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5k Coach newbie questions............

Hello,


Newbie here, completed the couch to 5k last year and now running 3 times a week, decided I needed another challenge so got a Garmin 45 and started the 5k plan with Jeff to improve my time.

I've done the benchmark run and did the first cadence run yesterday which threw up a few questions/issues.

I started the workout and set off, should I be pressing the lap button between each section as the drill workout had 10 min warm up, 4 cadence drills of 30 seconds with 30 second walk and then a glide run thing.

I got a bit confused on when the watch beeped at me should I press the buttons or not so not sure I actually logged it correctly although I did do the activity.  It then seemed to cut off the repeats on the glider part so maybe I shouldnt have pressed something there?

On the cadence bit I typically labour along at around 26:30ish for a 5k run.  I got to close to 25 mins a couple of times and would like to get back to that hence the plan.

On the cadence bit it said aim at 150-200 steps but I had no idea what I was doing speed wise so went (it turns out) way too quick as my cadence was lots of small short steps so I did nearly 200 but was going way too quick I think as I was knackered.................have I done that wrong?

Any tips anyone would be really appreciated.

  • Hi

    Some simple answers first;

    • You'll generally need to press the top-right button to begin and again to end the workout, but the workout steps are automatic laps with a a countdown starting 5s before the next step and a bleep each second (no need to press the lap button). 
    • Sometimes a step will be defined as e.g. 'Warm up until lap button pressed', but they're an exception and the watch will let you know.

    Cadence is a funny thing, and from your description I'd guess this is Coach Galloway's plan (?) - I think there is some useful content in the videos accompanying the plan - but I think they're intended as a skill-practice here, so as your skill improves it'll become easier to maintain a higher cadence without necessarily going too fast.

    Hope this helps, have fun

    ~Tony