More inspiration from our HU VBs. Was it CP2 who talked about NRC coached Fartlek sessions? Sorry for all the acronyms so early, peeps. And someone else was expounding the benefits of 5 minute/10 minute runs the other day.
I rolled out of bed with less than 30 minutes to spare thinking I might as well do a short quick one. So I downloaded the Two Hard, One Easy session and was off!
Halfway through the warm up and I knew that I would not be following the programme. My warm up was way too fast at 6’09”, probably because I knew I only had a short time... the thought of speeding up was laughable. I took a 1 minute stretch as the Coach suggested after the first km - that’s the kind of coaching advice I like! And then... I ran a 5’32” second km! I definitely wasn’t in a fit state to run any further for a good 30 seconds, but it makes me think that if I could get back into a regular running routine and throw in a bit of ‘speed’ work, the sub 30 5k might be physically possible for this body.
Got home and the offspring has a temperature, aches and a sore throat. He is gutted he is going to miss his school picnic; and I could have gone for a long easy run rather than rush back for the school run! Ah well. Couch day for us 😉
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ktsok
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Yes I just saw Deals post, our runs look very similar.
I didn’t really follow the coaching today; I had about 18 minutes and the session was 28 minutes so it was a silly choice; I was just curious. I usually listen to the easy runs - it is very pleasant listening to someone telling you to run ‘smart’ (aka slow) for the first 10 minutes, helps me to pace myself and the chatter does seem to make time pass quickly... some days that is very helpful!
P.S. In my head you are running 5 minute km’s with ease!
Today was a lovely slow 5km in the rain. My neighbours must think I am mad, dawdling down the road in a tee shirt and capris (post run!) in the pouring rain.
I tried 1K interval training back in January too. It is amazing. I broke my 5K route up into 5 x 1K intervals. Warm up then run 1st, 3rd and 5th kilometers at my faster target pace and ran 2nd and 4th kilometers at a relaxed recovery pace. It works wonders.
Yeah it was amazing. Initially I set my fast pace at 6 min/km pace pace. When I’d finish an interval I might have to take a 2 to 3 minute break before continuing on. Once I got to a level where I could run the full 5K including the intervals without stopping I then changed it up by increasing the fast pace to 5:45 min/km pace. Did the same again then switched it up to 5:30 and then 5:15 min/km pace.
As a result I brought my 5K parkrun time from 32-33 mins down to 26 mins. It was hard work but paid off.
Just do it with a target in mind. If you want to run a 30 min 5k your target fast interval pace should be 6 min/km pace. Once you can sustain the intervals for 5K you could switch it up to a 5:50 km/min pace. That then would get you used to maintaining your target race pace for 5K. Build it up slowly.
It took about two months to get to my target which was 30 min 5K. Once I achieved that my next goal was a consistent sub 30 min 5k. A friend recommended aiming for a BAHG (big audacious hairy goal).😱 So my BAHG was 28 mins. It took another couple of months but I reached 28 min 5k. That meant that all my 5K runs at parkrun and midweek training runs became sub 30 min 5K. I got so used to the pace that I could sustain it for 10k and ran my first sub 1 hour 10K race in a time of 58:15 in April.
Since then I’ve just been doing long 10-14K runs on Sunday mornings with a run group, and I do 5-7k on my own twice during the week at a good 27-29 min 5K pace and parkrun on Saturday mornings which I live for. I haven’t done any interval training in a while but I’m going to start now again. My best 5K was the last 5K in a 6K Road Race which I ran in 25:54. My new goal is 25 mins.
PS - I must declare that I am no expert. I am just a C25K graduate whom is running and running and falling in love with it. Also losing 2 stone in weight helped greatly with my running.
I’ve been really struggling to find time for long runs recently and so have done a fair few shorter ones (Max 30mins), some faster, some slower paced, and found that according to my watch, my VO2 max has shot up. I really do need to find some time for some longer ones though as I am doing a 10k race on August 4th and have still not run further than 8!!!
Oooh that’s good. My VO2 has come down 2 points with this irregular running; funnily enough, it’s the longer runs that seem to have more impact! Are you doing Park Run tomorrow? You could do a gentle cool down run after..?
Yep I mentioned them but I did that session with GOG and couldn’t really manage it. Apparently there is a one hard two easy... but the one i really recommend is how fartlek can you get
You started a great thread here, ktsok, full of specifics which is what I need. Thanks to all! I shall try these out, going at about half the pace of all you gazelles. Xxx, 🐢
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3K With Fartleks 
Soooooo, turns out I haven't been wimping out! **Warning, boring medical stuff**
