My husband is training for a 5K in a couple of months.  He doesn't do speedwork at all, but he would like to start.  There happens to be a 5K near our house this wekend.  Should he run the race or do some work on the track?  He wants to start doing some speedwaork once a week.  I could probabaly find him several races between now and his goal race.  Should he stick to the track or race on the weekend when a race is available?

Thanks,

I believe in the validity of the saying "the best training for racing, is racing".  So I vote he should do the race, with a very slow easy warm-up before, and then if he feels up to it do some very easy miles afterwards. Has he run a 5k before? This race would be a good gauge of his current fitness level.

run the race, so he knows what his current fitness is. First, it's a starting point; second it's a fitness benchmark.  He can use the race to determine what his correct training paces should be for all training, be it speed work, tempo, long runs, easy days.

I would also start some informal speed work. 400 repeats are a good one to start with. Or maybe do fartleks, use the ole telephone pole to telephone pole distance. Run faster from one pole to the next, then recover to the next pole(or mailbox).

If you rely on races for speed work, you're missing out, unless you race every week.

Example

Week 1 - 4 to 6 x 400m repeats @ 5 seconds faster than target pace, 200m walked recoveries

Week 2 - 3 to  4 x 800m repeats @ target 5K pace with 90 second rest

Week 3 - 2 x 1 mile tempo @ target pace + 10-15 seconds, 60 seconds active recoveries

Week 4 - 6 - 8 x 400m repeats @ 10 seconds faster than target pace, 200m walked recoveries

Week 5 - fartlek - random 30s to 2 minute pickups

Week 6 - 5 or 6 x 800m repeats @ target 5K pace with 90 second rest

Week 7 - 8 to 10 45s uphill repeats, jog downhill to recover

Week 8- 3 x  1 mile tempo repeats @ target pace + 10 seconds, 60 seconds active recoveries

3 or 4 days before the race do 5 or 6 400m repeats at target pace