I'm really glad to see that these forums are still going ? It's been about 10 years since I was last here. In that time I've had plenty of ups and downs with the back, had 2 kids, done a fair bit of swimming and riding and in the last couple of years fixed up the back issues and now have about 18 months of consistent running behind me.
I'm doing sprint triathlons as my "main event" but am still targeting a sub 20-min 5k! I didn't think it would take this long but people tell me consistency is the key so I'm confident I can get there one day.
Would you be able to help me get there?
These are my 5k results since I fixed up the back and started running regularly:
- Aug 2022 23:38
- Nov 2022 22:28
- Dec 2022 21:54
- Feb 2023 (part of a tri) 21:59
- Mar 2023 (part of a tri, measured long) 22:58
- May 2023 21:21
- June 2023 20:37
- Sep 2023 20:35
- Dec 2023 20:52 (this was today, disappointed and just wasn't feeling it)
So I seem to have made little progress since June.
I'm averaging about 25km/week and this is how I'm structuring my weeks as it's "tri-season" (and this is working quite well at the moment)
Mon: Easy run 9-10k + strength
Tue: Hard swim 2-3k
Wed: Hard ride + tempo or threshold run off the bike 6-8k (e.g. 20 mins at 4:40 or 3x6 mins 4:20/4:15/4:10)
Thu: Easier swim 2-3k
Fri: Steady ride
Sat: Intervals run ~8k (e.g. 5x1km at ~4:00 , 8x400m at ~3:50, or 20 mins fartlek say 1 min 3:55 / 1 min 4:25)
Sun: Easy longer ride
Based on my tri results the run part is also the one I need to work on the most.
FYI next week we're away. I was planning to take my runners and just do a few unstructured trail runs. Maybe some peaks as it's a hilly area.
What surprises me most about the results is that some months have seen big improvements (e.g. Nov > Dec 2022 or May > June 2023) and then it goes flat for a while.
Last month I did a 5k "threshold" run off the bike in 21:00 and it felt pretty ok. Today I went all out at Parkrun and was only 10s faster. Garmin's "race predictor" has my 5k around 20:25-20:35 and it's been around that level for months.
Threshold and tempo paces have been improving, but the fast intervals pace is static. E.g I see that in early July I did 5x1k with 90s walk/jog and averaged 3:54 for the intervals.
Monday 30 minutes Tuesday 30 minutes (Includes 3 x 5 min fartlek) Wednesday 30 minutes Thursday 30 minutes Friday Off Saturday 30 minutes (includes 5K @ 25:38) took it easy as my right hip flaring up from gardening on Thursday. Sunday Off
Hello TheEd,
before my question I would like to thank for informations and personal approach you are giving to this site.
My question is. Can I still push my 10k PB down below 38 min if I can (want) run only 4runs a week?
my closer background:
42year
4years of running (approx 1800-2100km per year)
before was active in football (soccer) for a local club
182cm, 66kg
been on your training plans last year, but all easy runs (30-40min) left out, that is why only 4runs a week. But all quality ones done.
now in winter period dont use your plans, try to run more distance (200km+a month) and hills (2000m+)
personally 10x400 can do closely to 78sec and 6x1k slightly below 3:30min/km. But for 5x2k feel like very difficult to improve below 3:40min/km, even hard was to feel comfortably over this pace. somethimes ok, but on another try not, so I started to lose improvment feeling.
Hi Ed,
it's wonderful to be back on the forums and into the running again!
over the last two months, I have made good steady progress in the build-up phase.
Yesterday I attempted the 5k pace run but stopped at 4k as I was starting to redline myself.
I could have continued but with this Saturday fastly approaching I backed it off.
My splits were 1) 3.56 2)3.52 3)3.55 4)3.59
not so bad as the 5x1 k intervals are still in my legs ranging from 3.37 to 3.45 pace off 2 mins recovery.
I ran 1 hour 10 mins very easy this morning and hope to get my act together Saturday morning.
Collectively I am delighted to be posting again!
all for now jon.
I am a 42 yr newbie to running!
So... I was a D1 hockey player that had 5 knee surgeries and broken femur.
I was told NEVER run! It would lead to fusing my knee... So i listened.
At 30, I started CrossFit and then due to my Type "A" began competing. I did great! Limited running of course!
I was out of shape and feeling sorry for myself when I hit 40.
