Trying to PR a 5k in a couple weeks. Course is mainly flat, but two short steep climbs. Wondering what others runners have found successful as a race strategy. Go out harder than goal pace and try to hang on? Go out at goal pace and try to build into it a bit? Just go and not even look at the watch?
Best time I ever cut I just went out and didnt look at my watch.
i find jack daniels has a good strategy in his book.
mile 1: should feel ez, dont go out too hard, stick to your plan.
mile 2: now its tempting to accelerate, but its too far from the finish, race with your head in this section and dont overdo it.
mile 3: run with your heart. give it all youve got.
has worked for me. did a 16:32 that way.
Go out really hard for the first 2 miles, and hang on for the 1.1.
I have found that that by the first mile split, if the pace feels OK or I feel it is maybe a few seconds off pace, then I am actually near goal race pace. You did not state where the 2 hills are. If they are early, run hard and smart knowing you will make your move after while others might go out hard and die on the hills. I personally would not go out hard and hang on, when you look at your mile splits, mile 3 be so much slower it will clearly tell you how bad your pacing is especially the jackrabbit start. Try the get familiar with the last .5 mile, you can get an idea where to start your final kick.
5K’s are tough. My PR took place on a out-and back course. The first 1.55 was with a 25MPH tailwind. at the turnaround I was 50 seconds ahead of my goal time. I suffered a million deaths running into the headwind coming back but got a PR with 15 seconds to spare.
For other good 5K’s I’ve broken the race down by kilometers. The first 1K is slightly slower than target pace, next 2-4K at target pace, last K as hard as possible!
Harder than goal pace and fight the fade as long as possible.
And have some-one carry your water for you…
I like to start out at goal pace and then rise above it to the next level for each consecutive mile… Endorphins, a race high, whatever it is- use it- race day is what it is for. On the second half, pace/time/HR is probably out the window, so your best bet is to meter you effort so as to postpone your vomiting to just *after *crossing the finish line. If you start heaving and swallowing down bile too early, it will really hurt your final kick. In your head you have to promise your body it is OK, you will allow yourself to puke, just push it another few minutes. That is what a good negative split should feel like. If you are doing it right, you will get this trippy tunnel vision thing going in the last half mile or so where you don’t really hear or see your surroundings, only what is directly in front of you. This is the view from the back of the pain cave. It is a good thing. This will serve as a good distraction to your nausea.
That my friend is how you know you gave it your all and did not leave anything out there. The best way to find this place is to run a few practice 5k’s preferably on a treadmill where you can learn and then exceed what your goal pace is. Find the edge and then jump over it. Run a practice 5k where you totally melt down and don’t finish. Then next time run one just a tad bit slower and dial it in. You will likely be surprised that the edge is a bit further out there than you originally thought. What better place to bonk yourself and turn into a big hot mess than in the safety of the local gym? The pain cave can be a scary place, it’s best to try to visit it regularly so it is not unexpected and new on race day.
I have a love/hate for the 5k, it sucks a lot if you do it right, but its over so quickly, if you do it right. In my opinion, lmost *everybody *on the course on any given day at local 5k’s is running below their potential, they just have an aversion to pain and discomfort that is holding them back. I honestly believe that I beat out other people that are “faster” than me, but can’t handle the same level of suffering as me, and that is my angle at this distance.
Thanks, have been doing 2 track sessions a week (1 shorter intervals of say 400’s, 1 longer of 1200’s or miles). Total of about 45mi. per week over the course of 6 runs/week. Have been doing this for 6 weeks since last olympic to end tri season.
Just looked at course profile. Starts with climb (not as steep as I thought) of 80 feet to the .38mile mark. Decline of 130 total feet to the 1.75 mile marker, climb another 125 feet to the 2.5 mile marker, then downhill 75 feet to the finish.
Right now leaning towards going out slightly faster than race pace for 1k, sucking it up and settling in for 3k, and then kick.
