How To Run a FASTER 5 Mile (step-by-step)
In this article, I am going to give you a step-by-step guide on how to improve your 5-mile run in 5 weeks. Make sure to read until the end for the free 5-week program and to learn how to never gas out again.
What Makes a Great Runner?
To understand how to improve your running your running for special operations, you need to understand what makes a great runner. While it might feel impossible to improve your running today, there is a set of physiological processes and traits you can develop to improve your running.
1. Aerobic conditioning
By developing your aerobic capacity, you’re able to raise the floor of your running performance. Your aerobic capacity refers to how efficiently your body can perform low-intensity, steady-state cardio for long periods of time.
A practical example is this: if initially, you run 10-minute miles at a Zone 2 pace, with several months of training your aerobic capacity, you could cover the same distance at the same heart rate with a 9-minute mile pace.
Just imagine, if you can comfortably jog one minute per mile faster, how much easier your timed 5-mile run will be.
2. VO2 Max
While aerobic capacity raises the floor of your performance, VO2 max raises the ceiling by increasing your max capacity for oxygen utilization. What this means in practical terms, is that you can perform at a higher intensity for longer periods of time before muscle fatigue and exhaustion sets in.
This is critical for your hard, mid-distance 2 and 5-mile runs.
3. Max Speed
While at Special Forces Assessment and Selection you’re never going to have a timed 100m sprint, you still want to be faster over shorter distances. Max speed sharpens your peak in terms of running, by giving you a more powerful, efficient running form and also gives you more kick at the end of your runs.
I like to keep 200m intervals and strides in the mix every once in a while to ensure athletes can continue to practice moving at faster speeds
4. Body Composition
What many candidates overlook in running is the critical role that body composition plays. For every pound you gain, you can expect to add about 2 seconds to your mile time. What that means is if you’re carrying extra fat, it is literally weighing you down.
For every pound you gain, you can expect to add about 2 seconds to your mile time.
How To Balance Endurance and Muscle Mass
But body composition is a delicate balance when it comes to training to become a US Army Green Beret. While lower body weight will certainly improve your run time, increased levels of muscle mass are also highly predictive of SFAS success.
We know this from data collected from 795 candidates at SFAS between 2015 and 2017. They measured physical performance, body composition, and all sorts of other metrics.
Of all the body composition and anthropometric data, meaning related to body measurements, it was found that muscle mass was the greatest predictor of SFAS success and low body fat percentage was the second greatest predictor. In fact, low body fat percentage was correlated with improved performance in all physical metrics.
Body Fat Percentage and Special Forces Success
Clearly, you want to have a low body fat percentage, but how lean were the candidates and how significant were the differences?
Candidates with 25.2% body fat (plus or minus 2.2%) had a 13.8% selection rate.
Candidates with 20.1% body fat (plus or minus 0.9%) had a 28.6% selection rate
Candidates with 17.3% body fat (plus or minus 0.7%) had a 41.4% selection rate.
Candidates with 14.2% body fat (plus or minus 1.6%) had a 51.6% selection rate.
So, being in the leanest quartile of candidates quadruples your odds of getting selected compared to the fattest group. I am amazed that anyone would show up to selection at more than 20% body fat. Clearly, you’re carrying a lot of dead weight.
Being in the leanest quartile of candidates quadruples your odds of getting selected
But let’s say you’re at 16 – 17% and performing well. Should you consider dieting?
I would say no. Since you’re already performing well, and you’re able to train and make progress, continue what you’re doing. Eat to maintain your current weight. Everyone isn’t built to operate at 100% at lower levels of body fat, so just because the data shows on average candidates perform worse at higher levels, you could perform best at 18 or 20%.
How to Breathe for Running
Now that we know the exercise science around running performance and body composition at SFAS, let’s talk about an often overlooked aspect of running.
For those of you who didn’t start running from an early age, improving your breathing with consistent, reliable breaths is one of the quickest ways you can improve your run performance.
Most people who are new to running, or even those who have been running for years, breathe inconsistently. They’ll unintentionally hold their breath, have extended exhales, and be unreliable in terms of the cadence they inhale and exhale. When you do this, your body will instinctively go into self-preservation mode, and the run is going to be more challenging.
The athletes with the most consistent breathing are swimmers. Go to any swim meet, and you’ll see swimmers breathing every second or third stroke. It’s consistent. Every time.
If you can mimic that cadence with regular breathing patterns in running, you can not only significantly improve your performance, but you can also give yourself a way to gauge your current exertion levels and never gas out early while running.
Let’s say you know you’re in zone 2 if you can sustain a single inhale every 5 steps. Naturally, as you speed up, you’ll need to breathe more frequently. When you’re at an exhale every 3 steps you’ll know you’re around zone 3. Once you breathe every step, you’re hyperventilating and that’s not sustainable for more than a short burst or sprint.
