Ask The Coach

ASK THE COACH

By Coach Kirt West

Dear Coach: I like to race in the heat and am planning to run many short races this summer, including tommy’s american 5k early in July. I have run several 10Ks and Cherry Blossom this spring. What kind of workouts should I be doing to prepare for 5Ks? How can I determine what my goal pace should be?

Dear Bill: You are probably in pretty good shape as a result of your spring racing. Most 10K and 10 mile racing is done at or slightly above your anaerobic threshold (AT). I presume you have done a lot of AT training, constituting mile repeats and 20 minute continuous AT runs. AT effort translates to 80% to 85% of your maximum heart rate. However, a good 5K race is generally run at a much higher level than your AT. Thus, you will need to change your workouts and training pattern. First, I normally recommend that you start reducing your mileage in preparation for the 5K racing season. I would reduce it by 10% each of the next five to six weeks. Second, I would replace doing mile repeats at 80% to 85% with 800 or 1200 meter repeats at your current 5K pace. Your current 5K pace is about 10 to15 seconds per mile faster than your current 10K race pace. I suggest you start by running 10 seconds per mile faster and over the next month increase it to 15 seconds. One of my favorite workouts is an 800-1000-1200-1000-800 ladder with a timed recovery of one-to-one. Thus, if your first 800 takes 3:30 to run, jog for 3:30 before beginning the 1000, etc. Because you are not a veteran 5K racer, I suggest you stay away from the really short speed sessions of running 50 to150 meter bursts all out. After a few of these workouts, you should begin to understand the effort it will take to run a fast 5K.

Dear Coach: I am running the Pittsburgh Marathon and am worried about slowing down on the hills between miles 13 to 20. What can I do to make sure that I stay on pace? Emily

Dear Emily: First, the good news about Pittsburgh is that for every uphill there is a downhill. I think you are better off maintaining effort rather than worrying about pace. I predict that you will get into trouble by trying to hold a certain pace on a major uphill. If you run up to 13 miles at predicted marathon pace during training, you will understand what that effort feels like, particularly when fatigued. This helps you balance the slower pace going up hill with the faster pace on the downhill sections of the course. If you train with a monitor, you know what happens to your heart rate going up hill. Let’s say that you are running at eight minutes per mile at 75% effort on a relatively flat course. If you try to maintain an 8:00 pace, on a hill, you find your heart rate shooting up to 85% to 90%. Upon reaching the top of the hill, your heart rate will take forever to drop and meanwhile you are forced to slow down. If, instead, you run by effort and not pace, your pace may slow to 8:30 per mile pace, but your heart rate will remain steady so that at the crest of the hill you will not need to recover. I cannot tell you the number of times I have had fellow competitors blast by me running up a hill only to catch them a couple minutes later as they are trying to recover from hammering up the hill.

Dear Coach: I need to lose a few pounds to run faster. What do you think about the Zone Diet and some of the low carbohydrate diets? David

Dear David: Run, don’t walk, away from those diets! Runners need somewhere between 55% to 60% carbohydrates to train effectively. There is only one way to lose weight consistently and keep the weight off. Exercise more and eat less. It takes time to lose weight, just like it takes time to get into shape. Take a long-range approach and don’t try to lose too much too soon. If you deprive your body of carbohydrates, it will only be a matter of time before your performance suffers. Recently, I was trying to figure out why one of the runners I coach had a dramatic drop off in performance—going from 47 minute 10Ks to 53 minute 10Ks. She had forgotten to tell me that she had been on a low carbohydrate diet for months. Once we got her off that fad diet, her times began to drop. If you have any diet issues, particularly those of you who are vegetarians, I suggest that you find a Registered Dietician who has an M.S. degree. Chances are the diet that will be recommended is the traditional food pyramid, that old-fashioned balanced diet.

Coach Kirt West is a private coach for motivated adult runners. Questions for the Coach can be sent to him at kirtwest@erols.com or c/o of the Washington Running Report.

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