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5k on a budget

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  • 22-09-2014 2:05pm
    #1
    cullenswood
    Registered Users Posts: 2,300 ✭✭✭


    5km on a time budget!

    Looking for advice on 5km training. I realistically get about 30 to 35km training done a week due to time commitments.

    That would probably be 8km - 9km on a Monday and Tuesday. Some speed work on a Wednesday, rest on a Thursday and a 12km on a Friday. Then generally try to fit an easy 5km in at the weekend.

    Wanted advice on pace and the speed work. I generally try to rotate the speedwork a little, so maybe 8 x 400s fast one week, and then a tempo run the following week. Tempo run would be about 2km easy, and then 3 or 4km fast, followed by 2km easy.

    Have been reading a bit on this and am thinking I was doing my general non speed work too fast (around 5:00 pace per km, sometimes faster) so have slowed them down to 5:20 pace. Slowed my LSR down to about a 5:30 pace. My speed work would involve the tempos at around 4:00 / 4:05 pace, or the 400's in about 85 secs.

    Background: Late 30's, started running about 18 months ago having never run before. Current 5km time 19mins.

    Think I have come a long way, but am interested now in how to keep going and get down to 18:xx and then keep improving. Should I do more than one speed session a week? Any different suggestions for the speedwork? Should I try and increase my Friday run ( I can make more time to extend this one)?

    Got advice on here before and it was very useful, but I suppose I wanted a few more pointers to keep improving.

    Thanks
    Tagged:


Comments

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    #2
    Some Kind of Wizard
    Registered Users Posts: 55 ✭✭Some Kind of Wizard


    If you could bump your mileage up to over 50km a week I'd say you'd notice quite the difference and that may be enough to get you to low 18s if not 17s......... I know you mentioned time constraints but you can really always find some time.

    Assuming you have a bit more time on your hands at the weekend compared with during the week instead of an easy 5km at the weekend try and build up to a 10 mile/16km. This would be a nice bump in mileage and may give you that extra bit.


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    #3
    dukeraoul
    Closed Accounts Posts: 347 ✭✭dukeraoul


    Not lots of shortcuts to run quicker times tbh. Put in more miles, you'll be able to do more quality work.

    Your week should look something like this

    5-8 miles 2x a week, 1 LSR of 90mins plus , either reps (i.e 8-10 by 400 or 6 by 1k) or tempo run, a race every few weeks.... cycle through this for a couple months and you'll see your times crash down... so 5 or 6days running...


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    #4
    average_runner
    Registered Users Posts: 12,851 ✭✭✭✭average_runner


    Yeah i agree with the above, would recommend you follow a structure plan, maybe buy Jack Daniels book or something similar.

    Make sure to add recovery runs in there also and also swap some speed sessions for hill work every so often.


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    #5
    cullenswood
    Registered Users Posts: 2,300 ✭✭✭cullenswood


    Thanks for the feedback guys. Yes might try and get my hands on the Jack Daniels book for a few more ideas.

    Was interested in getting feedback on my pacing. There is a school of thought out there to run everything apart from speed at a very slow pace. Should I concentrate more on doing two 45/50 min runs, getting up to 90mins on the LSR and ignoring the mileage completely? (Also do the speed work day, and maybe a 30 min for the weekend one)


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