5K Block Begins
This week marks the start of a new training diary series and a new block focused on a nighttime 5K at the end of February and the Synesis Vientiane Half Marathon ຊິນເນສິສ ວຽງຈັນ ແລ່ນເພື່ອສຸຂະພາບ. I’m repeating Dr. Will O’Connor’s 3000 / 5000 metre five-week plan, which I used in 2024 to set a 5K PB at the time. That block didn’t even end with a race, just a solo time trial, but the structure worked well, so it felt like the right place to return, feeling like i need a change after grinding out the vientiane marathon block.
Monday
After being sick and unable to run the previous week, I eased back in with a slow return to run building on the 30 minutes on Sunday Nothing special —just 40 minutes for 7.24 km—but it felt important to get some running back into my legs before properly starting the plan the next day.
Tuesday
The plan officially started with a 3000-metre time trial. The advice is to start comfortably hard and build the pace each kilometre, avoiding the temptation to go out chasing a PB. I followed that advice… loosely.
I opened at 4:00/km, followed by 3:59/km, and closed with a 3:51 final kilometre for 11:50 total. about the same as my best from a year ago at West Beach Parkrun. This wasn’t all out, no drool on my chin or lying on the footpath at the end. I haven’t run short distances in a long time, but I’m clearly in better shape now than I was previously. I wore my new ASICS Magic Speed 4s, which felt far more responsive than the SC Elites for this kind of sharper, faster work.
Wednesday
Wednesday was scheduled as a 10 km run, but I ran with a friend who wanted to include some marathon-pace work, so we didn’t follow the plan exactly. The session ended up being 11 km with 9 km at 5:08/km.
It was a bit harder than ideal, especially coming the day after the time trial, but it didn’t feel excessive and I wasn’t too concerned in the context of the overall week.
Thursday
Thursday was a longer aerobic day: 90 minutes of hilly Zone 2, keeping heart rate under control and allowing a bit of drift on the climbs. I followed the same hilly route I used regularly during my previous marathon block.
The run came out to 16.9 km in 90 minutes, steady throughout, with heart rate well under control.
Friday
Because of weekend logistics, I brought Saturday’s workout forward to Friday. This was the session I was most uncertain about going in, as I haven’t touched this sort of speed in quite a while. The paces are based on my threshold zones, but looked very ambitious on paper. legs definielty werent fresh for my fifth day of running in a row.
The session opened with 1200 metres at goal 3K pace, which for me meant 3:32/km, covering the distance in 4:14. That was followed by 10 × 200 m faster, averaging between 3:02 and 3:12/km—genuinely fast for me.
In the end, I nailed the workout and set a new kilometre PB within that 1200 m effort. Not surprising, given I rarely run short, fast intervals like this, certainly not over the past year and a half.
Sunday
Sunday was another longer aerobic run. I headed south of town onto the dirt roads to give my body a break from pavement and concrete.
The run came out to 16.9 km in 97 minutes, slightly over the prescribed 90 minutes, but that brought the week neatly to 70 km total—a nice round number, and my biggest week since before the marathon.
Week Summary
A very solid first week back into structured training. The biggest takeaway is that the speed is better than I expected, which is a good place to be at the start of a 5K block.