Amen to this! I cut my 5k PR by 30 seconds (originally set in high school) during the first leg of a duathlon because I forgot my watch and just hung with the front pack. Was a very nice surprise…
Best time I ever cut I just went out and didnt look at my watch.
run against the kenyans for the first mile, and then blow up. It didn’t work so great for me yesterday, but maybe it will be better for you.
Run hard for 1 mile
Run smooth for 1 mile
Run hard for 1.1 mile
Cross finish line & puke
.
Yeah I think blowing up is really easy to do so be careful going out above pr pace. Especially in a race with either some real studs or a bunch of X-C kids it’s easy to get caught up in the fun. Last time I was really fit I ran our local 5k. It was me, a few guys I ran in HS with and other adults plus about 50 high school runners. First mile was in the low 4:30s. I was ~50s back but could see the lead pack go past the clock up down the straightaway ahead. No one ran sub 15:00 that particular year so those 20 runners certainly went out too hard from a pacing standpoint. I pretty much even split it, passed 15 or so kids in miles 1.5-3, ran <10s pr and kept my breakfast down too. For me, the best strategy is to do (hard) even splits and kick into the last 200-300 m.
Kudos if you have the discipline to go out at target pace rather than jumping off the line with most everyone else. If anything, be prepared to settle as soon as you can after the initial jump - whether settling in with a fast group, or settling into your own solitary pit of despair. I prefer the no watch approach (experience = two 5ks, so consider my perspective next to useless).
A good warmup helps as you need to be ready to go sustainably hard immediately, though type of warmup will vary from person to person.
A good barometer is discomfort - make it very unpleasant!
Stick to your goal pace then try to positive split the second half slightly faster then goal pace.
Or if you run like me the times would look like.
Mile 1- 6:15
Mile 2- 6:45
Mile 3.1- 7:06
So at least You know not to run like me :0)
have you been doing your track workouts with other runners? If so, will they (or other runners whose pace you know) be in the race?
My 5K PR came after a couple months of track work with the local group. We went out looking for 17:40 (I was just hoping for anything sub-18), and I hung a few seconds back of those guys for the first mile to make sure I didn’t blow up. Pace seemed a little slow, but it was right on track. Stayed with them and even-split mile 2, and pulled away in mile 3 for a 17:19. Total shocker, even though I was prepared.
Trust your workouts and run hard. Check the watch every 1/2 mile if you must. In a road 5K I find it difficult to make adjustments much more often than that. Good luck!
Thanks, no, track workouts have been on treadmill at 2% incline. Have gone out with XC runners before in first mile of 5k at 5min/mi pace and faded hard. Goal time is 17:30
Gotcha. Well in that case, my best advice is just to try to nail your pace in the first mile. Get familiar with that ~5:30/mile in the days before the race on a track.
That said, if it looks like you can win or place, treat it as a race. You’ll have better stories about going head-to-head with the competition and crushing dreams than getting 11th place in 17:29 and mounting your Timex on the wall.
There is some truly questionable advice here! Almost every world record at almost every distance is set running a negative split. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone barf at the end of a world-class race, either. You have to know thyself and pace yourself accordingly. Running too hard the first two miles and “hanging on” is a recipe for an underperformance. Use training or racing performance to arrive at an honest goal time and pace the first two miles evenly. Still feeling spunky? Go for it in the last mile.
Good pacing is a learned skill.
Agreed, you should be extremely close to your average pace throughout the race. If it were on the track, every mile should probably be within 5-8 seconds of your average pace aside from the last one if you’re an extremely good closer. If you’re running at what truly is your max 5k capabilities then you should feel like you’re hanging on the last mile but you should still be holding the same pace.
Alot of it depends on what type of runner you are. When I ran 5k’s, I would go out at what I would hold but that would actually feel a bit painful for 800m until I started to settle in. Then it would get really painful starting at 2 miles but there was never really a point where I was comfortable.