5k PB How can I get a parkrun Personal Best or PR this saturday

5k Love It
Source: runinspired.com

Any more serious training will NOT improve your PB potential by next Saturday.

You won’t get the exercise benefit by this Saturday. Nor probably that much for next Saturday either.

So with that in mind here are a few tricks you can use to boost the effects of your already-completed training and maybe, just maybe, get that PB. Of course ‘tricks’ only work for a while. Any serious runners that find their way to this page will probably not find anything new; if you do parkruns then hopefully you WILL find something new to add to your running kit bag.

Ultimately you have to train a lot to get a lot better. But not for this coming weekend you don’t…you have to maximise the training you already have done.

All the suggestions are starred:

  • *** 3x stars. IMHO it will work
  • ** 2x stars. It might work
  • * 1x star. Can’t hurt
  • X 1x cross. It CAN hurt if done wrong.

 

  1. **X Don’t train AT ALL!! A 3 day abstention (taper) should suffice for many levels of runner i.e. Wed/Thur/Fri – do nothing. More serious runners will benefit from activity during a taper, even the day before a race (see later) and there is no one fixed and correct taper rule that suits all runners.
  2. **X Warm up properly on the day as if you pull something you won’t get a PB. Get a few race pace strides in that warm up. Personally, I jog a mile to get there…or I cycle or drive. The consensus view these days that any stretching you do before a race should be ‘dynamic’. Look at track cyclist between races. They stay ‘warm’ by using stationary trainers for a reasons – simplistically the muscles are pumped full of blood right from the start and are ‘ready to go’. Jogging to the start might actually be a good idea. If you ever get the chance to use a MOXY you will prove this to yourself in the stats. You might even see a similar effect with PERFORMANCE CONDITION metrics in Garmin’s higher end watches.
  3. ***X I’m very tempted to say get a new pair of race shoes if you only have regular trainers. These should make a noticeable difference. The downside is that you will not necessarily have had chance to get used to them. Then again you are only running 5k and not a marathon.
  4. * Get someone to pace you who you can rely on to run at the desired speed. Try and stay in front of them.
  5. * Kit: Other bits of kit are probably not going to make any positive difference if you go out and buy them. I would say however that I’m assuming that you have the right kit in the sense that what you wear does not make you either too hot or does not help keep you warm enough. If, for example, you are too hot you will certainly run slower.
  6. * Kit: Compression gear might help. Either full length leggings or calf guards. The argument is that they stop your muscles wobbling and so you either waste less energy or use your muscles better. They have other benefits too. Then again how many Olympic gold medallists wear such kit?
  7. ** Gadgets: Unless you are a very good runner you will not know the exact speed at which you are running. A GPS gadget will give you feedback on your race pace and let you know whether or not to speed up or conserve energy. I use one. A tactic is to set it to beep at you when you are going at a pace that is, say, 4 seconds per Km faster than your target pace. When it bleeps slow down BUT otherwise run as hard as you can.
  8. *** On that point. Just running as hard as you can should do it! But of course if it were only that simple you could do that week after week and continue to improve.
  9. ** On a windy day run behind someone in the bits that are against the wind. Don’t worry if they get annoyed. But a PB on a windy day? Maybe not.
  10. *  Get to the course early to start stress free and warmed up.
  11. *** Eat as little a breakfast as you can as long before the race as you can. You have enough energy for a 5k. Big breakfast = discomfort + weight + blood moving to your digestive tract rather than your muscles. Some people need something solid to avoid feeling/being sick. I might have a Lucozade sport or a banana.
  12. **XX Drink as little as you can on race day (assuming an early race). You are PROPERLY hydrated from yesterday and previously right? 500ml tops if you need something. Although if you feel thirsty you should DEFINITELY have something. To be clear you must be sufficiently hydrated but you don’t want litres of excess liquid in your stomach.
  13. *** Drink coffee (caffeine). It is a legal sporting stimulant that used to be banned for serious competition. Go figure!If you weigh 68 kg you require 2-5 mg caffeine per kg body weight for a 2 hour event (sorry not 5k). You take 136-300 mg once an hour before competing. One espresso is about 100mg IF you are lucky. Caffeine has as many PROVEN benefits as all the illegal stimulants you may or may not have heard of BUT the effects and side effects of caffeine are known and understood and legal. Other caffeine-taking protocols will have you taking, say, 200mg of caffeine 5 mins before a race. (Look at the High5 energy sachets, for example, or their excellent race-nutrition web site which funnily enough recommends their products). Bear also in mind that TOO MUCH caffeine MAY stop lactate being flushed from the system…you don’t want that, follow the guidelines above. Caffeine wears off after a couple of hours so for longer races you will need topping up ONLY for longer events. Personally I would take 300mg 1 hour before the event, I would take supermarket own-brand version of PROPLUS, personally I have 1-2 coffees a day and I would not change that consumption pattern at all.
  14. ** Properly go to the toilet the night before and especially in the morning. Get it all out. Coffee and routine will help.
