Whether you’re a seasoned marathoner looking to improve your track speed or training for your first road race, developing your 5K speed can be a fun and rewarding addition to your training regimen. Short interval workouts at faster paces train your body to adapt to quicker movements, building your aerobic threshold and helping you sustain speed over longer distances. Finding the right workouts can be challenging, and sometimes you want to avoid overly intense routines.
Here are three simple, yet effective, track workouts to help you boost your 5K speed.
300m intervals with 100m jog rest
Workout
- Warmup: 10-20 minutes of easy jogging
- Set: 10 reps of 300m at your goal race pace (or slightly faster) with 100m walk or slow jog rest
- Cooldown: 10-20 minutes of easy jogging
* If you don’t have access to a 300m loop or a track, a modification for the workout is doing 70 seconds on and 30 seconds rest*
Interval training is a proven method to increase both speed and endurance. By running short, fast segments followed by brief rest periods, you can improve your running economy and VO2 max–two crucial factors for a fast 5K. Maintain a consistent pace throughout each 300m repeat, avoiding the temptation to start too quickly, which can make the workout unnecessarily difficult. If you find the workout too challenging after four or five reps, break the 10 reps into two sets of five, with a three-minute rest between sets. Focus on staying relaxed and maintaining good form.
Bends and straights
Workout
- Warmup: 10-20 minutes of easy jogging
- 10 to 15 laps of jogging bends and striding straights
- Cooldown: 10-20 minutes of easy jogging
(The workout should be done on a 200m or 400m athletics track to control the length of each interval.)
If you’re doing the workout on a 400m track, stride for 100m, jog the next 100m curve, stride another 100m, and jog the following 100m curve for 10 to 15 reps. If you don’t have access to a track, you can do a modification of 10 reps of 20-second sprints followed by 40-second light jogs.
This workout is ideal for runners training for a 5K race, because the constant change of pace simulates the fluctuations in a 5K or mid-distance track race. Aim to keep your sprint pace slightly faster than your goal 5K pace and your jog pace slower than your easy run pace. Ensure your sprints and jogs are controlled during the first five laps to help you complete the workout.
The pyramid
Workout
- Warmup: 10-20 minutes of easy jogging
- 200m, 600m, 1,000m, 1,000m, 600m, 200m, all off 90 seconds stand rest
- Cooldown: 10=20 minutes of easy jogging
*If you don’t have access to a track, a modification for the workout is doing 30 seconds, one minute, 2x three minutes, one minute, 30 seconds off 90 seconds stand rest.*
Pyramid workouts involve running intervals of increasing and then decreasing distances, helping to improve speed, endurance and mental toughness by varying both distance and pace. Start the 200m reps at your goal 5K pace and aim to increase the pace slightly on the second 1,000m rep, finishing with a comfortable sprint effort at around 85 to 90 per cent for the final 200m. The shorter intervals are designed to practise running at a faster pace, while the longer ones build endurance.
