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Ask the Coach: Treadmill Running, Even 5K Pacing
Ask the Coachby Kirt West
July/August 2005
For the Washington Running Report
Treadmill Running, Even 5K Pacing
Dear Coach:
I usually train on a treadmill at my gym and comfortably run at 6.0 mph (a 10 minute mile). The other day I went to a track and had great difficulty running a 10-minute pace. Do you have any idea what my problem is?
Patricia
Dear Patricia:
There are possibly two things causing this to happen. First, you should set the treadmill elevation to 1.0, which makes up for the lack of wind resistance on the treadmill. Second, while treadmills are a good alternative to the roads, particularly for safety reasons, I believe they can make you lazy. The treadmill forces you to push off to maintain a certain effort because if you don't you will fall on your nose. However, when running outdoors, you have to force yourself to push off the ground and it may be that you are not used to making yourself work hard.
Dear Coach:
I have been training heavily for a particular race and things were going great until I sprained my ankle three weeks before the race. I anticipate that it will take two to three weeks for it to heal, so I can't do much running prior to the race. Is there any non-running training you can suggest that will help me stay in shape?
Adam
Dear Adam:
If you can find a pool, do some pool running--it best simulates the effort of running as well as the breathing aspects. Make sure that your doctor clears you first. As much as you may want to run the race, it may be difficult to come back that quickly. Ankle sprains can be quite nasty. Two years ago it took me several weeks plus physical therapy before I could begin running, much less racing.
Dear Coach:
I am a 22-year-old post-college athlete and am trying to PR in the 5K, but can't seem to get past the 18:50 barrier. In my last race I tried to run negative mile splits with the first mile at 5:55 but then fell off after that while the second mile was 6:05, and the third 6:20. I always hit a wall in the third mile and can't hold the pace or keep my speed up.
Do you have any suggestions on what type of interval training that I should do that will help me in the second two miles in the 5K that will help me break 18:50? Do you think increasing my weekly mileage will help? (My coach had me running about 35 to 40 miles per week plus pool running). Please let me know if you have any ideas. Thanks so much!
Lydia
Dear Lydia:
There are a couple of workouts to help you lower your 5K time that should be done once per week. You need to build up your tolerance to lactic acid build up. One workout would be four to five 1200 meter repeats at current 5K pace with a recovery interval of one to one (4:30 running time, 4:30 jog recovery). A second workout would 12 times 400 at 87 seconds with a 200-meter jog recovery.
While you could run both faster, you really want to focus on short recoveries and holding the pace for the entire workout. You should be concentrating on your form and staying relaxed while doing the workouts. These workouts should be done for a period of six to eight weeks prior to your racing season. If you find that you are comfortable at these paces, you can pick it up ever so slightly, running the 1200s at 4:25 and the 400s in 85 seconds.
I think your mileage is okay as long as you are doing easy recovery runs between hard workouts. Your easy day pace should be at sixty to seventy percent if training with a heart monitor, or roughly an 8:15 pace.
Coach Kirt West is a private coach for motivated adult runners. Questions can be sent to him at kirtwest@Comcast.net