How Do I Pace A 5km Run Personal Best?! | GTN Coach’s Corner

[@gtn]

How do you fuel for early morning runs? 🍴

[@jonr6680]

Dinner.

[@CaseyZ]

I don’t 😬

[@dri1811ya]

Leftover donuts, or steal some of my kids' chocolate milk

[@KlemenSuligojTri]

Go all out and hold on for dear life 😂

[@dri1811ya]

Haha yup. If it all goes south, sign up for another race in a week or two, rinse/repeat

[@marcuswills6569]

Agreed, never know otherwise 🤣

[@tinyrunner88]

Music and caffeine are definitely needed for me to get through hard early run sessions!

[@Nuthall23]

Thanks for nerding out on the numbers for fuel.

[@Raskolnikov2055]

You go to a 400m track. Time a slow jog around one lap. Walk 200m. Jog a comfortable 200k. Use some math skills to multiply 4x 400 equals a mile. 8 x 200m equals a mile. Do track workouts every other day or third day. Do some interval training. That’s the rest between your 400 or 200 m jogs. Track workouts consist of 4x 200 or 4 x 400 with a 200 m rest between timed runs.

[@marcuswills6569]

You certainly don't need to do track workouts every other day, that's OTT and will lead to burn out.

[@JimCullen]

It seems pretty common for Garmin predicted times to be overly optimistic. Mine currently thinks I could do a 2:46:25 marathon, when I'm not even training for that distance at the moment. I'm working towards a sub-18 5k. And if I _was_ in marathon training, I'd feel amazing about just scraping in under 3 hours. No way I'd get nearly 15 minutes under. (It also says my 5k could be 17:22, which is much too far under what I'd actually expect.) I'm not sure how much I trust its estimates of LTHR & threshold pace, either. They're _maybe_ useful for comparing your progress over time, but not for being actual accurate numbers.

[@SubtleForces]

I have the same experience. I am training for a 10k PB, Garmin is overly optimistic and even it's predicted 5k time is crazy. However, the Threshold pace seems actually pretty close to what it should be and its calculate easy pace also feels like the right thing. They also fit pretty well with my calculated VDOT paces based on my previous 5k (in May) though not with a recent cross-country 5k (but this may be partly due to very rolling nature of the cross-country race which include one very steep climb and many others)

[@seb_617]

Second that. For LTHR, I think nothing beats doing an actual test (GTN has a video on this I believe). Everybody is different but 146 for LTHR seems pretty low to me. For predictions, I like importing the data from Garmin into Runalyze to get a second opinion.

[@dri1811ya]

My race predictor is also very aggressive (i.e. 1h40 half vs actual PB 2h15). It was worse a couple years back when I did more 10K training, nowadays I do much more easy/longer runs

[@marcuswills6569]

I don't trust or use any of the Garmin estimated stuff, vastly different to what Training Peaks say

[@Kureshiman]

Ah. Mine wasn’t chosen/answered so, I’ll spam here again: Couch to sub-30 5k (May-July), now doing a sub-56 10k garmin coach program that ends in Dec. Then I have 8 more months till I run my first half marathon (Sep 2024). How would you suggest I train in the 8 months? Should I do two garmin coach half marathon plans back to back (one faster than the previous) or would that be too much training and could lead to injury? Or, instead, should I do another (faster) 10k program and follow it up with a Half Marathon plan? #gtncoachescorner

[@3WalkingPoles]

Thank you for answering my question. 👍

[@gtn]

No worries! Hope we helped to clear some stuff up for you 🙌

[@mattjoiner7311]

#gtncoachescorner I live in flatland West Tennessee, USA. There are no extended climbs or even false flats. When I do intervals outdoors- which I prefer to the trainer- it’s hard to maintain the desired power because your either on the flat and as your speed goes up it’s harder to maintain (spinning out anything but the 11t cog for example) or you’re on a slight downhill. The longest climbs are < 2 mins. So, If you’re doing a longer (esp 8-20 min) interval should you go over the power listed when you can to balance out the fast spots where it’s not possible? Like shooting for 275, should you ramp up to 325 on every rise to average 275 or try to stay at 275 and not worry about the easy bits? Thanks!

[@dri1811ya]

Re: carbon shoes - the plate can be very stiff and can be jarring especially at plodding speeds. But the foam matters just as much as the plate, so thankfully shoe companies now sell training shoes with racing foams (like the Endorphin Speed or New Balance Rebel, both of which I really like)

[@gtn]

Do you think people overlook the shoe material and build? Focusing too much on the carbon?

