Forums >Running 101>Training Advice: 5 weeks to HM
I’ve posted a couple of times on RA and have received great advice. Thanks to all the members here for their kind support and encouragement.
Background:
I would really appreciate advice on how I should approach the next 5 weeks. Would this be a good time to introduce any hills or speedwork? Any advice on target pace?
My best times are: 5K (31m28s - today), 10K (70m, July 2012) and HM (2h55m, Sep 2012). I haven’t run any other races. My log is public.
Thanks for taking the time out to read. I look forward to your advice!
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Did you do a formal 5K race today all out leaving nothing left on course????
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Actually not. While I started out, the intention was to do a hard workout and somewhere around 1.5K mark I thought of converting that to a 5K time trial as I was anyways pushing myself to my limits.
My lap splits were: 1st Km - 6:44, 2nd - 6:27, 3rd - 6:16, 4th - 5:57 and 5th - 6:03. But I did give my everything for the 5th and 6th km. My legs were feeling strong without any soreness at the end but my heart was about to explode!
What is your normal training pace? I think a sub 2:30 is possible with your half with better conditions and better fitness. I would try to dial into 11 min pace with one of your runs. This gets you in under 2:30. I am just not sure if you can hold it. Here are 2 good work outs to do weekly up until last week.
1. Mid week longer run. Warm up with an easy mile or two. 5 X 1K at 10:15 - 10:30 per mile pace. Jog 90 sec between. 4 X 200m fast, full
recovery between.
2. Within long run, do middle 3 miles or last 3 miles at half pace (fast finish long run) or 11 min per mile pace with last 800m a bit faster. This gets you mentally and physically stronger to handle the finish of your half.
Keep miles up (not pace) in other runs per week. Rolling hill runs are good and at least one other run, do 6-8 X 100m quick striders with full recovery.
Thanks for your comments.
My normal training pace is around 8:00 min per km (around 13 min per mile) - that's my best estimate of my easy pace. I do play around with it a bit with some work outs at 7:30 pace (12:00 in miles)
My last long run of 11 miles was at a pace of 12:30 but it wasn't easy pace, more like "hard" and a little short of race pace. At this pace, my estimated HM finish time should be 2h43m. I am not sure how much I can push and bring this down. You can check out the lap splits in my log here. My max HR during the last kilometer reached 196 (95% of Max HR of 207!) and average HR was 172 (83% of Max).
Thanks once again, will try the work outs suggested by you!
Is it Auroville? I am running there for Half Marathon
PRS 10K 00:49:15 HM 1:51:30 FM 4:11:30
I ran the Mumbai Half Marathon in 2:30:12 which is an improvement of 25 minutes over my 1st HM (Delhi, 30 Sep 2012).
Thanks to all the excellent folks here at RA for all the gyan!