- There's nothing like running a fast 5K
and with so many events these days like the park run,
more and more people are getting into them,
including GCN's Dan Lloyd, how you doing Dan?
- Very good thanks mate,
how are you? - Nice kit, I like it.
- Yeah it's the way you wear it,
what do think of the shoes?
- Not so keen if I'm gonna be honest
- Really?
- Yeah but anyway shall we head off for a run?
- Yeah let's do it.
- Let's go.
- [Dan] Beat you to the post.
(upbeat music)
- So Dan you've been hitting the park runs
and chipping away at your 5K PB.
How did you get into running,
and what's your time looking like now?
- Well after I retired form cycling, I started GCN,
as you know it's a very stressful full time job.
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And I found that running was a good way of keeping fit
without taking too much time up,
and it wasn't long before I thought,
I'm gonna do my local park run.
At first when I'd do it was something like 21:12,
and over about 12 months, I got that down to a low 18.
But now I feel like I've stagnated,
I can't get any faster than that.
- Alright well let's see if we can help you out today.
Whilst it's fun to race,
turning up to a 5K every week isn't really gonna get you
that super fast time you're after.
You might see improvements to begin with,
but after a while your times may plateau.
So the best way to improve your time
is by including some specific sessions
aimed at improving your speed and threshold levels.
- Which makes complete sense because I have to admit
I do tend to just go out and run as fast as I can,
whereas I'd never have done that with my cycling,
I always had something specific to do each day.
- Exactly so for running I would generally
recommend doing a speed and tempo run per week.
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A speed session is as it says really.
It's a session designed at improving
your top end running pace.
Now you want to do this on a flat and smooth course.
Which does lend itself to an athletics track,
but a smooth trail like this one will do just as well.
So Dan for this session we're gonna do eight lots
of one minute hard, above your 5K pace,
with a one minute walking recovery between each.
So shall we give this a go?
- Yeah I've just done my walking recovery now.
- They're designed with shorter reps
so that you can get the best speed out of yourself.
But as you progress you can increase the duration
and the number of reps.
So the next step would be something like six lots
of two minutes hard with a one minute recovery.
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Now Dan I'm fairly sure you'll have experienced this
a few times in your career.
But when you get that surge of lactic acid
it can be pretty hard.
- Yeah I have had that a few times and to be honest
I was hoping that running wouldn't give me
that same burning sensation.
- Exactly when you're pushing yourself to the limit
and your muscles become overwhelmed with lactic acid,
it just begins to slow you down.
So the idea of the tempo run is to bump up the point
at which you start to produce that lactic acid.
And hopefully you won't get that burning leg feeling
quite as quickly.
So for this session I sent Dan off to do two lots
of three kilometres at tempo,
with a three minute walking recovery between each rep.
Now for Dan his 5K pace is 3 minutes 40 per kilometre.
So I've given him my Polar GPS watch
so he can track his pace.
And we've calculated that his tempo pace
should be somewhere around four minutes a kilometre.
Now that's around 10% on his 5K pace.
Or for those that don't have a GPS watch,
you can always run by feel.
And I would recommend something around seven out of 10.
This should feel hard, struggle to breathe, but manageable.
So if someone added on another kilometre
at the end of the rep, you could do it.
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Technique is really important in running,
and it can actually shave a tonne of time off your 5K PB.
And Dan I've actually picked out
a few technical points for yourself.
Which are actually really common across the board
for a lot of runners.
So to start off with, your hip position.
You tend to sit down into your running stride,
which is highly surprising considering
the amount of time you spend in the saddle for cycling.
But also really common for those that are sat at a desk
all day or driving for long periods of time.
What happens is your hip flexors tighten up,
and your quads, so when you run,
you're sat in that position.
But if you try and stand tall and lean forward slightly
from the ankles what it does is engages your glutes,
which gives you a bit more stability,
and also a bit more power in your stride.
And the next thing is. - Oh there's more,
there's more, right go on.
- The next thing is your arms OK.
So at the moment you're holding them quite high
with little movement. - [Dan] Am I?
- [Mark] So we just wanna relax them down a bit
and swing them through.
And all this does is just helps with your rhythm
and your balance.
- [Dan] OK
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- Now to make sure you're running at the right pace,
and really take your running to the next level,
you can use heart rate and GPS.
It's really common to see people heading off
way too hard at the beginning of a 5K.
- Yeah I think this might be something
I have been getting right already through my experience
of you know 20 minute efforts on the bike,
I know how important it is not to go too fast off the start.
So people do go way ahead of me in the beginning,
I keep my pace that I know roughly I can sustain,
and it does start to bite still about half way through a 5K.
- Exactly you're just monitoring your pace during training
and races can make a big difference.
And holding back at the beginning of a 5K, like you say.
(upbeat music)
- Right well thanks for all the tips Mark.
What I'm gonna take away from today
is that I shouldn't be trying to set a new PB
at my local 5K every week.
But every week I should be doing a tempo session
and a speed session for variation.
And I also need to look at my running technique
which I have never looked at before,
and we've looked at some of the footage,
and I can see exactly what you mean.
- Yeah and don't forget although
you got it pretty well dialled,
your pacing can make a big difference
to your overall 5K time.
- Yeah right well hopefully I will start to make
some improvements again.
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