  15. ** Have a light evening meal at least 12 hours before the race.
  16. ** Don’t eat (too much) protein the day before – it’s hard to digest (eggs are not so bad). Basically you want to eat digestible things that replenish your muscles and hydrate you AND that you are able to fully pass out of your body before the race. Source: tri247.com
  17. **XX Carbs or isotonic drink take 30 minutes to work. So they won’t help a 5k much either, unless consumed 10-20 minutes beforehand.. Anyway, a Mars-a-day really might help you work, run and play (but it won’t help you rest AT ALL). Also if you look at the contents of Lucozade Sport you will see it contains….sugar (glucose) ! Apparently glucose+fructose drinks offer 2x energy pathways into your body…perhaps leave that for the long distance people?
  18. ** Know the course. The ups and downs, the windy bits on the day, then plan accordingly.
  19. ** Positive mental attitude.  You ARE going to do it.
  20. * Lucky charm. Hmmm.
  21. *** Run at an even pace (flat course) use cumulative pace for the Km on your GPS device.
  22. ***Choose a flat, firm, smooth and dry course (it’s called a running track)
  23. *XX Run ‘correctly’, with the ‘correct technique’. This will be difficult to change by the weekend. However try leaning forward a little (from your ankles NOT FROM YOUR HIPS THAT WILL INJURE YOU EVENTUALLY – although many with Achilles problems might benefit from running more UPright) whilst keeping your body relatively straight. Breathe through your mouth. Running on your toes (fore-foot strike) or ‘flat-footed’ (mid-foot strike) is argued to be faster by many, but really you need to have trained for this.
  24. *** ‘Sprint’ the last minute, will only make a few seconds difference. No I mean faster than last time! And those seconds do count. Try and sprint with 2 minutes to go and when you feel your legs going just hold off (slow down slightly) for 5-10 seconds and then sprint again all the way to the finish.
  25. *** Run in straight lines. ie run 5k not 5050m from wandering all over the place. That extra 50m will take you probably at least 10 seconds to run. Running ‘straight’ requires great focus throughout the race and involves NOT following the person in front of you (usually)!! Think about it if you don’t at first get what I am saying. Also if you are using GPS pacing remember you run further and so need to pace slightly yourself slightly quicker than what the GPS/HRM says to take that into account.
  26. ** If you can’t run an even split. My understanding is that for most people the best tactic is to run the first 1 or 2 Kms slightly faster than the 3rd and 4th (you sprint the end of the 5th which is faster, invariably meaning you weren’t trying hard enough earlier)
  27. * I bought a pair of Nike XC (Cross Country) lightweight spikes for £10 from Sweatshop who were selling off loads of these last season’s models. I hadn’t planned on using them for a parkrun and still haven’t. However in post-purchase hindsight it strikes me that 2km of my parkrun is grass and the other 3km could be run just off the ‘path’ or on the path on a ‘soft-underfoot’ day. Spikes should help your time as well as bringing similar benefits to a lightweight running flat as described earlier…hmmm. I might try this one myself later in the year! Update: tried it and it didn’t work for me, didn’t hurt though I still did a good time.
  28. * Shave. Especially for men this one: shave or clip your torso hair (both sides if applicably hairy) . On a sunny and warm June-to-September PB morning this might make your core stay cool just that little bit longer. Then there’s always the legs…then you can go cycling too 😉
  29. *** Use a running track and spikes rather than a parkrun and trainers. A running track, other things being equal, will give you a PB perhaps 20 seconds faster than a parkrun. Quite possibly more. This is the way to go for a PB !!!
  30. *** “Aim to broadly run at an even pace. Know that you are fresh enough and able enough to do that pace. Believe that you will do it. Then just run at that pace. When it hurts a lot keep running AT THAT PACE. When it hurts more, again KEEP RUNNING at that pace. You’ve done your training and everything is right enough for today’s run. Really, you can do it. It’s not easy, but you can do it. If you slack you won’t do it. There are always plenty of excuses, don’t get yourself in a position where you have to make them.” That’s basically I think what my mindset is on the days where I perform. Once I, and probably you, lose that belief or determination or concentration then it is very difficult to run that time. Even if you lose it for the 4th Km it is hard to gain it all back on the 5th and the sprint (you sprinted last PB, remember?).  You get to the end and suddenly you are >30 secs off your PB when you could have done it.
    _76358038_thighs[1]
    Source: AS shown
  31. *X Lose 100g in weight. That should gain you just over 1 second over the 5k – although if you try to lose too much weight in less than a week you will probably lose either water or muscle so I’m not sure it would help really!! But the rule of thumb holds for every 0.5kg you lose in weight you will save at least 6 seconds. This weight loss time effect thing links in partly with some of the earlier points about getting all the old food from yesterday out of your body before the race. So going back to hydration: 1 litre of excess fluid will cost you 12 secs!
  32. *** Race at an ambient temperature of no more than 16 celcius. For each degree above that you will lose 3 seconds over 5k.
  33. * Train at altitude. About 7,000ft above sea level!! Ideally you will be **living** at altitude but training at a lower altitude beforehand!

