The Running Thread Vol 2

[Pete102]

RizzoTheRat said:

I got loads of adverts for the virtual/"app race" of that, but can't really see the point of virtual races. I didn't realise they were doing it "live" as well again.

I did the Cambridge one years ago, managed 10k with 3 of us pushing a friend in a wheelchair, and David Coulthard driving the chase car, Agree it was a great event.

I agree with you, the virtual race does not appeal to me, luckily there was a flagship city run only an hour from me.

[irish boy]

irish boy said:

A place has popped up in Belfast marathon next Sunday. Never done a marathon and very tempted to jump on the place. Has anyone attempted one with no training? My longest is 2x 13 mile runs this year but generally pretty fit and won’t be going for a time just 9 min miles.

Well i decided to give it a shot. Made sure to keep my speed in the 9’s. Felt totally fine till mile 20. 20-23 were tough. 23-26 the lack of energy really hit (no gels etc with me) and had to slow it down a bit. But got round.

Going to take a few days off this week and let the legs recover. Definitely not my distance but at least it’s a box ticked.

[The jiffle king]

irish boy said:

irish boy said:

A place has popped up in Belfast marathon next Sunday. Never done a marathon and very tempted to jump on the place. Has anyone attempted one with no training? My longest is 2x 13 mile runs this year but generally pretty fit and won’t be going for a time just 9 min miles.

Well i decided to give it a shot. Made sure to keep my speed in the 9’s. Felt totally fine till mile 20. 20-23 were tough. 23-26 the lack of energy really hit (no gels etc with me) and had to slow it down a bit. But got round.

Going to take a few days off this week and let the legs recover. Definitely not my distance but at least it’s a box ticked.

Well done! Getting round a marathon is an achievement for anyone. Many people say that 20 miles is halfway in a marathon

[smn159]

The jiffle king said:

Well done! Getting round a marathon is an achievement for anyone. Many people say that 20 miles is halfway in a marathon

Yeah my last one was a glorious procession of effortless gliding by, high fiving the kids, for 20 miles followed by 10k of hell on earth

[Waitforme]

I’d like to get to 4:11/ k or better to dip below 21mins for 5k.
I’m currently hovering around the 4:18 to 4:20 mark for 5k, I do a couple of 5 milers a week and the park run. This week I did 6 x 500m intervals at 4.00 pace with 1 min recoveries instead of one of the 5 milers. I’m wondering if I should continue with them and try and do 7 then 8 , 9 etc as my fitness improves or if I would be better doing 3 or 4 1k intervals at maybe 4:10 ?
I also do maybe 7 or so hours cycling a week.

[jasonrobertson86]

Waitforme said:

I’d like to get to 4:11/ k or better to dip below 21mins for 5k.
I’m currently hovering around the 4:18 to 4:20 mark for 5k, I do a couple of 5 milers a week and the park run. This week I did 6 x 500m intervals at 4.00 pace with 1 min recoveries instead of one of the 5 milers. I’m wondering if I should continue with them and try and do 7 then 8 , 9 etc as my fitness improves or if I would be better doing 3 or 4 1k intervals at maybe 4:10 ?
I also do maybe 7 or so hours cycling a week.

Less cycling. More running. Shorter reps. Longer runs....

[Steve vRS]

jasonrobertson86 said:

Less cycling. More running. Shorter reps. Longer runs....

But cycling is more fun

[lufbramatt]

Waitforme said:

I’d like to get to 4:11/ k or better to dip below 21mins for 5k.
I’m currently hovering around the 4:18 to 4:20 mark for 5k, I do a couple of 5 milers a week and the park run. This week I did 6 x 500m intervals at 4.00 pace with 1 min recoveries instead of one of the 5 milers. I’m wondering if I should continue with them and try and do 7 then 8 , 9 etc as my fitness improves or if I would be better doing 3 or 4 1k intervals at maybe 4:10 ?
I also do maybe 7 or so hours cycling a week.

Keep up the intervals but I would also substitute some of the cycling for an easy long run, maybe work up to 8+ miles at a slower pace than you normally run.

When I was competing on the track we would rarely do the same interval session twice, so I wouldn't overthink it, there's are loads of example 5k interval sessions that work well, mix it up. I think for 5k ideally you would do more than 6x 500m reps as that only adds up to 3km of running. Sounds like more of a 1500m session. But that's something to work up to.

Other things you could do are a 2 mile tempo run at slightly under your 5k pace, and hill reps to develop leg strength. Obviously warm up properly.

Also don't change more than one thing at once- either add intensity or miles but not in the same week. Do it gradually.

[wrencho]

I hate 5k but the thing that helped my time was longer tempo/threshold efforts. 5k should stink from step 1 until the line, so you need to train up to that level of effort in my opinion.

[Smitters]

I'll be ambling round Snowdonia in the UTS100K on Saturday. Should be an interesting "run".


ETA: https://live.utmb.world/uts/2024/100k and bib 1766 if you're seriously bored.

