Hi.
I'm just getting back in to running and with a few training runs I did a 5k park run in 25:20. I come from an athletics background, granted bit shorter distance...40m...and carrying a pole...and landing on a nice soft mat... So when I'm running, think decathlete on last lap on 1550m, and you'll have a good idea of my style...lol. Since retiring from that I have done two 10ks and the 2014 Cardiff 1/2 marathon (The some triathlons, but I won't include them...). In all those races my pace would have put me at 22:30 for a 5k, so my aim is sub 22min. Which, unless I'm now too old, seems doable... I plan to do a 5k park run every 3 weeks. This will give me 7-9 training sessions in between (two small kids getting in the way! lol ). Below is an example of the sessions, which I started on Tuesday and plan to do a session every two days.
Week 1
Easy run about 7km
6x700m at (current) race pace, 2min recovery (700m is one lap of local park)
4.8km tempo run about 85% of race pace, and very similar elevation etc of park run.
Week 2
Easy run but longer than week 1
16x20sec hard hills, 2:30 recovery
4.8km tempo as week 1
Week 3
Easy run, longer again
4-6 x 1000m at race pace minus 5sec, 2:30 recovery
3km tempo run, as park run in two days.
How does this sound to more experienced runners? Anything I should definitely not do? Or something I should add in? Or just any tweaks?
Thanks!
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I've just done the 6x700m with 2 min recovery. They were done in 3:09, 3:06, 3:07, 3:04, 3:05, 3:01
A quick word on injuries though: In years past I'd tried running but got injured after a month or two every single time, so this time round, aged 40, I went to see a gait analysis expert, who picked up on what I was doing wrong straight away and with his help I've now been running for 2-3 years without any major problems. So if you do get problems early on (i.e. fundamental problems with running style), then I'd recommend that. Secondly, at my age small niggles and injuries coming and going are sadly quite common, so as you progress just be careful and listen to your body. I've had some issues recently and the same guy has adjusted my training to back off the load on my body. My slow runs have got slower, my middle distance fast runs have gone, but I've retained speed sessions. I now follow a sort of 80:20 plan, where 80% of my weekly mileage is in HR zone 2, but keeping the intervals sessions once a week to retain my speed. I also gym once a week, which concludes with a fast mile. This has worked extremely well, and the niggles are fading, without much or any loss of speed, in fact I think I've got slightly faster. He says I will eventually restart a more normal 5km training programme such as you're on now (to try and go further down into the teens for 5k), but those niggles are still there a bit so we're erring on the side of caution.
I hope that helps!
I've just done my long easy run, 9.58km in 1 hour exactly, 6:16min/km. For the first 7km I felt that I could have carried a conversation, but the last 2 are gently uphill to my house, and they slowed 20-30sec per km.
I've never really done long easy runs before. I've always either tried to up the speed or distance each week, so I'm unsure if this session was easy enough? A week and half till the next 5km, hopefully the training pays off!
My run today, I did the 6 x 700m again, times 3:20, 3:04: 3:04, 3:04, 3:03, 3:02. I felt really good on the first one....probably because I wasn't pushing it, didn't want to blow up though, never mind.
Think a good aim for this session could be to do all 6 under 3 minutes!
My original plan was 16 x 20s hard hill with 2:30 recovery. I didn#t really have the time tonight to do it, but I don't know if it would be a better session than the one I did, or just a different one? Anyone got any views on it?