The original plan was a bit harder but I had to adapt as I had not trained consistently in a couple of years and my body wasn't quite as ready as I thought it would be. A 5k training plan would normally be, if designed by me, at least 9 weeks long with every 3rd week being a recovery week, but I had only 8 weeks available to train and so I condensed all the necessary workouts in to an 8 week plan with emphasis on building endurance and strength within the first 4 weeks and peak my training over the last 4 weeks. It worked alright for me as I had plenty of recovery days throughout.

The plan is good for beginners or intermediate and it is focused on developing endurance and strength for a 41 year old like me.

I used hart rate zones for my easy runs, recovery runs and long runs and perceived effort for interval training. My aim was to execute all intervals in one workout at the same perceived effort without worrying about pace.

The 4th week is a recovery week and the 8th week is the taper week. I crossed trained (cycled) when I could and that helped me a lot to cope with the increased load.

Newstead Abbey Dash is a tricky race because it has a steady downhill start that makes you run faster than you should and you can easily end up using half of your energy within the first mile and the rest during the second uphill mile leaving you drained and unable to finish strong, even though it's only a 5k race with 43m elevation gain. In order to simulate this type of effort I did my Tempo Runs on the bypass nearby which has a steady incline, the first interval uphill and the second, on tired legs, downhill with focus on form and consistency.

The time of year this race takes place adds another problem for racers - the heat. I've done this race 4 times now and it has never been cool even considering it starts at 7:15 pm. In order to overcome this problem I trained intentionally in the heat whenever I had the chance - acclimation, just like I do with my dogs ;)
 
Another important element of racing for me is fuelling. I've been trying all sorts of drinks, gels, biscuits, energy balls etc in the past, and they all had a nasty effect on my GI tract or weren't enough in providing me with enough carbs to sustain my effort during a race, so this time, during training, I experimented. And I found the perfect combination for me for a 5k race - an endurance fuel powder (to mix with water) and BCAA's (unflavoured which taste just bleah!). I tested this during my Tempo Runs and this combination helped me run the sessions well on very tired legs without upsetting anything.

And everything came together on race day! My taper week was just perfect, I did a 20k long run on the Monday before and Strides on Wednesday plus all the walking that I normally do and I had enough time to recover and get ready to race well.

I raced just how I had planned to do - perfect pacing to the level that I trained for and as a result, during the race I did not feel my legs hurt, I did not feel hot in 27 degrees C, I did not feel the uphill and I sprinted over the finish line. It's been years since I had recorded an average 4:10/km pace in a 5k race! So with a good training plan it is possible :)

These are my results from previous years (taken from Strava):
2021 - 21:30 pace 4:16/km
2023 - 21:33 pace 4:15/km
2024 - 21:27 pace 4:16/km
2025 - 21:08 pace 4:10/km