Q & A: How to get ready for a 5 mile race - AKA the Rockland Lake Turkey trot.

Q:
I am planning on participating in the Turkey Trot, which as I'm sure you're well aware, is a 5 mile race around Rockland Lake Thanksgiving morning. Whew!! Needless to say, I've been slacking...and need to get my butt in shape.... I don't need to beat any particular time, although I'd like to be in under an hour.... say 55min.... I did it the first year I did the race, but wasn't as well-prepped the 2nd go-round, so I think I did about 63min, give or take.

A:
I would develop a training program that is revolved around improving your mile time. I know this may seem like the opposite of what most of the "Experts" say, but they have it backwards.

Traditionally, "they" say you need to develop a base of endurance (running slow & steady) before you should try to increase your speed or mile time. If you think about it - it doesn't make much sense.

Now I'm not saying the traditional approach won't work, but I'm willing to bet my way will work faster.

First let me explain my way - What I would do is this...

I would work on improving my mile time, via sprint work, interval training etc...
Once you have got your mile time really low, I would then begin to add mileage to your training, maintaining your new faster mile pace.

In short - - - It's easier to build endurance on top of speed, than it is to develop speed on endurance. However, being that we are 8 weeks away - I would mix a combination of speed training, speed endurance training, and long endurance training, focusing on speed endurance.

To clarify a bit here's exactly what I would do...

1.) I would see where you are at in both your 1 mile time and maybe your 5 mile time - Not at the same time. I.e - Go out today and time your self in a mile. Run a mile as fast as you can!!! Then let's say Wednesday you go and run you 5 mile - finish by any means possible (remember to time yourself). By doing this we will establish where you are at.

I would take figure out what your avg mile time has to be (i.e. - if you want to finish in 55 minutes, you need to average about an 11 minute mile).

2.) set up your weekly running schedule accordingly;

Day 1 - Sprint/speed work - Do not track mileage or distance.

Simply go to the track and sprint -
Week 1
6 x 100 meters with 4:1 rest ratio to work ratio
2 x 200 meter with 4:1 rest to work ratio
1 x 400 meter

week 2
8 x 100 meters with 4:1
3 x 200 meter with 4:1
1 x 400 meter

Week 3
10 x 100 meters with 4:1
4 x 200 meters with 4:1
1 x 400 meter

week 4
10 x 100 meters with 4:1 work to rest ratio
4 x 200 meters with 4:1 work to rest
2 x 400 meter with 4:1 work to rest

Week 5 - 8
repeat weeks 1-4 but with a 2:1 work to rest ratio.

Day 2

Interval work - Go to the track and work on that mile time, then build onto your new found speed

Weeks 1-4

warm up - jog 1 lap -increase .5 laps every week (by week 4 you should be doing 2.5 warm up laps)

Sprint the straights / Jog (or walk the turns, however as the weeks go by you should try not to walk ) x 4 laps (1 mile)

record your time and try to beat it every week

cool down - jog / walk 1 lap - increase . 5 laps every week )by the end of week 4 you should be doing 2.5 cool down laps)


weeks 5 -8
1 warm up lap / 1 cool down lap through out
this time add 2 laps of intervals every week

wk 5 - Sprint / Jog 6 laps + warm up /cool down = 2miles
wk6 - Sprint / Jog 8 laps + w/u & Cool down = 2.5 miles
Wk7 - Sprint / Jog 10 laps = w/u & cool down = 3 miles
Week 8 - Race week - OFF

Day 3

get out and do road work

start off with 1.5 - 2 miles and increase 1/2 mile each week (x 7 weeks = 5 miles)
bring a watch and time yourself, but don't worry about your time just go out and run

If you follow this you will probably set a new Personal record for yourself!!!

Have fun & good luck

JZ