you guys are taking a simple thing like running and making sound like you need some big special insight to know how to train for a dang 5k
You don't understand, a guy who is too lazy to run 30mpw needs to hyper optimize his next four weeks of jogging to turn his 30:00 5k into a 29:47 5k. His ego depends on it.
you guys are taking a simple thing like running and making sound like you need some big special insight to know how to train for a dang 5k
You don't understand, a guy who is too lazy to run 30mpw needs to hyper optimize his next four weeks of jogging to turn his 30:00 5k into a 29:47 5k. His ego depends on it.
I'm sorry that I've threatened or intimidated your manhood in some way.
30 minutes in a 5k is laughable, but if that's what you need to do to make yourself feel better about a thread you didn't have to read then I'll play along.
Just to be clear, you think the fastest way to get ready for a 5k in a month is by taking a day off each week?
Definitely. Without recovery, there is no improvement. If you have lbs to drop, drop a few, instant vo2 gain. Hit everything, like level said. You can get better in 30 days. Everyone in the TDF says they ride into crazy good shape during the tour. I just wouldn't be tired on race day. Mini taper.
I'm not necessarily trying to run workouts to increase my VO2, I just feel like those workouts simulate my race the most when it comes to pain.
you guys are taking a simple thing like running and making sound like you need some big special insight to know how to train for a dang 5k
Listen, training the regular way doesn't take a genius to figure out. That's not what this thread is about. I'm looking for a short term, unsustainable way to prepare for a race I had not planned for at the end of April.
I think a month is too little time to make any noticeable improvements with regards to vo2 max or aerobic capacity. you might detect some improvements in a laboratory test, but the adaptations would be very minimal within that time frame.
i think by far the easiest and best way to get faster within a month is to lose weight.
Whenever I've done "hard intervals" it has given me a quick spike in fitness. For example when I got back into running, only one workout took my parkrun from 18:40 one week to 18:15 the next, however the effects are short term. If I keep hammering hard intervals week after week I make minimum improvement and quickly plateau. There's also burn out and injury risk.
5k time trials are probably your best bet. There aren't many ways to get much fitter in four weeks, but you can get 'tougher'. Get comfortable grinding through mile 2, learn how to pace appropriately, etc.
This was my first thought. With only 1 month, I would make that my Saturday run every weekend until you race.
If you can do some fartleks or intervals 1x week + the Sat 5k race simulation, you will get as good as you can in that short time.
you guys are taking a simple thing like running and making sound like you need some big special insight to know how to train for a dang 5k
Listen, training the regular way doesn't take a genius to figure out. That's not what this thread is about. I'm looking for a short term, unsustainable way to prepare for a race I had not planned for at the end of April.
Listen, training the regular way doesn't take a genius to figure out. That's not what this thread is about. I'm looking for a short term, unsustainable way to prepare for a race I had not planned for at the end of April.
Hey, it's July...
How did the race go?
I figured since nobody helped me with any real answers nobody would want to hear the end result. I'm pumped to be able to answer with a good result!
Let me start by saying I felt like I was probably in 20:00 shape when I started. I kept everything the same, same long run (about 6 miles) and then ran 5-6 other days of the week. My easy days and long run hover right around 7:50-8:30 pace. I never do workouts so this would be a shock to the system. My last race was 20:11 on a really hilly course...a year ago at the time.
I decided to do one longer VO2 workout and one shorter one. Given only 4 weeks and then race week, I knew I was going to struggle through things at first. Every week I did a 5x5:00 workout and then I'd play it by ear and do something a little shorter but similar volume. I would do anything from 8x3:00, 12x2:00. Nothing crazy. Basically just running hard at what felt like vo2 max.
It felt good to hurt again, but week one was ROUGH. I used the 5x5:00 workouts as a measurement of improvement each week.
Week 1: averaged 6:44 pace for 5x5:00 and felt horrible. Hit 30 for the week. 5 mile LR.
Week 2: averaged 6:46 pace for 5x5:00 and felt more efficient but still slow. Hit 34 for the week. Kind of dead this week honestly. 6 mile LR
Week 3: averaged 6:29 pace for 5x5:00 but felt so tired all week. Shins were sore but I have pretty old shoes. 31 miles this week.6 mile LR
Week 4: averaged 6:11 pace for 5x5:00 and felt awesome. Definitely dead after and took the next day off though. 24 miles for the week. No long run.
Week 5 was race week: I didnt run a workout and just did strides.
I figured since nobody helped me with any real answers nobody would want to hear the end result. I'm pumped to be able to answer with a good result!
Let me start by saying I felt like I was probably in 20:00 shape when I started. I kept everything the same, same long run (about 6 miles) and then ran 5-6 other days of the week. My easy days and long run hover right around 7:50-8:30 pace. I never do workouts so this would be a shock to the system. My last race was 20:11 on a really hilly course...a year ago at the time.
I decided to do one longer VO2 workout and one shorter one. Given only 4 weeks and then race week, I knew I was going to struggle through things at first. Every week I did a 5x5:00 workout and then I'd play it by ear and do something a little shorter but similar volume. I would do anything from 8x3:00, 12x2:00. Nothing crazy. Basically just running hard at what felt like vo2 max.
It felt good to hurt again, but week one was ROUGH. I used the 5x5:00 workouts as a measurement of improvement each week.
Week 1: averaged 6:44 pace for 5x5:00 and felt horrible. Hit 30 for the week. 5 mile LR.
