HOW TO RUN A FASTER 5K - Training Tips to get a Personal Best!

running a 5k at Max effort is one of the very hardest things you can do in running the margin between a Flawless race and complete disaster is Razor thin but when you have a good day and everything clicks it really is one of the best feelings and I know that's what you're going to experience after putting everything in practice that you're going to see in this video because I'm sharing my very best tips on how to run that faster 5K we'll go through the training you need to do the sessions that help me run a 1526 at a park run 5K and some bonus race tactics too so stay tuned to the end of the video for that right let's get stuck into it how to run a faster 5K so how long do you need to give yourself to train for that faster 5K well ideally you want to give yourself around about 10 weeks for a solid training block which coincidentally is the exact amount of time that all of our plans are that we have on the website so maybe check those out at benp parks.com so you need to figure out where and when you want to have this 5K attempt and then work backwards 10 weeks from that maybe a run maybe a race but making sure somewhere that is nice and flat without too many sharp turns as well but maybe you're not that bothered about having an official 5K time and you just want to go by your straa go by your GPS and find a nice flat fast loop somewhere near your house we'll put a list down below of the fastest Park runs here in the UK and a few race organizers that we know organize some really fast races as well to get that official 5K time if that's what you're after check out the links down below so many people come and ask me what is a realistic IC time that I can be aiming for well this obviously varies wildly between the amount of training that you've been able to do in the past our historic training in our legs but newer Runners are able to make some significant improvements in those early stages the more experienced Runners are because they're already going to be a little bit closer to their limit so the margin of improvement is going to be a little bit smaller but as a Rough Guide with around about 10 weeks of training this is roughly where you need to be before starting these attempts so for someone looking for a sub 20 you should already be about sub 22 for a sub 25 you need to be already be about sub 28 and for a sub 30 attempt really need to be at least sub 35 minutes moving on to have a chat about weekly mileage how far do we need to be running every week during our training well for a sub 20 attempt we're talking around about 5 to six runs a week up to around about 40 miles or 64k in total volume for sub 25 we're talking four to five runs a week up to around about 30 miles 48k of total training and for a sub 30 attempt 3 to four runs a week up to around about 20 mil or 32k that total volume during the week in order to run faster over that 5K distance we need to get the body used to running at that gold pace and even a little bit faster than that gold Pace as well and a great way to do this is incorporating speed or workout sessions during our week we'd really recommend setting aside one dedicated run during this week more experienced Runners might want to include two of these sessions during the week but we'll touch on that a little bit later on on now these workouts will involve running at a hard effort for a particular amount of distance or time followed by a period of rest and recovery and then repeating this a number of different times so here are some really good sessions that you can try to incorporate into your week all around about 4 to 5K of total overall effort the first one 8 to 10 times running 90 seconds repeats this will be a little bit faster than our goal pace and then about 90 seconds to 2 minutes relax walking recovery between each of those blocks the second session I really like to do is 6 times 3 minute reps at the goal pace and then around about a 2minute walking recovery between those reps as well and then my third one what I like to call kick down C so it's four to six reps of a k but we're doing the first 800 M of that rep around about our 10K pace and then kick down at the end for that last 200 M at our goal pace so with these ones we want to add in around about a 2-minute walking recovery between those reps really helps to get the body working at effort towards the end of a rep simulating what it's going to be like during that 5K race before all of these we need to start out with about 10 to 15 minutes of very light jogging doing some running drills and getting the body warmed up and ready to be running fast now alternatively your local running club might well be putting on some weekly speed sessions so maybe check those guys out and also a lot of people ask me do I have to be doing this at a running track well if you've got one near you that's great they are really good and you'll know you can run some exact distances if you do your sessions there but you really don't need to have a track there just find somewhere nice and flat available to you and ideally traffic free as well also if you weren't aware most of our GPS watches that we wear you can program these sessions into your watch and then follow it through so you don't have to remember exactly what you're doing in your head all the time you've got a Garmin choros all the major manufacturers look up how to program those workouts into your watch so as I touched on before if you're a fairly experienced Runner and you've already used to a lot of this type of training you could include a second speed session during the week as well I would personally recommend