You can’t get a much more simple session than 1km reps!! This is a staple for any runner looking to improve your 5km time.
For anyone who is experienced at this distance and looking to improve their time by a few seconds, adding in a 6th rep at the end can help. Confidence wise, knowing you can go that extra kilometre at your goal pace can be a real confidence boost.
As with any intervals session like this, it’s important to do a really good warm up beforehand. I would recommend at least 10 minutes or 2km or running. Then add in some dynamic stretches followed by some running drills.
If time allows also include some strides, this means when you start the session, you’re not jumping from your easy pace straight into your 5k speed, which can sometimes be a shock to the system. If anything, when doing strides first, you’ll often have to slow yourself down at the beginning of that first rep.
During a session like this you will have to push yourself out of your comfort zone. Your heart race will be elevated and your RPE will creep up to around 8/10 towards the end of the reps.
The tougher it becomes, the more you want to try and stay relaxed and focus on good form. So running with a nice tall posture, a high cadence, ensuring your arms are efficient and not crossing your body, whilst maintaining high hips to keep the glutes and hamstrings working.
If your form suffers then you’ll struggle to maintain that goal pace. We can only run at our true potential if we stay relaxed. Something to remember in the final 200 metres of each rep.
Give yourself 2 minutes to recover between reps. Never quit the next rep until the end of that recovery. I see this all the time and often once the recovery has gone, that person who has already trudged back to changing rooms, reappears saying they felt better and wished they’d given it a go.
The final point is choose your location wisely. A track is great but I appreciate most people don’t have that luxury. You don’t want to be interrupted so a quiet location without any traffic crossings is ideal and if you can keep it flat it will make it easier to hit goal pace.
For anyone reading this not working with a running coach, if that’s something you wanted to try and have myself create a bespoke training plan for you, incorporating sessions like this, then get in touch.