    Beet Active Beetroot Juice
    Beet Active Beetroot Juice
  34. ** Beetroot juice (source of nitrates). Take 0.5l of beetroot juice containing approx 6.2 mmol of nitrate 2.5 hours before you start. Bike tests show this boosts power by nearly 3%. That’s rather a lot, but is it true? 😉 Don’t use mouthwash with it though. Also try creatine, Coenzyme Q10, branched-chain amino acids, sodium bicarbonate and glutamine. And did I say caffeine? Well that works as well. These are all legal and apparently harmless. Do some research. Then again just stick with the coffee!
  35. *X So you plan to do the 3-day taper mentioned earlier. If you’re not so supple then on the first of those days set aside 30-45 minutes for an intense stretch session, stretching everything on your legs and core as much and as far as you can without doing yourself an injury. Be aware of how far you stretch and this should feel like a workout in itself. 2 days to recover. On the saturday do a quicker easier stretch and not so deep. If you are more flexible on Saturday there is less resistance to overcome within your body and you might go faster. I’ve taken this suggestion on from someone else, not sure if it will work so quickly and I haven’t tried it.
  36. ***X Look at ‘proper’ tapers if you are of a reasonable standard. Short bits of speedwork leading up to the big day BUT AT THE RIGHT TIME AND FOR THE RIGHT DURATION/INTENSITY will help you stay fresh but don’t get it wrong. Scientists say that a proper one week taper will make you go 22% faster than a 1 week total abstinence taper…that’s a lot but is it true? Although note that in ‘proper’ tapers not much is done on the last 3 days so the 3 day abstinence taper is easiest to follow for very minimal performance opportunity-loss.
  37. **X Light, race day sports massaged are supposed to help. No personal experience. Personally, I would NOT do a race day sports massage unless very light for warming up purposes. HOWEVER I would and have had a sports massage 2-3 days prior to the event, the idea there is that this frees up knotted muscles tissue and hence reduces internal tension/friction and also increases range of movement slightly. But remember lots of “slightly” is what we are looking for to see that PB tumble.