The point is this – if you’re hyperventilating or having to breathe every second step early in your 5-mile run – you’re going way too fast. The only time you should be is towards the end of your run. And knowing how your heart rate or effort relates to your breathing cadence, should be a massive confidence boost for any runner.
The Best 5 Mile Run Program For Special Forces
Before diving into the 5-mile training plan, I have to caveat that the training advice I will be sharing from this point forward is for a healthy candidate with no injuries who has developed a robust aerobic base and has been running at least 15 miles per week for the last several months.
Week 1
| M | T | W | R | F | S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10min warmup 10 x 400m @ RPE 9, 1min rest 10min cooldown | Rest | 1mi warmup 1mi @ zone 3 2mi @ prev 5 mile pace 1mi @ zone 3 1mi cooldown | 45min zone 2 running or non-impact cardio | Rest | 60 – 80min zone 2 with 3 – 4 x 30-second strides at the end |
On Monday, you have ten 400-meter intervals at RPE 9. I want you to do these at about your 2-mile max effort pace. The goal is to keep these 400s as consistent as possible. Even though you have only one minute of rest, I want you to minimize the drop-off between round 1 and round 10.
On Wednesday, we have a tempo run with 2 miles at your previous best 5-mile pace.
On Thursday, you have the option of 45 minutes of zone 2 running or of zone 2 non-impact cardio. I recommend that unless you’re an advanced runner you put in some time on the bike or the rower.
And then, we close out the week with a slow zone 2 run with strides.
Week 2
| M | T | W | R | F | S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10min warmup 8 x 600m @ RPE 9, 2min rest 10min cooldown | Rest | 10min warmup 3 Rounds: 1mi @ 5 mile goal pace, 3min rest 10min cooldown | 45min zone 2 running or non-impact cardio | Rest | 60 – 90min zone 2 with 3 – 4 x 30-second strides at the end |
In week 2, we build on the previous week starting with eight 600m intervals with 2 minutes of rest. Again, don’t come out too fast on your 600s. The goal is to be consistent.
Wednesday is about learning your goal pace through mile repeats. Be conservative here and make it a bit faster than your last 5-mile time.
On Thursday, again we’ll do some easy jogging and non-impact work, and we’ll close out the week with a zone 2 run with strides.
Week 3
| M | T | W | R | F | S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10min warmup 4 x 800m @ RPE 9, 2min rest 10min cooldown | Rest | 10min warmup 4 Rounds: 1mi @ 5 mile goal pace, 3min rest 10min cooldown | 20min non-impact cardio | Rest | 20min zone 2 2mi @ previous 5 mile pace 30min @ zone 2 |
Week 3 may be the most challenging since we have three hard sessions in total, and the fatigue starts to accumulate.
Monday kicks off with four hard 800m intervals with 2 minutes of rest.
And then on Wednesday, we build on the previous week’s session by adding a fourth hard mile effort.
On Thursday, we’re dropping down the zone 2 work to just 20 minutes.
Then on Saturday, we have a zone 2 run with the middle 2 miles at your previous 5-mile pace.
Week 4
| M | T | W | R | F | S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10min warmup 5 x 1000m @ RPE 9, 3min rest 10min cooldown | Rest | 10min warmup 5mi @ previous 5 mile pace 10min cooldown | 20min non-impact cardio | Rest | 60min @ zone 2 |
In week 4 we come back with five 1000m intervals.
And then on Wednesday, we’re coming back and hitting 5 miles at your previous 5-mile time. The expectation is this run will be challenging. You’re going to be carrying a lot of fatigue. If you can hit your previous 5-mile best, that is a fantastic sign.
On Thursday, you have the option of doing 20 minutes of nonimpact cardio,
And then Saturday, you have an easy zone 2 run to shake out your legs.
Week 5
| M | T | W | R | F | S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20min recovery run | Rest | 10min warmup 2 Rounds: 1mi @ race pace, full walking recovery 10min cooldown | Rest | Rest | 5mi timed trial |
Week 5 is peak week. On Monday, you get to enjoy a 20-minute recovery run.
On Wednesday, you’re getting your legs back with a few miles at goal pace
And then you’ll come back on Saturday and crush your 5-mile timed run.
5 Mile Running Program For Special Operations
You can get the free 5-mile run program here and enter your numbers to have the goal paces auto-populate.
Bonus Tip: Goal Pace Strategy
Before closing the article, I want to provide you with advice on how to pace yourself during your 5-mile run. Rather than coming out with an aggressive pace, I want you to run the first 2 and a half miles at your previous 5-mile pace. Going into your third mile, if you’ve been practicing the breathing techniques from this article, you should have a good gauge of how much gas is left in the tank.
Since you’ve just finished this training plan, I expect you’ll be running progressively faster in mile 3 and then in mile 4. By the time you start mile 5, it should and will feel brutal. Your body is going to give you every reason to slow down. You need to push through those thoughts. At that point, it’s just a few more minutes of effort.
If you use that strategy, you won’t ever gas out again.
If you enjoyed this article, check out these 6 Tips To DOMINATE Selection.
