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Shorter Races Key to Long-Distance Success

It might not be a water cooler or party pleaser, but don’t ignore the 5K. It’s a vital part of any distance-running program.

Be honest, the 5K isn’t on your bucket list. You’re not dreaming about going the distance; about limping into the office the next day to tell your friends that you conquered the mighty 5K – after all, people go for longer walks with their dogs. Let’s face it: this is the Rodney Dangerfield of distances. It’s a nice intro run for newbies, but then you graduate to bigger and better (read: longer) things. At the big race weekends in Montreal, Ottawa, Calgary and Halifax this year, and in both Toronto marathons, almost twice as many people opted for the half-marathon over the 5K.

But it’s time to reconsider the 5K. If you’re looking for a challenge, going faster is at least as hard as going farther. Even for experienced runners, it’s long enough to provide a true test of endurance, but short enough that you can recover in a day or two and resume training for the next one. And – irony of ironies – sharpening up your 5K skills may be exactly the boost you need to break through a plateau and reach new levels at longer distances.

There was a time, in the early 1980s, says Alan Brookes, race director for the Canada Running Series, when the 5K and other “short” distances commanded greater respect. Back then, running meant racing, and the most salient matter was your finishing time. As the sport became more popular, however, the focus shifted. “Now everyone wants to know, have you run a marathon, have you done a tri?” says Brookes. “Just finishing is the badge of honour and the greater the distance, the greater the honour.”

The pinnacle, of course, is the marathon. But even at that historic distance, finishing isn’t everything. For bigger bragging rights, there’s one benchmark: Boston. That’s the dividing line, the point where street cred begins. (And I write this from the wrong side of that line.) Over the last two decades, I’ve run regularly, participated in tons of marathons, always wanted to qualify for Boston, but have never got nearer than a minute or two out. In that time, I’ve run all of three 5Ks – each with my grade-school daughter, her always leading the way. I figured that’s what 5Ks are for: a fun run for the kids, a good fundraiser, or, for a great many, the first step in a healthier lifestyle.

That attitude began to change last year, when I started working with running coach Megan Brown. As one of Canada’s top distance runners (her time of 15:42 for the indoor 5,000 metres ranked her sixth in the world in 2011), Brown has a different perspective on the prevailing view of the 5K as a lesser event, suitable only for beginners. It’s not merely a source of annoyance for her and her competitors, who see the distance diminished; it’s a stumbling block for anyone who aspires to run faster but sees no value in short races. “You won’t maximize your ability in the marathon until you spend a chunk of your time maximizing your potential over the shorter distances,” she says.

When tackled as a race, the 5K can be punishing. It demands speed plus endurance, as well as strength and strategy. As a result, the training needed to run your best 5K has much more variety than training for longer distances, since the focus isn’t simply on building mileage while avoiding injuries.

This isn’t to say that you should abandon longer races – in fact, quite the opposite. If you really want to take your marathon running to the next level, Brown says, step away from the distance, even if only for three or four months, and focus on improving your 5K and 10K PBs. Instead of logging weekly long runs of 30K or more, focus on improving your speed and stride efficiency with workouts geared to 5K race pace. The longer runs and tempo sessions still find a place in your program, but they become second priority to the high-intensity sessions. “If you can run a 5K at a 4:00-per-kilometre pace, then going back and running a 4:40-per-kilometre pace at the marathon is going to seem much easier,” Brown says.

That’s an approach that’s also favoured by elite runners. It’s no coincidence that the fastest male marathoner in history, Haile Gebrselassie, once held the 5000m world record. Similarly, Paula Radcliffe ran the third-fastest 5000m in history between two of her record-setting marathons. I’m hoping the same strategy will work for me – that running more 5Ks this year, and taking them seriously, will ultimately be the key to cracking Boston. Because even in the marathon, speed kills.

Here’s a 10-week training program designed by Megan Brown to prepare for a 5K:

Workout Weeks 1-3 Weeks 4-7 Weeks 8-10
Monday recovery rest rest rest
Tuesday speed-endurance 4 x 800m @ 5K pace (2:00 recovery) 5 x 400m @ faster than 5K pace (1:00 recovery); 3 x 150m strides 10 x 1:20 hills (jog down recovery)
Wednesday recovery rest or 30:00-40:00 easy rest or 30:00-40:00 easy rest or 30:00-40:00 easy
Thursday medium-long run 50:00 70:00 70:00
Friday recovery rest rest rest
Saturday strength-endurance 20:00 tempo 10:00 tempo (1:00 jog); 5:00 tempo (1:00 jog); 10:00 tempo 6K or 7K hard
Sunday long run 70:00 90:00 90:00

Noel Hulsman is a Toronto-based journalist, hoping to qualify for the Boston Marathon.

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