5km Training Assistance

[J.R]

Thanks TheEd,

I will give you feedback on Saturday after the parkrun.
Lots of water and sleep before then with emphasis on easy aerobic running and lower stress levels.

After that we can discuss. :yes:

Cheers
J.R

[J.R]

Good day The Ed,

Feedback as follows from today's parkrun in 19:55

No.Duration Dist HR avg Pace avg Pace max HR max

1 00:03:39.0 1.00 146 03:39 03:11 160
2 00:03:54.0 1.00 165 03:54 03:33 168
3 00:04:01.0 1.00 168 04:01 03:37 173
4 00:03:54.0 1.00 170 03:54 03:42 175
5 00:04:11.0 1.00 174 04:11 03:41 177
6 00:00:14.0 0.06 174 03:54 03:48 177

Today I fared much better considering a stressful week and an average of 4-5 hours of sleep per day due to problematic property management repairs and maintenance with water issues and the like.
Highest average HR and highest HR max recorded for my age 52.
Could the Tuesday session of 3 x 1km with 3:00 rest have done the trick?
If so, then why?
Prior to my purchasing a HR monitor in August and before using your program I used to train in the heat with hilly easy runs for leg strength amongst other quality sessions. After purchasing the HR monitor I trained mainly on the flats to keep the pulse down but I feel my leg strength is not there and I have no kick whatsover. Could this also be from infrequent long runs?
Regards
J.R

[TheEd]

Hi J.R, first off, nice going

sometimes it goes like that, and hence the reason another 5k run was called

you should not be hasty to read into things. As you get older it is harder to develop speed and easier to develop aerobic

your natural speed is there however you do seem to struggle over the last 1km, when this happens, it will depend a great deal on the mind, and how you able to combat things over the last 1km

because of the slow last 1km, it should mean that there is more to come

I do believe that you would benefit more from 2k and 1600m sessions as part of your program, as they more likely to develop speed endurance

rolling hills can easily be part of your training

I do however recommend that you do not read into everything, and that you work on maintaining a positive frame of mind and also lowering the things that are causing high levels of stress

take the positives from today's run and we can work to rectify the 2 blips in the 5k run, basically anything over 4 minutes per k must be eradicated, and your slowest km should be 3.55

what have you planned for next week?

TheEd

[J.R]

Hi TheEd,

Feeling quite fresh and not feeling necessary to move into 2 weeks off period and 3 weeks build up yet. Maybe after the next 3 week cycle in which case the total weeks on the program would be 13 weeks (including this week for the second bash at the 5km)

Next week & consequent cycles as follows:

Week 1 Tuesday 70 minutes, Thursday 3 x 1600m, Saturday 90 minutes.
Week 2 Tuesday 4 x 1000m, Thursday 10 x 200m, Saturday 3k pace run.
Week 3 Tuesday 10 x 400m, Thursday 6 x 1 min F, Saturday 5k parkrun.
The easy days are 8km easy without any concern for pace or pulse and on any type of surface / incline as I feel to recover in between. Fridays are off.

The hard sessions are always virtually the same for comparative purposes.
Shall I add an extra interval to any of the week 1 or 2 sessions or keep it the same?
Must the hard sessions be rearranged to gear it more towards a 5km?
Long intervals speeding up to shorter intervals speeding up to race?

Cheers
J.R

[TheEd]

HI JR, for the 3 x 1600m the Rest will be 60 to 75 sec

for the 1k session, please increase these to 6 x 1k Rest 60 sec

please be careful with the 200m and 400m sessions

and may it be a decent cycle

TheEd

[J.R]

Noted TheEd,

Thank you.

Cheers
J.R.

[TheEd]

Hi J.R, what's up with your running currently?

TheEd

[J.R]

Hi TheEd,

The last cycle went extremely well taking me to the end of week 13.
Bang on target with all the interval paces but the parkrun was a flop
and from the 1st km I could feel it was not on.

Finished 5km in 21:08 with an average pulse of 160 bpm in comparison to previous Saturday 21:45 (3km pace run + 2 km jog) @ average 145 bpm.

I decided to rather take off 3 days after the 5k and will do easy running for about a month before going back on the training cycles as from 1 April.

My foot fungal / blister issues under the right foot and left small toe which caused periodic bleeding & puss has almost healed.

I am aiming and was hoping to go sub 19:00 this year so that's my goal.
P.S. At 50km a week I feel my aerobic base is insufficient to sustain my anaerobic efforts after the 3km mark at every 5km parkrun.

Cheers
J.R

[TheEd]

Hi JR, maybe you would be better off actually doing the 10k program and racing the 5k off that training, because the 5 x 2k session develops speed endurance the best

then 6 x 1k session on the Tuesday can be followed by 10 x 400m on the Thursday

Also note, as one gets older, it is more difficult to develop speed and easier to lose aerobic endurance

So in truth, the 10k program should benefit you more

thoughts?

TheEd