Forums >Racing>Frequent 5ks - training
I did a 5k in May and doing another this weekend, four weeks later. Last time I didn't do a long run that weekend, so I've had 3 total since my last race. Last weekend I ran 9 instead of 10 miles and am doing about 20% fewer overall miles this week.
If I were to do monthly 5ks it seems my volume of training would take a hit, unless I didn't taper at all and also did some kind of long run even 1-2 days after the race.
For recreational runners, how frequent is too frequent for 5ks? Any tips on the taper schedule and the long run on race weekend so I don't overdo it, but also don't give up too much mileage in the name of either tapering or recovery?
Born: 1973
Marathon PR: 3:44 (2000)
5k PR: 22:02 (2022)
1 mile PR: 6:09 (2022)
Goals:
5k - 21:42
Mile - 5:59
400m - 1:10
I honestly wouldn't worry about it. It's really good to get your long runs in every week but 3/4 weeks is still excellent. If you're really really worried about it, do a long warmup, race the 5k and do a 2-4 mile cooldown. OTOH, it's also important to take cutback weeks and a small taper plus a 5k race fits nicely into one of those once a month.
1600 - 5:23 (2018), 5k - 19:33 (2018), 10k - 41:20 (2021), half - 1:38:57 (2018), Marathon - 3:37:17 (2018)
You don't need to taper for every old 5k. You could race a 5k on Saturday and do a long run on Sunday. Or you could do a long run on Saturday and run a 5k on Sunday (sounds kinda crazy but I've done it with decent results.) Or you could run a 5k with a long cooldown afterward. And then there are weeknight 5k's.
Runners run
SMART Approach
Based on your PRs I will assume your weekly miles are above 30 miles a week. If not racing weekly and cramming in mileage can be a challenge to recover from week to week. You are not 25 years old. If your mileage is up, no need to taper for a 5K but of course no real hard work a couple days before.
As far as long run, a long slow run the day after is a great call if looking for a true comfy long run. The other suggestion is make race day your long run day. You have your warm up jog, race then run an additional 4-7 miles easy to give you a big day. You get an amazing conditioning effect from this strategy. I would suggest this every other week.
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You could race a 5k on Saturday and do a long run on Sunday.
I was going to say this. Saturday race + Sunday LR is a staple of the Pfitz marathon plan.
Dave
Are we there, yet?
As long as you aren't shooting for or expecting a PB every race, I don't see a problem with this. Treat most of them as hard tempo runs and only taper for 2-3 races a year. I've raced even more frequently than that, but effectively used most of those races to work on pacing, strategy, or just to get in a hard workout.
2024 Races:
03/09 - Livingston Oval Ultra 6-Hour, 22.88 miles
05/11 - D3 50K 05/25 - What the Duck 12-Hour
06/17 - 6 Days in the Dome 12-Hour.