Progression Run

[pianoteacher]

Hi guys,

Just thought I'd share something I tried out this morning - an 8km/5 mile Progression Run.

Some of the fast guys from my club did it during a training session last Wednesday and posted about it in our club Facebook group so I thought I'd give it a try. They did it in miles but one of them (like me!) doesn't get pace in miles so shared with me how he did it in kms.

Basically the idea is to run each km/mile faster than the previous one so that the last km/mile is run at 5km race pace.

As an example this is what that looked like for me in kms:

1st km 7:00 min

2nd km 6:45 min

3rd km 6:30 min

4th km 6:15 mim

5th km 6:00 min

6th km 5:45 min

7th km 5:30 min

8th km 5:15 min

And how it would have looked in miles

1st mile 10:30

2nd mile 10:00

3rd mile 9:30

4th mile 9:00

5th mile 8:30

Obviously the converting isn't exact and I think if I did it again I might just add 10 secs to each km as the I found it really difficult to keep the pace down in the first 4km - it made my legs hurt a lot!! I also got a bit confused in km 6 and ran it at the wrong pace but all in all I think it was a success.

My main goal at the moment is to improve my stamina for 5km as I can run quite fast over short distances but can't maintain it. I'm hoping that incorporating a Progression Run along with intervals might help me??

A quick Google has shown me that there seem to be lots of different ways of doing these runs so if anyone here does them I'd be really interested to know your particular take on it x

[Whatsapp Half Marathon]

I like the idea of this. Essentially running negative splits. There plenty of opportunity to mix this up as you can play around with the increments each km/mile and the overall distance you run too.

Good for endurance and for pace control. Might give this a whirl for this weeks fast run.

Thanks for posting!

[pianoteacher Marathon Half Marathon in reply to Whatsapp]

I hope you do give it a go - I'll look out for it on Strava 😁 As much as I love my club runs I think I'm better at actually putting some effort in when I've got something very specific to work towards x

[Whatsapp Half Marathon in reply to pianoteacher]

Absolutely. I have been without a training plan for the last few weeks and my running has been sporadic and I need to get some focus back. Fortunately, I have signed up for another race so training plan starts this week.

Still want to break the 25 min 5k mark too.

[AlMorr Half Marathon]

Interesting post from you 'pianoteacher' regarding increasing pace, you would need a expert in pacing to slowly increase pace per kilometer.

I installed a metromone app onto my Smartphone two weeks ago and have been experiementing with different speeds or beats/steps per minute.

I can set it at any beat per minute from 1 to 300, for me, I started with 155 steps for a 5K and ran it in 52 minutes, the second time I set it at 160 and ran on the same 5K route on 38 minutes, this week I intend to set it at 165 steps /beats a minute and that will be about the pace I ran last year, about 34 minutes for a 5K. I would think to run a 5K in 30 minutes or less would mean setting it at around 170 or more beats/steps a minute. 😊 🏃

[pianoteacher Marathon Half Marathon in reply to AlMorr]

It's quite easy to control pace with a smart watch AlMorr and it's not that small an increase - works out at 1.5 secs per 100m when you do it in kms.

Let us know how your steps per min experiment works out. My cadence is generally only very slightly lower when I run slower I just take much smaller strides x

[AlMorr Half Marathon in reply to pianoteacher]

I realised that cadence isn't all to do with steps per minute although mine are fairly even except going up steep hills when as you say they are a bit shorter regarding strides.

[Tbae Metric Marathon]

Brillant Marie.

Thanks for sharing.

Go you.

👊💥🏃‍♀️⭐️👏👏☄️

[pianoteacher Marathon Half Marathon in reply to Tbae]

Thank you 😊

[linda9389 Administrator Marathon]

That sounds interesting! Just about the reverse of most of my runs :), but eminently more sensible I'm sure. There is a definite knack to running slowly with comfort; I managed it once when running with a friend who I was trying to encourage. I was never able to replicate it on my own, yet running alongside her I had been very comfortable and developed a sort of lolloping gait that I could have comfortably run for miles. Were you running this on your own today? Maybe it would help to have someone alongside.

[pianoteacher Marathon Half Marathon in reply to linda9389]

Interesting you say about running with others Linda. It was suggested to me that I might find this run very difficult to do on my own (which I did) because of the need to push hard at the end - I seem to have had the opposite problem! I was hitting the ground really hard until I got to 6 mins a km so I think I probably need to address that x

[Dexy5 10 Miles in reply to pianoteacher]

My OH likes using me as a brake on the early stages of a long run as he says he finds it difficult to hold back on his own . It’s nice to be useful. 😂😂

[Runsome Marathon]

Good plan and well done, pacing is really difficult👍😊. When it comes to pacing I’m all over the place☹️

[pianoteacher Marathon Half Marathon in reply to Runsome]

Thanks! I love pacing but I'm sure sometimes I don't run as fast as I could because I like my splits to be as even as possible 🤣

