If you wanted to lower your 5km time as quickly as possible which two weekly workouts would you focus on?

Those are both great no-nonsense workouts, but personally I would be overcooked if I did those for 8 weeks before my peak race. I would try to periodize it somewhat, where in the first 4 weeks you opt for some threshold intervals (like 6-8xK at ~ hour race pace w/ 60 seconds rest) and “glorified strides” workouts (like 10x300 @ 1500 pace walking the curve for rests) for at least one of your workout days. I feel that 2-4 weeks of 5k-specific peaking workouts goes a long way in a short time.

10×300 @ 1500 pace w/ ~60s rest isn’t “glorified strides”, that’s a legit 1500m workout.
If the goal is neuromuscular work, 10×200 fits that description much better.
Or keep the 300s but go 8×300 w/ ~2 min rest so the reps stay fast instead of turning into a lactate session.

Yeah, you’re right.

I think 1 min is not enough recovery for your 6 x 1km workout. 2 min would be better. That would still be a hard workout

I'm not sure I could do either in a work out every week. A total of 6k faster than 5k goal pace even with 2 min rest would take a race effort for me.

4800m at 1500m pace, I would guess about 5 min rest to pull that off, I've never done anything like it though. Maybe 3k pace with 2 min rest? You can go 1500 pace the last 4 and 5k pace the first 4. Maybe 75s, 72s, 69s (nice)

he didn't say how long he takes to walk the curve

Neither of those are possible. You will race 1500 and 5000 much faster than you expect.

But if training for 5k, replace the 400 reps with a 4 mile progressive run..

1. 16-20 x 400 @ current (not goal) 5k pace w 1 min rest is a pretty honest workout but not ridiculously hard, lets you get into a good rhythm. You could start out at 8k-10k pace then work your way down to 3k on the last few reps if you want to change the stimulus

2. 5-6 x broken 1600s (1k at 10k, 600 at 5k) w 90s rest in between reps, 2 min between sets

Only keep one interval session, but make it easier, save something for the race, too anaerobic is never good. I'd say 8x600m, 6x800m or 4-5x1000m at around 5k pace is good, or 6x500m at 3k pace. Keep the rest long, like 400m jog, not 1 min. The most important however is your endurance, speed doesnt mean anything without the ability to sustain it over 12.5 laps. I'd have a run every week of 12-15 miles where you run a block at close to LT1 (like 6 miles).

Good post.

If you can do 6 X 1km "faster than goal 5km pace" with 1min rest, and 12 X 400m at 1500 pace with 1min rest, week after week, you are either underestimating your race paces or working out WAY too hard.

Gunder Hägg style "surge runs". Run a 5 km loop that is mostly flat but with a few short, steep hills. Run a hard but controlled pace and then surge up the hills (surge, not sprint). When you reach the top slow down to the hard, controlled pace. Run the last half km really hard.

Disclaimer: there are no magic workouts.

That said, if I had to regularly do the same 2 workouts every week to prep for a 5k, they would be:

1. 5 mile progression run: first mile around marathon pace, miles 2-4 around half marathon pace, last mile hard.

2. Something to work on speed without going to the well. Perhaps something like a really good warmup with strides, followed by 8x10 second hill sprints with full recovery followed by 8x200m around 1500m pace or a bit faster with 200 recovery jogs. take a full recovery and close the workout with 1000m at 5k goal pace.

Surround that with high mileage and you should be fit but not overcooked.

Stop at the hill sprints. The day is done there if your focus is pure speed. Heck, stop after 6 reps even. Adding 8 x 200m after is a bad idea. Tacking on a 1000 at 5km is even worse. This will 100% overcook and/or injure somebody.

Just do the NSM thread, you will be quicker by the end of your races are 5k

hill reps

Agree with the other posters that this is a ton of specific work that will likely leave you fried.

One thing I've always liked for the 5k is doing 5k time trials at like 90% effort. If I was training to run a 15:30, I'd solo a solo a few 5ks around like 16:15.

Lose weight.

Your time won't improve that much in two weeks' time. However, carrying less weight over your race might make a difference. Good luck!

I like the workouts. I would do something similar.

My workouts would look like this.

I would do 6x 800M in 2:20 with 2:20 rest or 12x400 in 68 (1600M pace) with 45 seconds rest. Likely one workout a week.

If the OP is being honest, that a strong base has laid, then a long interval and short interval session each week would get strong results as long as the op did each session at current fitness. Over 8 weeks, the op would/should see his current fitness improving each week. Maybe do a mini taper the 7th week, only 4 long reps and 8 short reps.

personally i would like to see those 400s turn into 200s, and turn them into Bowerman 200s or Oregon 200s.