The Key Steps to help you achieve your sub 20 minute 5km goal
Have you hit a plateau in your middle distance running? Getting under 20 minutes for 5km is a tricky task but you can achieve it! A few tweaks to your training and a defined programme will get you there!
If you are past the stage of beginner running, you have a thorough training programme, you will break through your limitations and bring down your 5km time. Through a convergence of hill runs, fast intervals and threshold training you will onto smashing that 20-minute barrier and into your next goal
- Give yourself a training period!
- Intervals, Intervals, Intervals.
- Climb those hills.
- Threshold training
- Warm-up!
Completing these types of training on a regular basis is what will make you a faster and stronger runner.
Give yourself a training period
If you set out an 8-10 week training period which is well planned, you put yourself in the best position to get a sub 20 minute 5km. Eight-10 weeks give time for your neuromuscular system and central nervous systems time to adapt to the stress that you are placing on them. As a significant number of training sessions will be taxing and above race pace, it is important to have this time period. Strength training in the gym, or with bodyweight is equally important. Not only will this allow you to run faster, but it will also provide your tendons, muscles and joints with the resilience to cope with your training load.
Intervals Intervals Intervals
Running a 20 minute 5km requires a pace of 4minute/km. This is a difficult speed to maintain if you are not used to it. This is where the intervals come in – make a pace of at least 10% faster than your target race pace as a rule. This works out at 3:36/km and will be very challenging to most runners. Practice this pace on your intervals, ranging between 400m-1km. Look at your weaknesses, if you don’t fatigue as much, look at running faster for shorter distances, if you run fast but fatigue as the distance progresses then focus on longer intervals. The longer you can maintain running faster than your race pace, the more carryover you will get to your race. These are taxing sessions, but you will see the results!
Climb those Hills
I know, I know, I am always talking about hills. But the truth is they are good for everything. It’s a cheat way to do an interval working on speed while simultaneously working on your strength. Fast a good steady slope that takes between 30-90 seconds to complete, and use the same rule as your intervals. Your speed should be at least 10% faster than the race pace. Obviously, the shorter your hill, the faster you can run, and you can only work with what you have, but don’t get below that 10% buffer. Ten-12 reps of these should set you on your way to a nice fast and flat 5km
Threshold training
Threshold training I like to think of as the opposite of an interval for 5km training. It is designed to improve the way your body manages lactate buildup. Remember it well? The tightness and burning you get after an intense repeated effort? It goes hand in hand with your intervals to try and solve that problem. The goal is to run 20-30 seconds slower than your race pace for a shorter period of time. So for 5km with a 20min target, you could start with five-minute tempos, do 3-4 repetitions, and build to 10 and then for 15 minutes dropping the reps. The goal is for your body to clear the lactate as quickly as it is produced. And this is the method we choose.
Warm-Up
Just a little side note to finish on. Make sure you do a thorough 15-minute warm-up before you run. Include activations, run-throughs, and muscle priming and get the heart rate raised. The worst thing to happen is that you don’t warm up, have a sluggish first kilometre getting your body prepared, and then fatigue early as you try to make up for a lost time. Don’t skip the warm-up! It’s a rookie mistake.
Recap
- Give yourself 8-10 weeks of speed a speed training programme!
- Complete intervals at 10% faster than your race pace!
- Don’t forget the hills, build strength to get fast.
- Threshold training to manage your lactate buildup.
- Warm-up!