Noob 5k pacing strategy

Training Advice/Discussion 5k/10k

1 year ago 05/21/2022 8:17am EDT

Hello runners. I'm a total hobby jogger who will run his first 5k race soon. It's just for fun, but I do want to challenge myself within my modest limits so I'm wondering what's the right pace to go out with.

Last week I did 6x1.2km @ 4:00min/km or 6:26min/mile) pace, with 90sec walking recovery. A couple of days before that I had done 6x1km @ the same pace with 2min recovery jogs @ 5:20min/km or 8:35min/mile pace. The workouts felt comfortably hard.

During the race, should I aim for 4:00min/km (6:26min/mile) pace since that was the pace of the work sets in training? Your input will be appreciated!

1 year ago 05/21/2022 10:38am EDT

re: Parthenopeus

Yes, go out at 3:55-4:00/km, push the last k if you feel good, give it all you got the last 400. You should cruise to sub 20 if you can handle it mentally. Then you can build from there. (I was in an identical situation last December)

1 year ago 05/22/2022 5:37am EDT

re: Parthenopeus

6 x 1200 (7200m of work) off of 90s should be faster than your 5k pace. Since it'll be your first race, I agree, going out at 3:55-4:00 is the call. Pick it up at 3k if you're feeling good. You want to run even in a 5k. You exert more effort later in the race, as it gets harder, to maintain pace.

A lot of people get excited & go out in sub-3:50 with your fitness & then don't break 20. Figure out where 3:55-4:00 pace is. Run it the second you cross the start line.

1 year ago 05/22/2022 6:05am EDT

re: Parthenopeus

You say 04:00min/km was comfortable hard, this means TH60 (60minutes) tempo for me.

Based on that you can run 03:40 min/km for this 5k. If you have time before the race, you can try 5 x 1K@03:40 with 90sec jog recover. If you can manage that, than this is your 5k race pace.

1 year ago 05/22/2022 2:40pm EDT

re: Parthenopeus

Thanks all for the input! I still have a couple of weeks so I will see if I can run the 1k intervals slightly faster.

1 year ago 06/09/2022 3:27am EDT

re: Parthenopeus

Just to follow up, I ran the race last weekend. I went out at 4:00 pace and sped up to 3:50 after the first k, ran the last k at 3:35 pace. Overall time of 19:01 - happy with the result!

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