What's the point .... oh wait ....

[ArthurJG]

So the race number came today. I didn't know tapering was a thing for 5k. I'd heard of it for marathons and stuff but for 5k? Apparently so. I'm on the last week of an eight week training plan for the EMF 5k and it's less demanding than the first week! (Week 7 on the other hand ... but that's in the past.) My last run, before the race itself, should be on Wednesday.

'15 minutes very easy run'.

Wait - WHAT? Only 15 minutes and at a very easy pace? That's basically warm up and warm down with nothing in between. Why leave the house at all ....

So I looked back to where I was exactly a year ago. C25k week 3. I could only run for 9 minutes and that was with THREE walking breaks. Progressing to 16 minutes (with walking breaks) the next week was looking like a proper challenge.

And now I'm looking at a 15 minute continuous run and thinking it's too easy to lace my shoes for.

I think they call that progress. Note to self, stop moaning and be grateful.

[cheekychipmunks Graduate10]

Whoa, is that a 5k sprint you’ve entered Arthur? 😅😅 Hope you have a fantastic time - and please report back whether you do it in 15 minutes or not! 🏃🏃🏃🏃

[ArthurJG Graduate10 in reply to cheekychipmunks]

No, the fifteen minute very easy pace run is part of the training programme as I said, it’s not the race itself

[cheekychipmunks Graduate10 in reply to ArthurJG]

Ohhhh, sorry, I misread that! In that case you’ll smash your race, no problem. 🏃😀

Remember we require (by law) a photo of your bling! 😀

[Windoze Graduate10]

Hey Arthur, tapering is about recovering from your training plan, avoiding injury the week before a race. The slower gentle runs are just to keep your legs moving. You dont have to taper for shorter distances but if you are after a PB on your 3miler then its advisable.

Enjoy the race. Which one are you doing btw? I love a good fast flat 5k race...

[ArthurJG Graduate10 in reply to Windoze]

EMF 5k. Flat it ain’t. The tapering is in the training programme provided by the organisers.

[Dexy5 Graduate10]

Yes I followed the tapering suggested by simplyhealth for the Bristol 10k. The last week consisted of a 30 min, 20 min and 10 min easy run. I didn’t make the 10 min run the day before but I considered the brisk walk to volunteer at parkrun was probably equivalent.

It seemed to work as I felt I had more fuel in the tank and achieved a PB (3 mins)

So go for it Arthur and enjoy the fact that you are finding the easy runs so blooming easy.

[ArthurJG Graduate10 in reply to Dexy5]

Yep I’ve been looking at the fitness and fatigue thing on Strava which is only a rough guide of course but the basic idea seems to be that fitness builds up slowly and is lost slowly whereas fatigue builds up quickly and is lost quickly. They explain it by presenting running performance as the difference between fitness and fatigue. The theory seems to be that by taking it easy for a week before the ‘goal event’ any reduction in fitness will be minimal but I’ll be much fresher, less tired, so should be able to run better.

[Dexy5 Graduate10 in reply to ArthurJG]

Enjoy it 🏃‍♂️

[Irishprincess Graduate10]

The point is getting your hands on the bling...... or is that just me 🙄

[ArthurJG Graduate10 in reply to Irishprincess]

No I meant I thought what’s the point in the 15 minute easy run. Then remembered that I couldn’t even do that a year ago.

[Sandie1961 Graduate10]

Good luck with the race Arthur. You’ll smash it with your well rested legs! It is funny isn’t it? - I now think it’s not worth it if I do less than 5k, yet, as you say, just a year ago, it was all we could do to do a whole minute of very slow running 🏃‍♂️ 🏃‍♀️

[ArthurJG Graduate10 in reply to Sandie1961]

Re the feeling that less than 5k is cheating, this training programme has largely cured me of that because the interval sessions and hill repeat sessions generally cover less than that but make a different kind of demand and I can tell they are making a difference. Turns out the best way to get better at running 5k isn’t necessarily just running 5k over and over again 😀 . I’ve really learned a lot over the eight weeks.

[Sandie1961 Graduate10 in reply to ArthurJG]

That’s a good point. I have started to mix things up a bit and did a JogRunSprint session, which was shorter and I’m taking advantage of being temporarily near a killer hill to start to learn how to run up (and down) them!

[ArthurJG Graduate10 in reply to Sandie1961]

There have been hill repeats every week in this programme (except this last week). There is a very long hill in the EMF 5k but apparently that’s not the reason the hill repeats are recommended in the training programme - after all they are not long gradual climbs like in the race, but repeated short fast runs up the same hill and walking down to recover in between. Rather, it seems they have a positive effect on running firm and speed on the flat.

[Dowat Graduate10]

Good on you for entering and following the plan. Your post certainly illustrates the progress made, which is the fab part of the whole c25k thing. Have a lovely run.

[JonathanP Graduate10]

Very interesting - the more you look into this running lark, the more complicated it seems!😀

[ArthurJG Graduate10 in reply to JonathanP]

I find it not so much complicated as surprising. A lot of the principles are dead simple once they’ve been explained. It’s just that they are sometimes counterintuitive. For example once I had it explained to me how 30 second uphill sprints could improve performance in a flat 5k it made perfect sense - it wasn’t complicated, exactly, but at the same time I’d never have guessed it myself.