[Runsome Marathon in reply to pianoteacher]

I recently read a different approach on improving 5k. I always thought you should run negative splits to leave something in the tank for the finish and for best results, but it said run you first and last k fastest. I have tried this as no matter how fast or slow I run my first k I’m always knackered in my third k so perhaps it’s best to get the most of my legs while I can ? To be honest I have no idea 😀

[pianoteacher Marathon Half Marathon in reply to Runsome]

The dip is really common usually in the fourth km. Even the 16 minuters get it which is heartening to know - although when I've stalked their Strava they only lose a few seconds whereas I've lost as much as 20 before 😳

Also I usually don't find time to warm up at parkrun as I'm too busy talking so have to use the 1st mile as my warm up which is probably why I haven't PBd since last September 😂

[Runsome Marathon in reply to pianoteacher]

That’s good to know its not just me as I also loose a great deal more than just a few seconds on that third k. I’m really surprised you haven’t Pb,d for a while because you are a really good runner but you need to take into account you had a couple of injuries and also training for the HM takes Focus off the 5k. If you decide that’s what you want to do I’m absolutely sure you can smash your Pb given the opportunity. 💪👍 ps it’s not always Pb weather at Hastings 💨

[pianoteacher Marathon Half Marathon in reply to Runsome]

Thank you! I do need to have a go at a PB at some point but you're right about the weather 🌪️🌪️🌪️

[UnfitNoMore Metric Marathon]

That’s exactly how I run... in my head of course, the reality is usually far from it 🤣

I’m gonna give this a go once I’m back out there, it could be a good way of me getting back to 10k I think.

[pianoteacher Marathon Half Marathon in reply to UnfitNoMore]

Sorry you're injured! Definitely give it a go once you're back out there and let us know how you get on x

[Colinsmith Half Marathon]

I’ll join in with the general chorus of ‘Hmmmm! Interesting!’ 😊 I wonder if I’m disciplined enough to do it?

[pianoteacher Marathon Half Marathon in reply to Colinsmith]

Haha! It does take some discipline but I'm actually much better at training than I actually am at racing - think it's probably something to do with years and years and years of music practise! 😁

[MadDave]

Really impressive pace control there. I take a similar approach to most of my solo training runs, except that I try to keep at tempo for say 4 or 9k then pace for the last Km, with pace relative to 5 or 10k distance, depending on the run. I find it’s helping improve my 5k time and hopefully I’ll get to sub 25min 5k’s by the end of the summer 🤞

[pianoteacher Marathon Half Marathon in reply to MadDave]

Good Luck with the sub25 - I'm sure you'll get there 😁 I've tried thinking about speeding up for the last km but I usually can't be bothered once I get to it - I can be a bit lazy unless I have a strict plan to work too. I'm sure it works - as does running at race pace for a mile or so during longer runs x

[roseabi Ultramarathon]

This is great stuff, and I spy people on Strava doing progression runs 😊😊😊

I had a few of these at the beginning of my MyAsics marathon training plan a couple of years ago, but I don't think I made a very good fist of them 😄

[pianoteacher Marathon Half Marathon in reply to roseabi]

I love a good Strava stalk 🤣😂🤣

I'd seen various people in my club had been doind them but as they all seem to work in miles the splits in kms were a bit confusing - I could see they were increasing pace through the runs but I couldn't work out the details of it. Luckily one of the coaches explained it in the Facebook group and put me out of my misery 😊

[Decker Ultramarathon]

We did something like this on one of our interval nights. I recall enjoying it more than the standard fast/slow intervals.

[pianoteacher Marathon Half Marathon in reply to Decker]

I'm glad you found it enjoyable. I found the faster running easier because there was less of it than in the interval training - I would normally do (usually 6-8 reps of eye on stalks flat out torture 😂). But the slow running at the beginning was really hard and increasing the pace from there was a real challenge. Also my interval runs normal total between 2-3km so I like the idea that the longer 8km run might improve my stamina x

[Decker Ultramarathon in reply to pianoteacher]

Haha yes I think the fact that it was easier made it more enjoyable Easing into the speed slowly was fun too. I think it should definitely improve your stamina!

[cheekychipmunks Half Marathon]

That’s fantastic PT. I’m pretty sure it’s a carbon copy of my runs ..... wait, except my splits aren’t as quick, and the list is upside down! 😅😅

One day I will achieve negative splits which aren’t done solely downhill (my only chance of doing them at the moment). 🙄

[pianoteacher Marathon Half Marathon in reply to cheekychipmunks]

Haha! Don't worry cheeky mine are nowhere near as fast as the guys from running club were doing them - some of them are sub18 5k runners 🤪

I reckon you could do it the real challenge is in starting slowly enough. You don't necessarily have to do 8km or split it into km chunks either x

[cheekychipmunks Half Marathon in reply to pianoteacher]

Yes you’re right, I think I’ll start off slow and just do baby steps! It does sound fun! 🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️