Runners: If you wanted to get quite a good time on a Monday evening 5k run, what would your weekend look like?

[PrunellaMcTat]

Would you run? Go to the gym?

Evenings I'd never get a good time! I like to run the morning. But if I had to, average run Saturday, nothing Sunday. Normally Saturday is a long run so it would have to fiddled with.

I'm not the fittest or speediest, but I do like a run and I've given myself the arbitrary goal of consistently running 5k in under 30 minutes.

The run is on a Monday evening (local timed fun-run thing) and I worked down from 34 minutes to now where I get 31 minutes and some seconds every blimmin week.

The trouble is, Saturday is the only day I have time for a long run, and Sunday evening is a great time to go to the gym - I go with one of my teens and we really like the Sunday evening slot.

I'm just getting frustrated that despite doing exercises for runners, and plenty of running I can't crack 30 minutes. Which is not even a particularly fast time fgs!

What's your long run? I wouldn't do anything more than 10k on the Saturday.

Go to gym Sunday, it's fine. And in fact, gym work (alternative cardio exercise, weights & core, should help your time)

Do you just run or do you add Hills runs? Interval running etc? They all help

Long run is only 10k. I live in a very hilly city so every run is hilly - the Monday 5k especially so.

No you do hill sprints. So find a decent hill, run as fast as you can then walk down and repeat. We do 5-6 hill sprints, then high legs skips on flat then kick butt run- do those a few times. Doing interval running is great too. Depending on your fitness level there’s many different ways either via time or distance so 1k race pace then slow 500metres then race pace and so on.

instagram.com/run.nrg?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y= This guy has great tips too.

You need to vary your training
intervals, tempo runs, long slow runs, hill sessions etc. if you “just run” you’ll plateau very wuickly