My wife is a runner. She never believed my "no running" statement and guilted me into it.
I started walking in September 2021. Then I cried tears of joy when I finally ran 1 mile (12:45) in October.
Dropped 39 pounds, and got healthy! I put in the WORK! I focused on building base and studying form, breathing and not wasting miles!
I ran my first 5K on Thanksgiving, 26:48.
I ran my first half marathon in January, 2:13:40.
I ran my first 10K in February, 55:32.
My next adventure is a Olympic distance triathlon in July.
I am on day 9 of the sub 50:00m 10K. I have already seen improvements with LT and V02Max.
My goal is to run the 10K ion July 17 at a sub 50:00. This will be after swimming and biking, so it won't be easy!
There are no easy days and I welcome suggestions, feedback and encouragement.
Thanks for sharing this plan - it looks really interesting. I am planning to start my first cycle tomorrow, in preparation for a 10k race I have boked in for 11th September.
I have just a couple of questions for you though, to see if you think the plan is appropriate for me and if there are any adjustments you would recommend. To give you a quick background on my running, the last 10k race I did was January 2020 where I ran a time of 39:15 (I have only ever run about 3 10k races and each of them has been a PB). I have since done quite a lot more running and think I should be on track for a much better time (hence looking at this program!). I last ran a 5k TT in early April which was 18:07 - this felt pretty good at the time... I think I should have got a bit quicker since and also could push harder. In terms of distances, I have run up to 15miles on long runs but never raced anything longer than a 10k - I have usually held a pace of around 4:45 on this type of run and not felt 'too bad' afterwards if a bit stiff on the knees just after stopping.
One thing I was a bit unsure of is the volume of miles - I only generally run about 40k a week at the moment, with usually 1 'hard' interval session and maybe a tempo and a long run. If i suddenly increase this to more like 70 this coming week, do you think I'm at risk of injury or not getting sufficient rest before the race?
The other thing is that I have a 5mile trail race on 1 September for my local running club. On that day I was supposed to be doing 40mins easy. Do you think I would be best jogging this with someone from the club, or would I get away with pushing the speed a bit during this race to try and climb the field a bit?
Finally, do you have any resources on training towards a sub-3hr marathon? I have never run a marathon, though people at my club reckon that I should be able to achieve a 'good for age' london marathon if I put in the training. It would be great to know how to get there and how long to give myself!
Due to the nature of the programs being online and even if we provide the forums for feedback to achieve a more personalised effect, it sometimes doesn't happen due to the coach not being there to take in the visible data such as the heat on the day or how the athlete is feeling at that exact moment
So I hope to share and show some details which are different to what you may be doing and how to change things depending on the day and life's situations
Do note, the most powerful session in the program is the 5 x 2000m session, not much beats the gains from this session.
However, I have noted that with our group training that I do change the session according to circumstances, be they weather or the general well-being of the athlete.
Now, whereas I believe in the science of coaching and the program, I do believe my main success has come due to the art of coaching, where I am able to visibly monitor things by what I see from the visual feedback I receive from an athlete on the day
so, the plan is to maintain the structure of the program as the framework but to always be aware of what if happening in your day to day life
I share with you a little fun our older athletes have been having and how we have changed things to keep the enjoyment of running as a priority
