Forget about the numbers on your watch; Run with the flow of your body.
The 5K is perhaps the first milestone that runners hope to crush as they begin their training. How do you train for it then? I started out simply running mindlessly and try to struggle past the finishing line. I have seen people starting eagerly at the start line to end up burnt out even before the midway point. There are also some who aim for a consistent pace throughout the entire run.
Well, there is definitely no single answer to how a runner should train for his or her run. However, after more than two years of running and knowledge gathering, I have combined different advice to define my style of running. It is enjoyable, sustainable and most importantly, produce the results you desire.
The guiding principles are:
- Know your body rhythm
- Train using progressive running method
- End every run on a high
With the above principles in mind, let us apply it using a mental fly through of a 5K run.
Start Line
Now we are just beginning the race. Pre-run stretching is critically important to ensure our muscles are loosen up for the next ~30mins of our body pounding the hard ground. Whether you are feeling hyped up for the run, or you are feeling lazy but have successfully laced up for this run, always start slow.
Be patient on your body.
Allow your body engines to fire up, your legs to get into a slow and light pace, your arms into a gentle swing while further loosening up your shoulders, neck and back. Is there any body parts that seem to be sore and not ready at this moment? Check in with your body and do the necessary massages afterward. If this is the outdoors, look around at the environment, the leaves, the grass, the sunlight, or the fellow runners with different physique focused on their individual progress, just like how you have set a goal to complete a 5K. Get in sync with your body.
Automatic Mode (at 1.5K-2K mark)
Now, have you been patient in running slow or were you too eager for a good timing and switched gears? If you have been patient, you will reach an effortless pace that I termed it “automatic”. Your body is running on auto mode and it is comfortably warmed up. You know that this pace can carry you through to complete the entire 5k easily. Now, note down this milestone because this is the first message that your body is telling you: “I’m ready”. For me, this usually happens around the 1.8K mark. Using a scale of 10, the automatic pace would be at a 5 or 6.
If you have already turned up your gear, you will never reach this state because your body has already been put into overdrive. The problem is it is still early in the race and while a runner who has been patient with his warm up is cruising comfortably at this stage, you have already begun the mental endurance battle with your self.
Progressive runs
Progressive run is simply running at a pace faster than the previous km, for the entire race. You start slow and end with the fastest pace you can manage.
Your automatic pace is faster than your warm up pace, and because it is an effortless pace, allow it to carry you through to the 3k mark. You might be thinking if you are pushing yourself sufficiently to improve performance if you maintain such a comfortable pace for 60% of the run. Don’t worry about it because you still have the remaining 40% that will push your body to the limits. Patience.
At the 3k mark, it is time for us to increase to a 7 or 8 and sustain this effort up till the 4.5K mark. Now your heart begins to pump harder as you leave the comfortable pace, your lungs open up gasping for more air per breath, and your mental battle begins. Allow your mind to drift off to reflect on your personal development, goals, career, relationships, or anything to distract you from the internal pains that your body is flagging.
End on a high
At 4.5K, your body has been enduring the last 20+ minutes and the exhaustion has set in. This is the final stretch of your progressive run and its time for the real training to begin with a 9 or 10 pace. Open your stride consistently and focus on the changeover of your breath. The air is the fuel keeping you sane while your body is on full overdrive for the next 500m. Put every step forward, one step at a time but never let go of the pedal.
Peak-end rule: We remember two things from an experience, its peak and its end – Daniel Kahneman
The last 500m is both the peak and end of of the run, so we need to seal it with an impactful ending. Your mental conversations should all be about your achievement having run that distance up till the incoming finish line and at a pace that was faster with every K. Visualise and imagine that it is a real race, with supporters lining up the sides cheering you on, the finishing line in sight waiting for you.
Finish the last 100m on a high feeling strong. That leaves you the positive memories required to enable you to show up at the next starting line, ready to repeat the routine again while craving for the runners’ high.
We have successfully completed another 5k, but how has this run been different? I have steered away from focusing on the timings on the watch, because running is a lifestyle and there are bound to be ups and down. This is not our final run and every run can never be a good run. So why should we focus on the timings when instead we should build good habits to sustain the running lifestyle. Your body is a gift and knows much better of its capability than your watch, so why not listen in to what it has to say? Run, but with the flow of your body.