I just did a turkey trot on a super simple 5k course and ran a 19:44. Felt terrible the whole time. But I also have recently run a 3:10 marathon. My sense is that I am absolutely awful at the shorter distances. Is this normal?
I just did a turkey trot on a super simple 5k course and ran a 19:44. Felt terrible the whole time. But I also have recently run a 3:10 marathon. My sense is that I am absolutely awful at the shorter distances. Is this normal?
Exactly my problem.. 19:56 5k & 3:15 marathon last month. Fwiw, I took up running 2yrs ago & am 37 y.o.
Exactly my problem.. 19:56 5k & 3:15 marathon last month. Fwiw, I took up running 2yrs ago & am 37 y.o.
Do you ever train anywhere near that 5k pace? If the only time you ever run 6:20ish pace is in a race, of course you're going to suck.
Mr E wrote:
Do you ever train anywhere near that 5k pace? If the only time you ever run 6:20ish pace is in a race, of course you're going to suck.
I do 6:00pace 800s from time to time.
Try some actual speedwork. Not 800s, 150's, or short hill sprints
My PRs are a few years old but from the same time frame:
19:56 5k
3:10 marathon
I don't feel 5k races are my strong point, nor do I like the running near VO2 max, but these times actually fall in line nicely on Daniels' VDOT tables in the 2nd edition book.
I have the exact opposite problem. 2:57 marathon and a 16:38 5K PR. It probably doesn't help that I'm oversized for a distance runner.
That's about what you would expect according to my calculator.
You are OK at 5km and a little better than OK at the Marathon.
Few are equal across a whole range of events.
Same here, although I don't train for marathon
It's more likely your training not geared towards 5k than "you," but not abnormal at all
I have run between 1:26 and 1:30 for the half 4 times, but have broken 19:30 in a 5k just once, running 19:10.
If you haven't done a 5k in a while you may also have lost the realization of what hard running feels like.
Same here, I just did my first marathon, the Philadelphia Marathon completed it in 3:14. Been running for 18months and I am 48 years old. I will try to break 3:05 in April 2015 during the New Jersey Marathon. Is that realistic??
Hello Mr. McMillain, would you care to dicuss how your calculator was derived?
reality checker wrote:
If you haven't done a 5k in a while you may also have lost the realization of what hard running feels like.
This.
Most old marathon guys don't know how to hurt the way you must to get your best 5k out.
Not that they're scared. They literally don't know how. 10k pace 800s/1000s are "fast" training for them.
Get thee to the track!
Train a bit for underdistance/overspeed (relative to a 5k, not a marathon), so 5k pace feels solid, not like a punch in the chest. Classic mile pace stuff like 10x400, maybe starting at 5:20 pace (80s laps) for the OP.
You need to get used to running under the type of duress that a 5k brings.
Start doing 5x1km once a week at 5k pace with 2:30 recovery. Jog the recovery at around long run pace. Drop 15 seconds off the recovery each week. If you need to stay at a certain recovery time for an additional week, do it. You must run strong for the entire session each time, that's the most important thing.
Once you get down to 45 seconds jog recovery, you should be confident and in goal race shape. If there's no race, speed up the pace by 5 seconds per km and repeat the process over again, starting with a longer recovery.
This worked for me, I don't care if it's not quite the 'right' way to train. Doing the exact same session each week with decreasing recovery allowed me to get very used to the specific challenge and watch improvement (being able to complete an interval session that would have been almost impossible for me only a couple weeks earlier).