Hey,
there has been a lot of buzz of Tinman training on the boards recently. The basic system of his training for 5k/10k is well understood, but where people fail to apply his training is in peaking for races where he carefully introduces VO2MAX intervals and a light taper.
I have been a weak, sedentary runner (last person in school 12 minute track test) and spent the majority of my life sitting as pro video gamer. Before using Tinman training I was constantly injured, and never ran faster than a 20:30 5k (my first 5k was a 27:30 split in a sprint triathlon after serious cycling training).
With Tinman, I was able to progress almost at the same rate as Drew Hunter did (he improved on the same XC course from 18:15 to 15:45, a 2.5 min improvement), we both train the same way the difference is that I started using Tinman training as 30-year old while he was a 15-year old kid and much more talented.
My 5k progression (all races on road):
01/18 - 20:05
04/18 - 18:52
05/18 - 18:25
09/18 - 17:37
03/19 - 17:18
04/19 - 16:55 (adjusted 4.2k race time)
09/19 - Goal: 15:xx
Took 3 weeks completely off in May this year and started pretty much from 0 again. Since then, I built up my mileage to 55-60 mpw, each week containing a Tinman Tempo (broken in early sessions when unfit), CV session, easy long run and 3-4 runs. I use easy cross-training as 2nd session most days, usually swimming or cycling but sometimes a 20-30 min jog.
The Tinman tempos progressed from 2x2 miles in 6:40 pace to 5 miles in 6:00 pace, the CV reps improved from 4x1k 3:45 with longer/walking reps to 6x1k 3:20 in ~8 weeks. Week after week the paces on each session got quicker and my pace at any given HR got quicker (I use a chest strap for every single run).
My goal in the next 6 weeks is to peak for a 5k race on September 24. This means the traditional CV-TinmanTempo-LR is going to change slightly. Following Tinman's philosophies, I will introduce spices of VO2MAX intervals to the CV session as "Combo Workout". Some Tempos will be a bit more aggressive, down to "threshold pace", to be more 5k specific. Finally, 1-2 races, a peaking workout and a few time-trials will be used to prime the anaerobic system and get race ready.
My paces (as per Tinman calculator):
CV - 3:20/k
Threshold - 3:30/k
Tinman Tempo - 3:40/k
VO2MAX - 3:05-3:10/k
Speed - 34s-29s 200m
Easy - 4:20/k-4:40/k
My plan:
https://i.imgur.com/9LIH9gg.png
Green = already done, Orange = regular workout, Red = race or hard workout
I plan to update this thread each week talking a bit about the training sessions and how they went. I know 55 sec is a big improvement in a 5k on that level, but I'm sure smart training with Tinman will lead me to it. I'm not getting younger so want to achieve some goals I have like 15 min 5k and 2:00 800m as soon as possible so I can start working on longer distances. Feel free to ask anything about Tinman training or my experience with it. All my runs/cross-trainings are also on Strava since 2016.