Edited by Smitters on Wednesday 8th May 15:46

[ben5575]

Jeez, that looks

Best of luck

[bigandclever]

Running up and down mountains in the dark. Love it

[dirtbiker]

Total fail of a 'long run' from my plan today - 2km easy pace, 2km at 5min/km, 2km at 4.35min/km then 2km at 4:15min/km - just couldn't hold the pace at the end and wound up walking a bit which is most unlike me. Weird one as I've had a bit of time off from running and my Garmin training status was 'Peaking' - it's a good ten degrees warmer here than I'm used to and I only had granola for breakfast then a gel before heading out at lunchtime but still annoying. Not looking for solutions, just wanted to vent! Ah well, onwards and upwards - training for a fast 5km as part of an indoor triathlon on 29 June...

Well done to those entering crazy long trail runs in the dark! We have one up here called the Illuminator which is 15k in the night in winter, I'm tempted to enter but it would be quite masochistic. Good excuse for buying a decent head torch though!

[Waitforme]

Thanks to all for the advice.
I’ll work on the above tips and hopefully nudge closer to the 21min mark.

[jeremyc]

Waitforme said:

Thanks to all for the advice.
I’ll work on the above tips and hopefully nudge closer to the 21min mark.

FWIW my favourite interval session is 5x1K with 90 second recoveries.

Choose a target time for each km and aim to complete each rep within a second of the others.

Once you've done this decrease the km target time by 5 seconds and repeat sessions until you can run all reps at that pace. Rinse and repeat for future sessions,

It's a great way to see you progress advance quantitatively, and also gets you used to running at the kind of pace you need to for your target 5K time.

Then all you need to do is remove the recoveries.

[egor110]

Waitforme said:

Thanks to all for the advice.
I’ll work on the above tips and hopefully nudge closer to the 21min mark.

I got my 5k time down to seconds above 19 min (so 20 ) last year , i think weight lifting helped as i was pushing off the ground so much harder or at least that's how it felt .

[jasonrobertson86]

jeremyc said:

WIW my favourite interval session is 5x1K with 90 second recoveries.

Choose a target time for each km and aim to complete each rep within a second of the others.

Once you've done this decrease the km target time by 5 seconds and repeat sessions until you can run all reps at that pace. Rinse and repeat for future sessions,

It's a great way to see you progress advance quantitatively, and also gets you used to running at the kind of pace you need to for your target 5K time.

Then all you need to do is remove the recoveries.

How long doe sit take before you notice these working / improvements? 4-6 weeks?

[jeremyc]

jasonrobertson86 said:

jeremyc said:

FWIW my favourite interval session is 5x1K with 90 second recoveries.

Choose a target time for each km and aim to complete each rep within a second of the others.

Once you've done this decrease the km target time by 5 seconds and repeat sessions until you can run all reps at that pace. Rinse and repeat for future sessions,

It's a great way to see you progress advance quantitatively, and also gets you used to running at the kind of pace you need to for your target 5K time.

Then all you need to do is remove the recoveries.

How long doe sit take before you notice these working / improvements? 4-6 weeks?

It probably depends on the level you start from, but I'd say it only really needs a a few weeks (in conjunction with a long slow run and some threshold work).

Don't be too ambitious with your first target time - focus on consistency - and you'll be improving from week 1 or 2.

[wrencho]

dirtbiker said:

Total fail of a 'long run' from my plan today - 2km easy pace, 2km at 5min/km, 2km at 4.35min/km then 2km at 4:15min/km - just couldn't hold the pace at the end and wound up walking a bit which is most unlike me. Weird one as I've had a bit of time off from running and my Garmin training status was 'Peaking' - it's a good ten degrees warmer here than I'm used to and I only had granola for breakfast then a gel before heading out at lunchtime but still annoying. Not looking for solutions, just wanted to vent! Ah well, onwards and upwards - training for a fast 5km as part of an indoor triathlon on 29 June...

Well done to those entering crazy long trail runs in the dark! We have one up here called the Illuminator which is 15k in the night in winter, I'm tempted to enter but it would be quite masochistic. Good excuse for buying a decent head torch though!

I always found those runs just a bit too much for my brain. You end up over thinking and constantly watch checking and then the doubts creep in. I prefer warm up then no more than two pace changes. Take the quicker interval and put it in its own session.

[MesoForm]

dirtbiker said:

Total fail of a 'long run' from my plan today - 2km easy pace, 2km at 5min/km, 2km at 4.35min/km then 2km at 4:15min/km - just couldn't hold the pace at the end and wound up walking a bit which is most unlike me. Weird one as I've had a bit of time off from running and my Garmin training status was 'Peaking' - it's a good ten degrees warmer here than I'm used to and I only had granola for breakfast then a gel before heading out at lunchtime but still annoying. Not looking for solutions, just wanted to vent! Ah well, onwards and upwards - training for a fast 5km as part of an indoor triathlon on 29 June...

I've always found the heat to be a massive energy zapper, especially if it's a sudden increase in temperature. I went out planning to do a fairly gently 10k on Monday but also ended up walking as I just had no energy.

Wasn't the case last night though - my favourite local race of the year was on and I've kept up my streak of running it quicker each time it's on. OK I've only run it 4 times and they run it 3 times a year but it's still a streak I aim to keep up in 2 weeks time! I like that it's a 5 mile race too - people don't take it as seriously as the 5k and 10k races so it's all a bit more relaxed.