The 5K Mistake Every Marathoner Makes

[00:00:00] Most marathoners think racing a 5K is a total waste of time. They say it’ll wreck their long runs, it’ll kill their aerobic base, it’ll mess up all that hard marathon training, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But today I’m coaching and pacing a guy named Brenton who thought the same exact thing until eight weeks ago when he ran his first 5K Park run.

[00:00:19] Ah, how’d you feel in your first 5K, buddy? Good, good, good. Survived. Yeah. Yeah. You had a little kick at the end. You kept it up, man. Yeah, a little kick. Respect, dude. That’s it. Respect. That’s a good race, man.

[00:00:32] In this video, you’ll see why skipping short races kills your marathon speed, what speed endurance actually is and why it matters. How racing teaches you to hold pace when you’re dead tired, and why you need this in your training right now. And I got a free training plan that you can use. I’m Daren D Lake certified coach, and I’ve spent 30 years testing what works and figuring out what does not work.

[00:00:54] Running 5K races helped me run a sub three hour marathon and even was able to run 1645, 5K in the process. And the goal is to show you and a hundred thousand other self-coach runners why getting 1% better each day, week, month, year is how you can do just that. Here’s what Brenton didn’t get. What do you think, Dave?

[00:01:13] Yeah, I think the fight Okay. Is the key. Yes. Yeah. Get this beat up there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He gets to race, he gets to practice racing. Uh, the, the nerves, the warmup. The nutrition, the sleep, and then when you get to the marathon, ’cause you can mess one of those things up and you mess up your whole marathon.

[00:01:28] So let’s see how we go today. When you only train at easy pace, your body never learns to hold hard pace. When you’re tired, you think you’re fit because you can run 90 minutes easy. But speed, endurance your ability to hold faster pace when you’re gassed. That’s what separates runners who fade at mile 20.

[00:01:44] Kilometer 32 from runners who finished strong, and you can’t build that without racing. Running coach and running writer of 30 plus published books and many, many articles for big publications. Matt Fitzgerald says, marathon runners should do at least as much speed and tempo work as 5K runners, especially in that first six to 10 ish weeks because it boosts your aerobic capacity, increases the speed you can hold for the full marathon distance.

[00:02:09] Look, I know what you’re thinking. This sounds great, but how do I actually fit 5K races into my marathon training? Without messing it all up. That’s exactly why I built a free training plan and cheat sheet that shows you how to schedule five Ks during recovery weeks or base building phases and around your peak marathon mileage.

[00:02:26] Grab it at the description below or the link at the QR code right here. And before we get into the next section, tell me in the comments if you do five Ks during your marathon or even half marathon training blocks and why. Alright, so the middle of a 5K is where your body learns what holding pace really means.

[00:02:46] All right. Right there. Six. Relax you guys buddy. This is lactate tolerance training. Your legs do on fire and your breathing is maxed out, but your brain is learning that this pace won’t kill you. When you race. You learn to push through pain. In ways you rarely can do in training. That mental toughness all about the brain, that’s what makes marathon pace feel easier later.

[00:03:09] You can’t fake this on a long run, and you also can’t run the marathon in training. So the 5K simulates say, without all that extra fatigue that we don’t need, Brenton thought a 5K would destroy his marathon training. But after that first park run eight weeks ago, he figured out something. He didn’t hate it, and he bounced back to training fast.

[00:03:26] It didn’t wreck anything like he thought. He actually liked it today. He’s chasing sub 18 minutes. Come on Brandon. Nice little kick at the end there. There you go buddy. Boom.

[00:03:40] Good job buddy.

[00:03:46] Good job, man. You got a kick at the end so you didn’t fully die. Oh yeah, yeah. I’m dead now. See the, the 5K is a tough one because like all that marathon training. And those temple runs, it like gets you like to like the three and a half K mark, and then you like, you have to have that top end, like it’s a different zone.

[00:04:04] Yeah. All my legs. Yeah. Yeah. Well look, you, you executed man. Like you did really well. You paced it really well. Like you just, you’re not training for the 5K, so I would take it like, that’s fine. I think. If you race this once a month, yeah, definitely. You get better at it just by racing it. Um, this is probably like the most perfect conditions in January.

[00:04:23] He didn’t break 18 today, he ran 1829, but that’s almost 30 seconds faster than his best time ever, and he’s not even training four or 5K. I think that’s pretty damn good. Yeah. Good job, guys. Sub 16. Good job, man. Is that what you wanted? There you go. Good job, fellas. Good job, Chris. Thanks man. Great job, man.

[00:04:55] Training for a marathon can be done by running a bunch of five Ks and you get a. A mixture of two max. You get a mixture of tempo runs. Uh, it’s just all built into that. You get to learn how to race, you get to get the nutrition right. What else? You sleep, your, uh, your shoe choices. You get to try all this stuff out, trial it, low stakes and not destroy it for that, you know, marathon that you do one, two times a year, whatever you.

[00:05:22] And, uh, that would suck because if you don’t get one thing right, it could destroy your race. You get to practice all this stuff. That’s where it’s at. I’m, I will always say, running fast, five Ks has a high chance of helping you run a marathon. So let me know in the comments below in YouTube or Spotify or podcast player.

[00:05:38] If you’re listening, just email me, DARE n@onebetterrun.com. Uh, let me know if I changed your mind on racing five Ks more during marathon season or not. And if you haven’t already, get that free marathon training plan. That helps you schedule in five Ks smarter. You’ll auto magically get signed up for my free email newsletter.

[00:05:56] So much free stuff that’s five minutes or less each week in your inbox. Some marathoners decide to get fast at the 5K. If that’s you, I did a full deep dive on how I was able to run 1645 5K with the help of a pro running coach. I did a lot of weirdo advanced things in there that might help your training.

[00:06:12] Take one, take some take all. Remix it, change it. If you’re on YouTube, you can get the video below. And if you’re on Spotify or other podcast players and you’re listening, open up your podcast player app. Go to description, click on the link and you can get that video. Happy Runnings. Happy 5K Marathon training, 5K Marathon piece.