    mizuno_wave_rider_17
    mizuno_wave_rider_17
  38. *X Insoles. Many of us have one leg longer than the other for a variety of muscular/skeletal reasons. You can’t change that by the weekend. BUT if one leg is a few mm shorter than the other an extra insole will balance your legs and might give you a bit more power. Or it might distract you from the balance you have already got used to. But you should find out if your leg lengths are different as this may also eventually lead to injuries. Insoles can also help against injuries.
  39. *** Do a proper taper. are a few more thoughts and plans on that.
  40. *** Do a proper taper appropriate to your CURRENT level of fitness/fatigue. A generic taper might not be best for you RIGHT NOW. Look at TSB (CTL and ATL) on the training load plugin on SportTracks software  (Free) or there is a similar one in Training Peaks WKO+ (not free). You’ll need HR data going back at least 45 days and you’ll need to understand (eventually) that tapering is NOT just about maximising race day TSB.
  41. *X Minor pain relief on-the-day. If you have a niggling minor injury that might put you off trying as hard as you might. A mild painkiller might help. You should use paracetamol and not aspirin and not ibuprofen (honest!).
  42. ** If you are doing a parkrun then start at the front that can save you many 5’s of seconds especially at busy ones like Bushy.
  43. *X Running cadence. Aim for about 90-95 strides a minute (180-190 footfalls). If this is quite different from your current natural cadence then changing it for the weekend is unlikely to make a difference – other than a NEGATIVE difference.
  44. * Smile. Smile every 1km it will relax you. Can’t hurt?
  45. * Pinch yourself hard before that final sprint. (I don’t think this will work but causing a bit of pain might give you a quick adrenaline rush) Only use this for the sprint, apparently extreme amounts of pain prior to competing in other events can give boosts because of raised blood pressure from the pain. One pinch can’t hurt tho right? And I’m not sure how high BP will help anyway.
  46. *** Start near the front in busy races. With a field of 1000 at Bushy Park parkrun you will take 30 seconds (yep 30) to cross the start line if you cross at the back – I timed it.
  47. * Don’t start too near to the front if you are smaller and slower (kids) you may get knocked over by faster runners.
  48. * Wear compression gear. Boosts blood flow to muscles and reduces the risk of injury.
  49. * Don’t wear compression gear. It adds extra resistance and tires you more quickly. 🙂
  50. ** Familiarise yourself with the course and with your pre-race routine. If you are unfamiliar with any aspect you MAY worry about it. I could go on about this but lack of preparation and familiarisation might affect your race psychology and/or warm-up.
  51. ** If you’ve heard people talking about ‘digging deep’ and learning how to do that in a running/racing sense you might have thought was a load of tosh. Well, it wasn’t! If you’ve dug deep and held on then you will know what I mean. You have to learn to do this to keep those PBs rolling.
  52. Sodium Tribasic Phosphate***XXX  (Edit September 2015) Apparently Sodium Phosphate and Bicarbonate of soda help as their alkalinity offsets lactate acidity enabling you to push harder for longer. Individually I think they work for me and I have not tried together. The race day boost recommends a 5 day loading strategy whereas simple baking powder (sodium bicarbonate) can be taken a couple of hours before the race.
  53. Just try a few of these at a time. Maybe just one. Not all of them! But then what if something works. How do you really know if it was one specific thing that you changed that helped or was it several things?
  54. * Write a key message on the back of your hand. Read it and stick to it, even when you feel awful towards the end of the race.
  55. ** Look at readiness-to-train/race software like the ithlete or bioforce apps. Use that to limit what you do on the days leading up to your race.
  56. **   CurraNZ Concentrated blackcurrant tablets. If Beet-it works for you then so might these – either instead or complementary. Promotional Discount Code is RUNCURRANZ on the curranz website, this should give you 15% off until October 2015 then 10% afterwards.
  57. *  The smell of peppermint might help. don’t ask!! Just have a polo mint or two, it can’t hurt! (I’ll write about this one day there is SOME science there).
  58. ** If you try the 3-day abstinence taper before a race, see if that works but then next try a gentle 30 min easy jog the day before your race that includes 60 seconds at 10% SLOWER than race pace.
  59. *  Have a nice warm shower. Get the blood flowing, especially if you are not a ‘morning person’.
  60. ** it takes your body about 10 minutes to start the process of converting fat to energy. You’ll need that before you hit the 1 KM mark. Warming up at least 10 minutes before you start is probably a good idea.
  61. * Slow down at the start. When you get going you are burning easy-to-obtain energy from within your muscles. It only lasts a few 10s of seconds. That’s why after 2 minutes you pass all the kids who have ground to a halt after their initial sprint. EVEN PACE THROUGHOUT.
  62. ** . Use the week prior to the race to increase blood plasma volumes. More blood=better temp regulation=faster. Just drinking water, as you hopefully already do, will NOT be as good as using electrolyte/isotonic drinks which INCREASE absorption AND increase blood plasma volumes. This takes a day or so to achieve rather than a few hours. So plan ahead. Many suppliers offer these: eg H2PRO, High5, OSMO Nutrition and others.
  63. ** . With the 2 hour marathon nearly achieved then maybe a pair of Nike Zoom Vaporfly Elite wouldn’t hurt? Treat yourself.
  64. ** . Ensuring you are stocked up on these essential vitamins might help ; magnesium, iron, caffeine, vitamin B and B12. They are all involved in energy production
  65. ** . Following on from the previous point if you get cramps then you might want to try MAGNESIUM OIL SPRAY. It’s really cheap.  *IF* that stops your cramps then that is a sign that you are magnesium deficient. Whilst that directly shouldn’t impact your 5K times it implies something is amiss in the energy production going on in your muscles. Again…can’t hurt.
  66. ***. I produce a customised 5k, 6 week taper plan for a nominal fee…can’t hurt and you help the blog.
  67. Rhodiola extract may help lower lactate levels. I’ve not tried this. You can buy it in Holland & Barret
  68. Caffeine chewing gum is apparently chewed by Premier League footballers at half time during matches. This is because the caffeine is more readily absorbed in a matter of minutes rather than 10 minutes…think about chewing tobacco as an analogy and you’ll know why it sounds sensible.
  69. ** Pacing on hills is tricky. For very gentle undulation I would personally favour trying to run at an even level of EFFORT. Something like STRYD or the dual-sided RunScribe Plus could help you do that. However when it gets a little steeper the best strategy may well be to increase effort by about 5% when going uphill and do the best you can on the steeper downhills. To be clear: you would still run at a slower pace up the hills. I’m talking effort and not pace.
  70. * (Edit Aug 2018) HVMN Ketone supplementation is a newly available endurance fuel. It’s an FDA Generally Regarded as Safe naturally occurring product that is WADA approved. Essentially Ketone supplementation gives you a bit easier to access energy when you metabolise fat as you race. You WILL still be using a large proportion of fat for your 5K so this might help. However the manufacturers are targetting it for >1 hour races. It will NOT make you slower for sure.