<p>Hi,</p><p><br></p><p>I just ran the 4k Time trial on the road this morning.</p><p><br></p><p>Splits: 3.50, 3.50, 4.05, 3.56 (a slight headwind on nr. 3)</p><p><br></p><p>Heartrate fluctuating 163-167. It was really hard, and I couldn't quite keep up the pace I started out with.</p><p><br></p><p>I've been running for 12+ years, and 6-7 years ago I had some decent racing times from 10km to the marathon. </p><p><br></p><p>But for the last maybe 5 years, I've pretty much retired into just jogging for 40-60 min each day. Injuries and general lack of motivation are to blame.</p><p><br></p><p>But the past doesn't matter. I want to look forward and try to settle into your program and hopefully improve my times drastically once again </p><p><br></p><p>So, based on my 4K test, I've figured out my 2K pace to be just around 4min pr km and will start the sub 40 min program the coming tuesday. </p><p><br></p><p>Sound ok?</p>
<p>Hello,</p><p><br></p><p>I have been following this forum for some time now and i've done some cycles of the 10K Sub 40 program, but i've mostly implementing the key days of the program to my "own" routine as i go by feeling from week to week. </p><p><br></p><p>First started running in 2019, i ran about three months back then but i stopped and started bicycling, but in October 2020 i started running again and i got addicted. </p><p>Building up to grinding 40-50km a week during this winter was really fun (i stayed motivated even in -20 celcius), i'm now having about 4-5 runs per week and about 8 hours total training pr week including cycling. </p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p>17th April i ran a solo 10km time trail on a road about with 65m elevation difference and a 180 turn around at 5km.</p><p><b>Time: 39:45 (3:58 pr km average)</b></p><p><br></p><p>Splits:</p><p>1 km: 4:00 @ 171 BPM (slight uphill start, 3:53 gap) </p><p>2 km: 4:01 @ 177 bpm </p><p>3 km: 3:55 @ 181 bpm</p><p>4 km: 3:56 @ 179 bpm</p><p>5 km: 4:02 @ 184 bpm</p><p>6 km: 4:01 @ 185 bpm</p><p>7 km: 4:03 @ 185 bpm</p><p>8 km: 4:01 @ 187 bpm</p><p>9 km: 4:00 @ 188 bpm</p><p>10 km: 3:46 @ 193 bpm</p><p><br></p><p>It felt really good until the 4th kilometer but at the 5th kilometer i got the stitch (not sure of the english word, but pain in the stomach area), this was a psychologial breakdown and i was thinking that this is never going to end well. </p><p>But i remained calm and relaxed, this was something i have been training for. I was looking forward for a slight downhill that would only last for half a minute or so this was uplifting, and then i was laser focused on the pace and got into more positive thinking.</p><p><br></p><p>All my training data consists of heart rate belt monitoring, i have been using multiple types of wrist hr clocks before but i have concluded that these are really not accurate enough. </p><p><br></p><p></p><p>Me:</p><p>29 Year old Male, around 70 kg, 175 cm.</p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p><b><b>30 March 2021</b></b></p><p><b>Last 2k's (on a track)</b></p><p><b>4 x 2km and 1 x 1 km (90sec rest)</b></p><p>1st 2k (3:55 @ 171 bpm ave):</p><p>3:58 min pr km, 164 bpm</p><p>3:51 min pr km, 178 bpm</p><p><br></p><p>2nd 2k (3:57 @ 177 bpm ave)</p><p>4:02 min pr km, 172 bpm</p><p>3:51 min pr km, 183 bpm</p><p><br></p><p>3rd 2k (3:59 @ 179 bpm ave):</p><p>4:03 min pr km, 175 bpm</p><p>3:55 min pr km, 183 bpm</p><p><br></p><p>4th 2k (4:00 @ 179 bpm ave):</p><p>3:58 min pr km, 175 bpm</p><p>4:02 min pr km, 182 bpm</p><p><br></p><p>Hard 1km finish:</p><p>3:47 min pr km, 179 bpm</p><p>I ran a harder 1km instead of the last 2k's because i wanted to make it like a finish on a potential race, and i was going for a longer bike ride in the evening on the same day so i did not want to push to hard.<br></p><p></p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p><b>8th April 2021</b></p><p><b>Last 6 x 1km (60 sec rest) on a road</b></p><p>1 km, 3:43 min pr km (165 bpm ave)</p><p>2 km, 3:48 min pr km (173 bpm)</p><p>3 km, 3:38 min pr km (174 bpm)</p><p>4 km, 3:49 min pr km (176 bpm)</p><p>5 km, 3:38 min pr km (176 bpm)</p><p>6 km, 3:43 min pr km (180 bpm)</p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p><b>13th March 2021</b></p><p><b>5km paced (19:02):</b></p><p>1 km, 3:49 (165 bpm ave)</p><p>2 km, 3:51 (176 bpm)</p><p>3 km, 3:44 (179 bpm)</p><p>4 km, 3:55 (185 bpm)</p><p>5 km, 3:44 (189 bpm)</p><p>I ran too fast this day but i felt good and this was slight downhill the first part.</p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p>So what next? </p><p>Aim for SUB 39 10k and sub 18 min 5km maybe?</p><p>Please let me know your toughts and maybe what my training paces should be <img src="https://www.time-to-run.com/forums/images/smilies/smile.png" data-sceditor-emoticon="" alt="" title=""></p><p><br></p>