Sander's "Training to break my PR of 20.50 on the 5K" - Part 1

Sander heeft op Facebook gepost over zijn trainingen om een 5km PR (persoonlijk record) te lopen. Zijn vorige beste tijd stamt uit zijn prille jaren, jeugdig enthousiasme zeg maar. Aangezien jullie in NL nog niet enmasse vertegenwoordigd zijn op Facebook heb ik de stukjes even gekopieerd. We alleen maar in het Engels te lezen hieronder.

Sander posted on Facebook how he trained to run a 5 km PR. His PR dates back to his early years, let's say full of youthfull enthousiasm. I copied the posts to this blog for whoever is not on Facebook (yet).

Training to break my PR of 20.50 on the 5K: Week 1
Tuesday, May 26, 2009 at 9:16pm
Last week I congratulated Alan on his success with his training exercises and in I mentioned to him that I was training to break my 5K personal record which is 20 minutes and 50 seconds. Alan was so kind to send me a reaction containing a training schedule for finishing a 5K in 20 minutes and 30 seconds. It is a challenge schedule and I guess Alan figured out that I was pretending training hard but not hard enough or for sure not keeping to any schedule. He was right. I did not made any declaration on my ambitions and nobody could say that I was not doing what I am supposed to do. So here it is. I am declaring to do the training as presented to me by Alan. Every week I have to do 200 meter intervals with 90 seconds rest periods in between. The target time for the 200 meters is 38-40 seconds. The first week calls for 6 times 200 meters to be extended by one every week and you have to do this for 6-8 weeks.
My goal is to break that pr during the Stampede 5K on July 5th (Alan is running to break his pr on that date as well).
So tonight was my first training. I ran with Bob and Wendy (who also did 200 meter repeats). Bob was a good inspiration for me and my interval times were: 36.7, 38.7, 36.8, 36.1, 39.1, 39.7. So 3 out of the first four I did too fast (we had the wind in the back) and the last two against the wind helped me slow down enough to hit the mark. It felt relatively easy up to the point where we were finishing our 10-12 minute cool down jog and prepared to do some serious stretching and core exercises. My right quads felt stiff something I have not experienced often. Alan did warn me about the toughness of this training and that I had to do a good warm-up and cool-down. I now fully understand. After the stretching and core exercises the stifness was gone. I take that as a good sign.
While pleased with this first training I am wondering how or what I have to do for the rest of the week in terms of training? Alan any suggestions?

Training to break my PR of 20.50 on the 5K: Week 2
Saturday, June 6, 2009 at 2:19pm
This week I did my intervals again on Tuesday night. I made sure I did an even longer warm up (3k + drills) and I added one interval compared to last week. I set my two timers on my watch. The first one at 40 seconds and the second at 90 seconds so that I can make sure I do not take any longer rest than the scheduled 90 seconds one. Of the seven 200 meters I did the first too slow (40.5 seconds) and the last to fast (37.5) but the others were all around 39 seconds. Hence much more balanced than last week. I did a good cool down as well: I jogged with the rest of the CRR 10K group back to Edworthy for approximately 2k and did some 8 minute stretching.
The next day I felt way less stiff than last week and I contribute that to the better warmup and cool down. I have to make sure I keep on doing that.
On thursday I ran with the CRR 10k group and we did a slow long run along the Bow river path way. Me and Dave extened the run a bit so that we ended up doing a little more thatn 11K.
This morning I run in a little rain on my own. I did the same course as thursday but now at 85% race pace (4.35 minutes/k) and that when remarkebly easy. Do not if training is starting the work or that it was just me being in a good spirit (despite the dismal wheather, it snowed overnight in Calgary and not all snow had melted everywhere, although the paths were clear). In total I did somewhat more than 29K this week. Alan told me to raise it by 10% each week up to 40K. So next week it will be more than 31K.

Training to break my PR of 20.50 on the 5K: Week 3
Monday, June 15, 2009 at 8:01pm
Did my intervals last tuesday night. I added one interval so that I did 8 times 200 meter sprints (between 38 and 40 seconds) and 90 seconds rest in between. Like week 2, I did 40.5 seconds on the first interval. The next 4 I did in 39 seconds but the last three I did a bit too fast: 37.5 seconds. The good warm-up and cool-downs make it feel pretty confortable. Total distance covered ~8K
On thursday night I did the Douglas Fur trail with the CRR 10K group. Going up the stairs and hils did not feel so hard as usual, maybe because I did not push it, or maybe my VO2 levels start increasing! Total distance covered 8.4K.
I completed the week by running around the Glenmore reservoir on Sunday. Originally, I intended to run in the morning, but then Liesbeth asked it would be a good idea to go together at a somewhat later time so that I did not have to get up so early and it would give her the opportunity to walk a bit while I was running (woh, too long a sentence). Anyway I agreed and so I started running at around 1pm in 25 degrees Celcius. I brought myself a bottle of water to fight the thirst and the heat and it worked rather ok. I wanted to run the 16K in approximately 1h18 but in the end did 1.20. Total distance covered 16K.
So in total I run 32K as Alan suggested. Now I have to increase it to 36K this week.

Training to break my PR of 20.50 on the 5K: Week 4
Tuesday, June 23, 2009 at 11:40am
Started the week with doing 9 200m intervals on tuesday. As usual did a long slow warmup (drills + 3k slow paced run) before starting the first interval. Out of the 9, I did 3 too fast (again) at 37 seconds. The other 6 were around 38.5 seconds. I get the impression that it is easier for me to do those intervals and that speed is picking up since I had to put the break on most of the time to make sure I did not go to fast. Still, three intervals were too fast as mentioned before but I can live with that. After the intervals I did a longer cool down to add up some kilometers to make it easier to get to the 36k for this week. I ended up doing 8.8k in total.
On thursday I went to the CRR club night to run the Jack Rabbit trail with other members. We tried to do the same course as during the cross-country trail run of this winter but at the end we got lost somewhat. I did not ming because it is beautifull on the trails overthere and any additional kilometers that we put in came in handy anyway. Initially Liesbeth and I hesitated a bit whether or not we would go to the club night at all because it was pooring rain when I came home for work. Fortunately, we have learned over those years in Calgary that one should have oneself hold back by the wheather since it can change in an instance, as well as vary strongly from place to place. So it did. When we arrived at the trail head and met the other CRR members there was no rain, skies were clearing, and the sun tried to break through to spoil us with some warmth. The run was beautifull and so was the social afterwards.
Total distance covered: 10.5k.
Liesbeth and I planned to go on a short camping trip for the weekend so I had to put in my long run on Saturday morning. However, I also wanted to finish some business at work. How to combine all of that? Well, I did the unusual thing (for me at least) to get up at 7am on Saturday, take in a decent breakfast and headed out running to work (8k), put in 2 hours of work, and headed back home (another 8k). I made sure I eat well again, with Liesbeth packed our camping stuff, and drove of to Banff. Cool weekend :-)
Total distance for the week: 35.3k