istock/Tempura

Looking to work on your running pace? Hoping to bag a PB this year? Then you need to speed up your training and the best way to do that is with some interval training or speed sessions.

If you’re training for a 5k or 10k race, your intervals are most notably going to be shorter and faster than they might be if you were preparing for a longer race. This is what we call ‘distance specific training’.

Race-paced interval speed session

With all race distances, it’s important to train at your goal pace because it trains your body to work more efficiently at goal pace and gives you a better sense of how it feels to run at goal pace meaning you’ll be less reliant on looking at your watch. In a 5k or 10k race, you’re going to be running closer to your maximum effort than you would if you were running a marathon.

Doing too long a stretch at your goal 5k pace in training will be too intense.Therefore, practicing goal pace needs to be done carefully and broken up into intervals. It’s natural for your goal pace to feel hard work in training, even for shorter intervals. Trust your training and the magic will happen on race day.

VO2 max training

There’s been a lot of attention paid to VO2 max in recent years and it’s an important factor for runners training for 5k races. Your VO2 max is the maximum amount of oxygen that your heart can pump into your muscles to be used to produce energy. VO2 max is determined by a combination of your maximum heart rate, the amount of blood your heart can pump with each beat and the amount of oxygen that’s able to be extracted from your blood and used by your muscles.

You can’t change your maximum heart rate – it’s set by genetics and decreases with age. However, the other two factors can improve with training, so it is possible to improve your VO2 max. If you use a running watch, it will probably tell you what your VO2 max is and you can see improvements over time as you train.

Speed sessions – intervals

Speed reps for 5k and 10k runners will take you faster than your goal 5k pace and will be hard work, but you still shouldn’t be sprinting. One of the mistakes a lot of runners make is to do their speed intervals too fast. This not only risks injury because of the higher intensity of teh running, but means you’re less likely to be able to maintain that pace throughout the whole of your session. Instead, you should aim for around your mile race pace.

If you haven’t done a mile race before – if at least not for some time – you can do a time trial in training. Warm up for it with 10 minutes of easy running, then run a mile as fast as you can. At the end of the mile time trial you’ll probably need to catch your breath for a few minutes. When you’ve recovered, jog for another 5-10 minutes to cool down. Once you have your mile time you can use this as a basis for your training paces for speed intervals.

Image: istock/Jose Luis Montoya Retamosa

3 speed sessions for 5k and 10k runners

Below are some interval sessions that you could include to your training if you’re aiming for a 5k or 10k race. If you’re new to interval training, keep to the lower end of the suggested range until you build up your fitness. Only do one of these sessions per week. After four weeks, you can repeat them again.

Session 1: VO2 max session

10 mins easy running
3 x 800m @ 10 sec/km faster than 5k pace, 2 min jog recovery
2x 400m @ 10 sec/km faster than 5k pace, 2 min jog recovery
10 mins easy running

Session 2: Race pace intervals

10 mins easy running
3-5 x 1k @ goal 5k pace, 90 sec jog recovery
10 mins easy running

Session 3: Speed intervals

10 mins easy running
2 sets of 4x 200m @ mile pace, 200m jog recovery
4 min jog recovery between sets
10 mins easy running

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