Broken 5K

The 'broken 5K' is deceptively simple - run 12 quarter mile intervals at around 5K pace, with 20-30 second recoveries. That is a very short recovery time; just enough time to slow up to a walk, take a few breaths and then start running again. I do my broken 5K workouts on the local greenway, which is marked out with quarter mile markers. It is not flat, but that makes it more interesting than a track. I find this is a great workout for all distances.

A friend of mine (Mark E) took this workout to its logical conclusion and did the broken 5K on a 5K course. That gave him a very good preview of the course, as he was running it at race pace.

See also Introduction to Workout Types, Introduction to Interval Training, Practical Interval Training, Practical Aerobic Intervals and Aerobic Interval Training 101.