thanks Hobbling Harrier. Appears to be sound advice. What do you mean by foam-rolling exactly? I do add in drills to some sessions but I must confess to normally just doing 10 minutes of easy running to warm-up. I do agree with you that my future is probably in the marathon, and also that I should concentrate on the speed. The idea is to really work on getting a low 5km time over the next couple of years.

Nash01

11/02/2013 at 00:02

This weeks training:

Monday- 40 minutes easy running

Tuesday- AM Gym session, PM drills + 6x6mins@tempo with 60 sec recovery + 5x100m strides

Wednesday- AM 45 minutes steady PM 40 minutes easy/steady

Thursday- AM Gym session PM 4x3mins@5k pace with 45 sec recovery.

Friday- Rest

Saturday- Gwent League at Bath. 5th

Sunday- 75minutes steady run. 12.4miles

Struggled with the Thursday session. I was planning on doing 6x3min but felt completely rubbish. Pleased with the result at Bath. First race post-injury where I have felt like I was going well. Didn't get the tactics right as was fading badly by the end but that can be worked on. 55 miles for the week

Hobbling Harrier

11/02/2013 at 22:44

Go to start fitness and look at either "the grid" foam roller (original) or "the beast" which is the start fitness own brand version. Both are designed for you to roll on (hamstrings, ITB, quads and calves) and basically do the same job as a sports massage except you can do it without paying 40 quid each time. Also a really good core work-out.

Any paces for the runs/workouts?

Nash01

12/02/2013 at 15:34

Will definitly look into getting one of them. They look good!

I'm generally running steady runs at around 6:15 mile pace. I pay more atention to heart rates than pace normally.

Hobbling Harrier

12/02/2013 at 20:28

That's pretty quick - especially building back from an injury. You might find that pace sustainable at 30-50 miles per week but if you're building up the miles then you'll find that you might need to slow down your average pace per run.

You can do that by lowering the pace on your steady runs or by having more "easy" runs and keeping the fast pace on your steady runs (but obviously that becomes a lower proportion of your totally weekly mileage).

I tend to go with how my body is feeling and when I'm running 40-50 then I can blast all my runs at mid 6 minute miling but when I push up to 70, 80 then the pace slows down to a 7:30 average and once I'm over a 100 then 8 minute miles seem very fast!

That's not to say that you should start slowing down your runs immediately! Just be aware of it when you are building up and don't be scared if you start doing more runs at a slower pace and try and force the pace. It's not a sign you're getting slower just that your body has a much higher workload to deal with!

This article by Weldon Johnson of LetsRun fame is an excellent read... It helps detail how he went from a 4:11ish 1500m guy in high school to running sub 30 for 10k at uni before eventually running 28:06 and pacing Paula to her first marathon world record.

http://www.letsrun.com/2006/collegesuck.php

Nash01

13/02/2013 at 13:42

At the minute I have been finding that I am able to run at this pace, but I will definitly bare in mind what you said. I think one advantage of running off heart rates is that, if I am tired HR is elavated and so I do end up running slower with the same heart rates.

I have actualy read this article before and I think it's really good! Some great points made.

Nash01

20/02/2013 at 13:24

Apologies for being late!

Monday- 45 minutes with 20@good pace

Tuesday- AM 40 minutes easy (6:50miles) PM 2x15mins@tempo with 90s recovery (5:37 miles)

Wednesday- 45minutes steady (6:00 miles)

Thursday- AM 40 minutes easy (7:00 miles) PM 2x4x500m with 1 and 6 minutes recovery (88, 87, 87, 87 + 88, 86, 87, 87)

Friday- Rest

Saturday- Dunes session

Sunday- 75minutes steady

A good complete week of training. Was happy with the track session as hadn't run on the track for about 3 months. Reps would have been quicker but track was very wet and parts of lane 1 were closed. The dunes session on Saturday entailed about 45 minutes of running up a variety of steep sand dunes with fairly long recoveries. A very tough anaerobic session! Weeks total was 60 miles.

Jamie Newton 2

20/02/2013 at 16:08

Hi Nash,

That is a superb week of running! It'd be great to know your weight and height. I can't ever imagine getting close to these sessions with my 11 stone and 5'9!!

Best of luck for that sub 15 min 5K.....

Nash01

20/02/2013 at 18:18

If you're interested I'm about 5'9 and around 9 stone. Thanks for the support!

Jamie Newton 2

20/02/2013 at 22:07

Thanks Nash,

Great thread by the way. Its great to hear from real runners who aren't shy to post up their training schedules. Your sessions and times are a real inspiration.

I can't see me shifting 2 stone anytime soon, though I think that losing a few pounds could help post some PBs this year.

Calum Crighton

21/02/2013 at 08:24

Wow - keep up the good work. I'm new to running and will never get close to that sort of schedule or paces.

The only advice someone like me could give you is (as someone above already said) take advantage of all the time you'll have whilst at uni. I wish I used my spare time more productively when I was younger. I'm a married 30 year old Dad of 1 and running 3 times a week is about as much as I can fit in!

Nash01

24/02/2013 at 22:46

An easier week this week to make sure I was fresh for the BUCS indoor championships

Monday- AM 45minutes with 20@good pace PM Gym session

Tuesday- AM 40 minutes easy PM 4x(2mins @ good pace+7minutes tempo) with 3 minutes recovery (5:30 pace)

Wednesday- 45 minutes easy

Thurday- Rest

Friday- 30 minutes easy + strides

Saturday- BUCS indoors 3000m heat- 3rd 8:48 PM 40 minutes easy

Sunday- 45 minutes easy

Very pleased with my race at BUCS! A new pb after only 8 weeks of full training and only one track session. The only negative was that I was only 4 seconds off making the final. Total of 46 miles