Always a good week when you have a race like the 5 miler to look forward to, says the bloke marshalling (I ran a blinder last year so would be way off that). 20 x 1 min is back in and hopefully conditions will be better as I know you wanted to smash that one out of the park. Any issues let me know. I’ll put out a group post later in the week to discuss pacing for Sunday, although not much to say given the route is dead flat.
Coach Simon🍊
Don’t go off too fast as 20 reps is a lot. RPE towards the end of each rep should be a 9 and pace will be towards the lower end or just under your 3k targets. Consistency is the key.
If you have an accurate heart rate, then use that as your main data to determine pace, if not RPE is the best option. Hills are always going to cause them to go too high, unless you are super fit. Finish off with some strides.
A good home workout for the legs. No weights needed, but if you do have some that will add to the difficulty. Recoveries around 30-60s. If time is limited then combined two exercises together. So whilst recovering from squats for example you could be doing your calf raises. This could save you as much as 15 mins.
If you have accurate heart rate data that is far and away the best guide for this run. Stay in Zone 2 if you can.
5 miles is a really tough distance to get right. Rest assured, this is tough. The first mile is so important, don’t go off too quick and you’ll set yourself up for a strong race. Pace should be right at the top of your Zone 5, 10k target. Towards the end you’ll be working in Zone 6 though from an RPE and heart rate perspective.