focusing the first speed session of your week on some shorter reps something like a 10x 400 m and then the second session of your week some slightly longer reps so something like 3 to four * 1 mile reps or even look at including something like a 20 minute tempo run which will elevate your Fitness even more moving on to a little secret that I really love and I really wish more Runners would put this into their routine because they are fantastic that is something called strides now these are really mini reps little burst of speed of pace around about 20 seconds of fast running around about 90% effort we say here and it's really good to incorporate these when you finish one of your easier runs throughout the week now if you're new to stri you've never done these before then maybe start out with four reps of this and after each of these just give yourself round about the same around about 20 30 seconds just to relax and recover get yourself focused again before you're ready to go on the next rep now it's so important with these to be focusing on good form and staying nicely in control we don't want to be doing all out Sprints here the main benefit of doing things like strides they're really good at recruiting they fast twitch muscle fibers so you can put in a strong Sprint finish at the end but most importantly they really help improve our running form it's very hard to run with bad running form when we're running at this sort of pace the rest of your week outside of your speed session should ideally involve some kind of long run and then also some easy runs in there to help build and maintain your endurance the speed sessions during the week do put a lot of stress on your body so you're going to need to include some rest stays in there so our body can adapt and recover but we also need to be doing some easy runs during that week at a nice low intensity running conversational Pace because if every day was one of those allout speed sessions we would get injured very very quickly so how long should our long runs be for someone training for a 20 minute 5K probably around about 7 to 10 miles someone training for a sub 25 we're talking six to eight miles for the long run someone training for sub30 around about 4 to7 miles the pace of these should be nice and relaxed very easy Zone 2 heart rate conversational Pace the kind of pace you can have a chat with a friend if they were running next to you on the screen now we'll put some pacing recommendations for anyone looking for that sub 20 sub 25 or sub30 pacing recommendations for those easier longer runs and then finally race day is here how are we going to go about putting these 10 weeks of training into practice well for me there's two different ways you can Pace a 5K run either start slightly slower than your goal pace and then speed up as the Run goes along so a nicely Progressive Way start out slower than gold Pace then to Gold Pace then finish strong ahead of our goal Pace or as I think most people do and what I like to do is set out at my gold Pace running nice even splits all the way there and then in that last little bit at the end the last 300 M or so really give it my all kick down for that stronger finish if you're the kind of person that likes to go out hard and try to bank time that rely rely works most of the time this ends up in blowing up and you'll just see on straa that pacing chart that just goes like that is getting slower all the way down you want a nice even splits all the way through so do we need to eat or drink anything during a 5k well probably not if it's a really really hot day then potentially we want to be taking on a little bit of water but for most people they're going to be fine to get through this distance of course if you're thirsty please do have something to drink with gels or any other race nutrition we aren't going to need these during the race some people do like to take a gel on the start line potentially but really your body will have enough fuel in it to get through the 5K some races and some Park runs occasionally do have pacing groups as well so I'd really recommend having a look into that if that's the kind of thing you're looking for helps take away a little bit of the mental stress of worrying about your pacing and then how do we set up your watch well I'll put my exact watch setup on the screen now for me when I'm racing a 5k I really like to focus on just my lap pace which is the pace I'm running that particular a kilometer for me cuz I work in kilometers but oh that's that particular K or or that particular mile if you're a mild person and I just like to stick to that and tick each one off so for me when I ran my 15 20 or something like that I was just looking for round about 303 304 for each K yeah I'm sticking to that nicely it ticks off and then I want to repeat it again for the next K running a 5k flat out really is one of the hardest things that we can do in running believe me when you cross the finish line look down at your watch in disbelief at what you've just managed to achieve it feels feels amazing it's incredibly addictive so please let us know how you get on in your next 5K race I always love to hear how everyone gets on in their training one of the most important aspects that we need to also fit into our training is making sure we've got a really good strong head on our shoulders to keep pushing when things get really tough around about that 3 and 4K Mark so to learn some really good mental tricks you can take through to your next races check out this video next

Channel: Ben Parkes

Views: 122,395

Keywords:

Id: joLVQAGVQa4

Length: 9min 54sec (594 seconds)

Published: Fri May 10 2024