Melbourne Track Club Training: Race Preparation for 5000m-10000m (including example workouts)
The longer distance athletes run longer on their non workout days and sometimes do slightly longer track workouts, however often do the exact same workouts as the 800m-1500m runners (ie 8x1km). On Sundays, long runs are almost always 2 hours (or at least 1hr45) and on Monday and Wednesday, often 90mins endurance runs in the morning.
Below are some example 5000m/10000m workouts logged in 2016-2017 (on occasion, 800m-1500m will join in on some or all of the workout). Please note, many of these are done on grass tracks and without spikes.
Example 1 (was completed before Stanford 5000m last year by athlete who ran 13:20):
2 x mile in 4:48 (30sec rest)
4mins recovery
1km in 2:21 (lap very slow jog recovery)
5x600m starting in 1:46, ending in 1:40 (200m jog recovery)
Example 2:
4 x 2km (Reps 1 and 3 laps in 70, 65, 70, 65, 70 (5:40) Reps 2 and 4 laps all in 70. (5:50)
(Lap jog recovery)
Example 3:
5x1200m in 70sec laps (reps 2 and 4: 64sec 2nd lap)
4x400m in 64, 59, 64, 59 (lap jog recovery)
Example 4:
2000m (alternating 200s in 29sec and 30sec)
1600m (even pace: 67sec per lap)
1200m (400s in 67, 62, 67)
800m (400s in 63, 60)
6x400m (alternating pace of 59, 68).
Recovery: between the 2000m, 1600m, 1200m and 800m, rest is 1 lap jog (around 2mins) and between the 6x400m, rest is 45sec.
Example 5 (Workout described as being “for a 13:20 runner”):
Mile in 75sec laps (30sec rest)
Mile in 73sec laps (30sec rest)
Mile in 71sec laps (30sec rest)
1200m in 69sec laps (30sec rest)
1200m in 67sec laps (30sec rest)
1200m in 65sec laps (30sec rest)
800m in 60sec laps
Example 6:
1200m in 3:27 (30sec rest) 400m in 59 (lap jog recovery)
1200m in 3:27 (30sec rest) 400m in 59 (lap jog recovery)
1200m in 3:24 (30sec rest) 400m in 59 (lap jog recovery)
1200m in 3:24 (30sec rest) 400m in 59 (lap jog recovery)
1200m in 3:24 (30sec rest) 400m in 57 (lap jog recovery)
** 800m runners ran 800m of the 1200m in reps 3-5 at the same pace.
Example 7:
3 x [1200m, 800m, 400m] (1min rest, lap jog between sets)
Set 1: 3:29, 2:13, 60.
Set 2: 3:27, 2:10, 61.
Set 3: 3:27, 2:10, 56.
Example 8:
8x1km (1min, jog 200m recovery). Reps in 3:00, 3:00, 2:55, 2:55, 2:50, 2:50, 2:45, 2:45
Lap jog recovery
2x400m in 54-55 (lap jog recovery)
Example 9:
4km Threshold (3:05-3:10/km)
Lap jog recovery
6x400m (30sec rest) alternating pace 58, 65, 58, 65, 58, 65
Lap jog recovery
4km Threshold (3:05-3:10/km)
Example 10 (despite being very quick, was completed by 5000m runners):
2km in 5:40 (laps in 70, 65, 70, 65, 70) (lap jog recovery)
5x400m (3-4min slow lap jog recovery) in 53-54sec.
2km in 6:30
Example 11:
11x700m alternating 1:52/2:00 (walk 100m/1min recovery)
Lap jog recovery
4x200m in 28, 27, 26, 25 (jog lap recovery)
Example 12:
9 laps in 72, 72, 72, 72, 68, 68, 68, 64, 64 (lap jog recovery)
400m in 62 (30sec rest)
200m in 30 (30sec rest)
200m in 28 (lap jog recovery)
2 sets of the above