[@Christri]

@gtn yes, there is some research out there.

[@sebastianfischer2520]

Hey, I've just finished a 3 month block of aerobic base building. However the plan had me running around 50-60km per week in 5/6 sessions. I feel great and really fit, however these runs take me a really long time as I'm obviously slowly to build this base running between 6/6:30 a km, that's a running time of over 5 hours a week. Should I be running this amount (time)

[@RoryBroughton]

#gtncoachescorner Hi GTN Team! I'm training for an ironman in November and my running sessions are structured by times in certain zones rather than distance (Example: Run 120 minutes in Z2 (of 5 Zone Model from the 80/20 Training Plan Structure). In my last week's long run session I hit 19 miles in 2:50:00 (Stayed within Z1 & Z2). The training plan's highest volume or peak weeks are approaching, and if I maintain the pace like I've done recently, it looks like I'd be possibly running 26 miles in my longest run of the plan--I've never ran a marathon! And then I've got two weeks of tapering per the plan. My question is, during my peak week, should I just keep running per the time for the workout or cap off my distance at some level below a marathon?

[@emmaduizend]

#gtncoachescorner hi all, thanks for all the helpful advice! I will be racing Roth in July 2024. It will be my first full distance. I have a question about wetsuits: mine feels quite restrictive around my shoulders compared to swimming without wetsuit. My coach thinks the fit looks right and I always try to pull it up as far as possible. My question is: would you recommend racing in a sleeveless wetsuit? Do you lose much time by going sleeveless? Would it be to cold across 3.8 k? Thanks for your help!

[@krisrampersad8159]

Same here. Have to run fasted on a morning. It affects my performance for sure

[@gtn]

In a good or bad way?

[@krisrampersad8159]

@@gtn in a bad way. Times are way slower

[@brbehren]

#gtncoachescorner Thanks, as always, for the great content! I have a question/puzzle about running while pushing a stroller. We have 4 kids under 9, and as a result I do maybe 10-20% of my runs while pushing 1-2 kiddos in a stroller. This week I unintentionally set a 5k PB of 23:20 while pushing our youngest child in a single stroller. Earlier this year I also unintentionally set a 10k PB of just over 50 mins while pushing two kids in a double stroller. The routes contain a couple of small hills, but nothing too serious. It seems like the strollers should be slowing me down, not speeding me up. Do you have any thoughts about why I'm running faster with the strollers than without? If you have a theory but need to do some testing, maybe James should coordinate a presenter challenge that involves pushing strollers!

[@pieter7890]

#gtn coaches corner Strides length vs cadence. Are shorter steps beter?

[@Average-Manuel]

#gthcoachescorner Hi GTN-Team. First of all: I really enjoy your videos, you all are doing a great job. Keep going, you are awesome. The question: me and a good friend of mine noticed, that we have significant difficulties doing intervals in the cold, compared to normal, or at least above 0 degree temperatures. Is it just a false feeling of performing worse when the temperatures are freezing or does below 0 degree temperatures actually have an effect on breathing/performance? Greetings from Germany 💪🏻

[@MrStoenz]

#gtncoachescorner Why can't I run/walk further then 30 km? I am fit can ride more then 150 km swim 4km in under 2h and dont feel wasted but my feed are in agony before I can finish the marathon distance. I have a desk job and mostly comute by bike. How can I train my feet without spending too much time walking?

[@marcuswills6569]

1 long run per week at Z1/Z2, increase distance each week by 10%, every 3rd or 4th week shorter run as recovery and repeat. Work up to around 21/22miles (34/35km), no longer.

[@AntonKomarov]

5 k pace? All out!

[@jonr6680]

Picky, but didn't really answer rhe titular question in super detail. Or maybe I was eating loud food at the time. And crass comments by bro's from testosterone fog. Trying strategies until finding one that suits, given the effort and recovery needed so will take a while to get there. Paying close attention to noting conditions and perceptions correlated with watch records. Science the crap out of it. No1 is mental attunement to your pace so you can turn it up incrementally. ...The search for the (mythical?) reverse split ...

[@DrewCocker]

4:11 Use an even pace. Until you have experience at the distance, keep it simple. Also, personally I'd try out the slower pace and see how it feels. It's more fun to come back next week and beat your PB than to crash because you went too hard.