The improving 5k runner will improve quickly. It’s a doddle. Try harder, try more and you improve month on month.
Throw in a bike for duathlon training and the improvement in run times slows.
Throw in the swim and suddenly there are not enough hours in most people’s week. You find you are lucky to be able to get in 3 quality sessions for each sport. and on 3 sessions a week for running, often when fatigued, improvement suddenly stops.
The 5k runner has plateaud. At least in their run.
Or at least that’s how it seems.
I would say first of all that you probably are improving more than you think. Your 5k or 10k time in the race gradually approaches that old PB. You are getting better at achieving your old potential but as part of a triahtlon/duathlon.
Anyway someone asked the question about what run training to do.
I’ve covered what I would do in 3 sessions a week elsewhere on this blog. For triathlon/duathlon you’re probably limited to 2 sessions + the run component of your brick.
pre 10-12 weeks before race day do your long runs zone 2/3. forget short intervals. maybe do mile or km reps once a fortnight.
Then in the build up to the race I would personally drop the long runs and focus on developing speed and working around my LTHR (turnpoint). Building up the difficulty to 2 weeks prior to the race and then tapering.
Always build in rest and periodicity.
240+ words…hopefully that went some of the way to answering the question.
Related articles
- Long Slow Runs for 5k – So I need to bother and if I do what is a LSR? (the5krunner.com)
- The Perfect Brick – For Triathlon or Duathlon Training (the5krunner.com)
- How Do I Quality For Hyde Park (Sprint) Triathlon 2013 – ITU World Championships Don’t bother? (the5krunner.com)
- 2013: Duathlon & Triathlon Major Events – ETU ITU & National Champs (the5krunner.com)
- How I chose my coach (runlovelyone.wordpress.com)
- Triathlon for Runners 101 (saltyrunning.com)
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- Run a 5k with me! (seasonitalready.com)
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Reblogged this on McKinley Post and commented:
Solid 5 km plan.
thank you kindly. Perhaps the bones of a plan