basically its best to start these about 6 weeks prior. at least thats what has worked form me.
these arent necessarily speed sessions but basically a good set of interval workouts is this.
6-8x1000m (start 6x add 1more interval every 2 weeks)
- first 5 right at your 5k pace, the remaining below pace.
- generally a decent rest 3min is good, but one that has i felt done wonders for me is a 5min jog recovery between each intervals. almost like a fartlek
12x400m
- these should be pretty fast. right aruond mile pace with 2min rest
heres a good one:
1x1mi, 4x400m, 1x800m, 4x200m
- 1mi interval should be very fast, within 15sec of your PR
a. 10min recovery afterwards
- 4x400m very fast, right around mile pace
a. 2min recovery between each
- 800m very fast within 15sec of your PR
a. 5min recovery afterwards
- 4x200m very fast, should be faster than 800m pace, slower than 400m pace.
a. 1min rest
15min warmup/ 20mincooldown