 

 

 

Assuming that you aren’t doing anything stupid like getting drunk the previous night, then tapering is the best thing to focus on. But if you focus on tapering EVERY week you will soon find you have done very little training…

It’s taken me a long time to research some of this and I appreciate feedback but please be nice if you disagree … after all I’m just trying to help. Even if only one of the ideas helps you then surely that was better than nothing! 😉 If I’m plain wrong tell me and I will make changes. If I’ve missed something PLEASE let me know

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27 thoughts on “5k PB How can I get a parkrun Personal Best or PR this saturday

      1. hi Andy. there are 3 of us here doing stuff from time to time. It’s a mutually shared hobby/passion rather than a business..good luck with your training !!!

  1. Great set of tips! Isn’t there something about abstinence from caffeine for a few days before race day for the ultimate rush?

    Also, I suspect that some Parkruns are easier/tougher than others so a tactical choice of events (think I’d go for flat with paths after setting my benchmark on an undulating/marshy course and I have both of these options within 30 minutes from where I live). Once I’m over my stress fracture I’ll put your tips to the test and see if I can get to under 24 minutes in 2013!

    1. there are different protocols regarding caffeine. I follow the one you suggest with abstinence beforehand (and then use it on the day), others have a continued high level of intake

  2. …Also start nearer the front of the pack – estimating your position based upon your PB. For example – the front row will probably finish in 18 minutes. Next row – around 20 minutes. Third row back 22ish. Means you don’t waste up to 30 s shuffling across the start line if you are too far back!

    1. yes this is very true. If you had told me that a year ago, I would have thought you were exaggerating but I ran with some kids a while back and it took 20 seconds to cross the start line at bushy park (actually I think a bit longer)

    1. recommend for what purpose? go faster? injury prevention? speed up recovery? keep you warm in winter?

      1. injury prevention/worsening: maybe. speed recovery: yes. keep you warm: yes. run faster: yes it hold your muscles in a better position and improves blood flow. run faster: no, it provides additional resistance. 🙂 if it really made you faster I guess it would be used in professional sports.

    1. Andy I got mine down to 28 minutes last year, none of these tips really worked for me.each totheir own I suppose

  3. Hey! Nice tips! I just think that maybe 26 is not totally true. More blood = more oxygen is true only if you increase the number of red blood cells. Increasing plasma does not increase red cells per se. There is the Starling rule (not sure about the name, sorry) that says that muscle fibers of the heart contract “more” if you extend them more, i.e. if you fill your heart with more volume, it will contract more. So, yeah, maybe increase the blood volume may help a little (?), not sure though it will last one week prior to the race.
    What do you think? Send me a msg! I am as well in Instagram, under the same name.

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