The Anatomy of 5k Training
by Yuri in Treadmill Trainer Running
By Thad McLaurin “RunnerDudeâ€
RunnerDude’s Blog
The 5K has quickly become one of the most popular race distances. This may be due to the short distance the most people can walk making it a perfect distance for fundraising events. But don’t let the short distance fool you. A 5K (when raced) is a tough race. There really is no easing into a 5K race. It’s pretty much all-out-effort from the get-go. And that’s what makes a 5K a 5K—fast, furious, and fun.
All race training contains basically the same elements—building a base, sharpening or fine-tuning, and tapering. Where the differences come in to play is in what and how much to do in each of those three stages.
The Base
During the base stage, your main purpose is to develop a certain aerobic and endurance fitness level. Kind of like a baseline of data for a research project. The base work will prepare you for the more intense workouts later in your training. This step is often neglected, especially by newbies to the sport who just decide one day to run a 5K. Ever known people who decide to run a race on a whim, go out for their first “training run,†blow out a mile at breakneck speed and then can’t move for a week? Not surprised, huh? Well, their determination was dead-on, but their training wasn’t. They blasted out a mile from ground zero. No base. Don’t underestimate the power of a strong base. Not only does it prepare you for more intense workouts later in the game, it also helps prevent injury from too much too soon.
Towards the latter half of the base building phase the number of runs can increase as well as the speed and the distance. Still not at break-neck-speed and no formal speed work, but the ante can be upped, so to speak. This is a great time to build strength as well. Even though the 5K is considered an endurance event, it’s a fast race. You’re going to need some speed. To gain speed you’re going to need strength and increased VO2 (the amount of oxygen your body takes in and utilizes).
A great way to begin increasing strength and VO2 during the base building stage is through hill work (up- and down-hill) and fartleks. Uphill repeats are a great way to build leg strength. A simple workout of several uphill repeats (letting the return downhill jog be the rest interval) will do wonders to strengthen those quads and hamstrings. As a separate workout, try some downhill repeats. Downhill repeats let gravity help you feel what it’s like to run at a faster pace. Be careful though, the downhill grade doesn’t need to be more than 5-7%. You don’t want to risk tripping and falling.
Fartleks are basically informal repeats without the track. Fartleks are simply bursts of speed thrown into a regular run. So, during a 4- or 5-miler, throw in a burst of speed, then pull it back down to the original pace for a while, then ramp it back up. Sometimes you may hear a fartlek referred to as a “pick up.†A workout may call for a 7-miler with 5 x 3-minute pickups. That just means to through in five 3-minute bursts of speed during your 7-mile run. This makes for a great speed workout. The length of the speed burst can be marked by time or distance. You can run fast for 30 seconds, 1-minute, 3 minutes, or you can use landmarks and decide to run fast to the next corner or the next mailbox. It really doesn’t matter. The key to a fartlek is ramping it up, pulling it back, ramping it up, pulling it back.
This informal speed work gradually helps increase your VO2 Max. In other words it helps your body begin to be able to take in more oxygen and use that oxygen to fuel the muscles. It also helps to push out your lactate threshold. Intervals during the next stage will help push out the lactate threshold even more, but fartleks are a good start.
Sharpening
When you sharpen a knife, you take a dull blade and using various tools, shave off tiny bits of the blade to make it as sharp as possible so that it can do its job properly. The sharpening phase of race training is very similar. The dull blade is your base training. That blade has all the elements to run, but you’re probably not going to run very fast or very far without a little fine-tuning or sharpening. It’s during the sharpening phase that you’ll begin to trade in some of your regular runs for some more specific workouts—intervals and tempo runs.
During the sharpening stage, it’s a good rule-of-thumb to rotate “hard†and “easy†days. A typical week may begin with an easy 4- to 5-miler on Monday and an interval workout at the track on Tuesday. Wednesday could be an easy run or maybe some cross-training (cycling, elliptical machine, row machine, etc.). Thursday a tempo run (running just below race pace). Friday a rest day, easy run, or cross-training. Wrap-up the week with a long run of 6-10 easy miles. Yep, long runs can benefit a short race like a 5K too! Take Sunday as a rest day.
If you’re looking to improve your 5K time, the best way to do it is through interval workouts. World renowned running coach Hal Higdon says, “To improve speed, you sometimes need to train at a pace somewhat faster than your race pace for the 5-K, about the pace you would run in a 1500 meter or mile race. Run 400 meters hard; then recover by jogging and/or walking 400 meters. Before starting this workout, warm-up by jogging a mile or two, stretching, and doing a few sprints of 100 meters. Cool down afterwards with a short jog.†You can Google “5K training†and you’ll find all kinds of fancy interval workouts. But, I’ve learned that what Hal say’s is the best advice. You simply need to run weekly intervals (400m works well) at a slightly faster-than-your-5K race pace in order to get better.
Tempo runs are another great way to improve speed and endurance. Basically a tempo run is a regular run with one big fat fartlek in the middle. Start out with an easy mile, then ramp it up to just below your 5K race pace. Hold this pace for the majority of your run and then pull back and finish up with an easy last mile. Start out by doing something like a 4-mile run consisting of 1 easy mile, 2 tempo miles, and 1 easy mile. Eventually work your way up to a 7-miler consisting of 1 easy mile, 5 tempo miles, and 1 easy mile.
The Taper
Oh the glorious taper—the time for you to rest and allow your body to mentally and physically prepare for the race. Basically, the last week before race day is about 50% or less of your normal weekly mileage. It’s fine to do an interval or tempo run early in that last week, but day three before race day should be reserved for an easy run or a rest day and the two days before race day should be for rest.
One Response to “The Anatomy of 5k Training”
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ABOUT YURI
beryl
07. Jul, 2011
Hi Yuri,
Very valuable information. My son his doing his training for a marathon he’s doing at Chester here in the UK , its a very flat course, he does a lot of his training in the peak district which is all up and down hills. This weekend he’s doing a 2 day bike race, your training methods have been taken on board,