can a 5k race every weekend replace intervals?

You've stumbled onto the old Joe Henderson way to train, except his races were longer. If you want to be decent but a little lazy and doing your very best isn't your goal, go for it. People who do this truly enjoy it.

Joe Henderson non-fan wrote:

You've stumbled onto the old Joe Henderson way to train, except his races were longer. If you want to be decent but a little lazy and doing your very best isn't your goal, go for it. People who do this truly enjoy it.

I want to be my very best, shall I just race once a month?

Yeah, but do some workouts in between.

Joe Henderson non-fan wrote:

Yeah, but do some workouts in between.

OK will do daddyo!

brinstar wrote:

What's a better workout to improve 5K performance running an all out 5K every Saturday or doing intervals instead? Rest of the week being easy runs a long run and maybe a tempo or some other workout.

You need to do the High school XC program of just racing 5ks 2x/week. Worked really well for some people

This is just as effective as doing 5k pace intervals.

Maybe better.

Just don't truly go flat out.

sub-elite couch wrote:

This is just as effective as doing 5k pace intervals.

Maybe better.

Just don't truly go flat out.

A fun, expensive way to train :-)

Ask yourself, would an elite athlete race a 5k every week?

runner39 wrote:

Ask yourself, would an elite athlete race a 5k every week?

Ask yourself, are you an elite athlete?

If an elite athlete would not race a 5k every weekend why should a hobby jogger?

runner39 wrote:

If an elite athlete would not race a 5k every weekend why should a hobby jogger?

Because a hobby jogger has a lot more to gain by racing a 5k every week than an elite athlete does.

Your logic makes no sense. Elite athletes don't do 20 mile long runs in 3 hours when training for the marathon, so why should a hobby jogger?

Would this replace an interval session or a tempo? What would be a good accompanying midweek workout: shorter stuff--400s, hills? Or longer--2000s, 40-min tempo?

No.

Sage the man wrote:

Because a hobby jogger has a lot more to gain by racing a 5k every week than an elite athlete does.

Please explain these gains of which you speak. All I see is some money being spent every week.

Is it possible the expensive and rather time consuming method would end up with times so fast the person would she their hobby jogging status? It's possible. It's possible to win the lottery too.

A mix is probably best. But there are plenty of ways to race yourself into shape.

I just read this interesting post the other day:

http://strengthrunning.com/2016/05/hollies-half-marathon-pr/

She does pretty well racing most weekends, but she does add in at least one other workout a week most of the time.

Found the parkrunner

Not sure the logic does not make sense. Elite runners sometimes do race every week. Look how often Steve Scott raced, often on the road. But elite runners also do lots of workouts. As for the other part of the claim, to race every weekend does not determine the speed of the race, just as to do a long run every weekend does not determine how fast. The elite runner will do the 20M long run in under 2 hrs and the slower athlete in 3 hrs: both are and should be doing a long run. The slower athlete does the long run because it works very well for elite athletes and so they discover it is effective for them as well. But that elite athletes do not typically race every week would tell you that in order to reach your potential, it would not be a great idea to race every week.

If you are so eager to test yourself, why don't you opt for a time trial every 2 weeks or so?

You can do like 60%-75% of the distance, while not tiring yourself too much and at the same time have a rough estimate on your ability for said distance.

For a bonus you will save some money. Not that I have anything to do with how you manage your money of course.

I am a 57 yo runner happily racing twice per weekend (3-10k forest trails) most weekends during the winter season, April thru August. Costs me $aus3 on Saturday and $aus7 on Sunday. I enjoy the camraderie and get 2 good hard sessions for the week. During the week I just do mostly relaxed running. I doubt it is as good as doing structured workouts but I do improve over the season so it does me some good.