Week 2: averaged 6:46 pace for 5x5:00 and felt more efficient but still slow. Hit 34 for the week. Kind of dead this week honestly. 6 mile LR
Week 3: averaged 6:29 pace for 5x5:00 but felt so tired all week. Shins were sore but I have pretty old shoes. 31 miles this week.6 mile LR
Week 4: averaged 6:11 pace for 5x5:00 and felt awesome. Definitely dead after and took the next day off though. 24 miles for the week. No long run.
Week 5 was race week: I didnt run a workout and just did strides.
If no significant background in running, I'd say a 5k time trial once a week--hear me out: if you look at newbies at parkruns, they pb by 15s a week, every week, for like a month or two straight--maybe because they're getting fitter, but mostly because they're learning how to pace and how to mentally suffer through that 4th km.
Otherwise yeah 6-8 x 800 @ 5k will get you back in shape.
Then one other session of 5 x 1k at threshold and a few 200s. This should be an easy second session, focus on the time trial/VO2 intervals.
Whatever mileage you can handle to fill in the rest
Interesting thread. I definitely agree with this.
If you believe in Tim Noakes's central governor theory, the bold part is really important. You have to learn how to trick your brain into thinking that it's not that hard and knowing it isn't that dangerous. A parkrun or TT every week would be a great way to do that, and you also get to know how to pace (so you don't run a 3:20 first km for a 21:00 5k) as well as improving your aerobic capacity in such a short span of time.
I figured since nobody helped me with any real answers nobody would want to hear the end result. I'm pumped to be able to answer with a good result!
Let me start by saying I felt like I was probably in 20:00 shape when I started. I kept everything the same, same long run (about 6 miles) and then ran 5-6 other days of the week. My easy days and long run hover right around 7:50-8:30 pace. I never do workouts so this would be a shock to the system. My last race was 20:11 on a really hilly course...a year ago at the time.
I decided to do one longer VO2 workout and one shorter one. Given only 4 weeks and then race week, I knew I was going to struggle through things at first. Every week I did a 5x5:00 workout and then I'd play it by ear and do something a little shorter but similar volume. I would do anything from 8x3:00, 12x2:00. Nothing crazy. Basically just running hard at what felt like vo2 max.
It felt good to hurt again, but week one was ROUGH. I used the 5x5:00 workouts as a measurement of improvement each week.
Week 1: averaged 6:44 pace for 5x5:00 and felt horrible. Hit 30 for the week. 5 mile LR.
Week 2: averaged 6:46 pace for 5x5:00 and felt more efficient but still slow. Hit 34 for the week. Kind of dead this week honestly. 6 mile LR
Week 3: averaged 6:29 pace for 5x5:00 but felt so tired all week. Shins were sore but I have pretty old shoes. 31 miles this week.6 mile LR
Week 4: averaged 6:11 pace for 5x5:00 and felt awesome. Definitely dead after and took the next day off though. 24 miles for the week. No long run.
Week 5 was race week: I didnt run a workout and just did strides.
Guess my time.
I remember doing 1200 x 5 at 5:50 and was trashed, and 2-3 weeks later I did a mid-37 10k, so my guess is 18:40ish.
I figured since nobody helped me with any real answers nobody would want to hear the end result. I'm pumped to be able to answer with a good result!
Let me start by saying I felt like I was probably in 20:00 shape when I started. I kept everything the same, same long run (about 6 miles) and then ran 5-6 other days of the week. My easy days and long run hover right around 7:50-8:30 pace. I never do workouts so this would be a shock to the system. My last race was 20:11 on a really hilly course...a year ago at the time.
I decided to do one longer VO2 workout and one shorter one. Given only 4 weeks and then race week, I knew I was going to struggle through things at first. Every week I did a 5x5:00 workout and then I'd play it by ear and do something a little shorter but similar volume. I would do anything from 8x3:00, 12x2:00. Nothing crazy. Basically just running hard at what felt like vo2 max.
It felt good to hurt again, but week one was ROUGH. I used the 5x5:00 workouts as a measurement of improvement each week.
Week 1: averaged 6:44 pace for 5x5:00 and felt horrible. Hit 30 for the week. 5 mile LR.
Week 2: averaged 6:46 pace for 5x5:00 and felt more efficient but still slow. Hit 34 for the week. Kind of dead this week honestly. 6 mile LR
Week 3: averaged 6:29 pace for 5x5:00 but felt so tired all week. Shins were sore but I have pretty old shoes. 31 miles this week.6 mile LR
Week 4: averaged 6:11 pace for 5x5:00 and felt awesome. Definitely dead after and took the next day off though. 24 miles for the week. No long run.
Week 5 was race week: I didnt run a workout and just did strides.
Guess my time.
I remember doing 1200 x 5 at 5:50 and was trashed, and 2-3 weeks later I did a mid-37 10k, so my guess is 18:40ish.
This was a good guess. I ran 18:37. Kind of surprised. I took some downtime after because my legs were pretty beat up. I feel like I'm in much better shape than before this race but the VO2 workout gauntlet seemed to work just fine as I beat my friend who challenged me by 35 seconds.
I remember doing 1200 x 5 at 5:50 and was trashed, and 2-3 weeks later I did a mid-37 10k, so my guess is 18:40ish.
This was a good guess. I ran 18:37. Kind of surprised. I took some downtime after because my legs were pretty beat up. I feel like I'm in much better shape than before this race but the VO2 workout gauntlet seemed to work just fine as I beat my friend who challenged me by 35 seconds.
Also, for what it's worth I only lost about 4 pounds in those 5 weeks. I didn't change my diet or anything. The only thing that really changed was unprecedented amounts of VO2 Max training.
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