5 Boredom Buster Drills You Can Do On a Run of 5K or Less

Now that we have so many restrictions placed on going outdoors, I’ve pretty much reduced things right down to a 5K run a few times a week. It didn’t occur to me at first, but this time is a good opportunity to work on those things I never seem to get around to…

Here are 5 things I’ve tried recently which made my short run much more interesting. Number 3 is probably my fave as it gives me chance to soak in much more of my surroundings (and grab some pics!)

1. Practise Quick and Quiet

A couple of years ago, my local running club started The Sole Sisters; a ladies only offshoot group and I decided I’d join them. The first session was an easy 2 min run, 1 min walk x7. We did loops near Coral Bay before heading for coffee together where I learnt that Julian Goater was on the island. Julian was a British long distance runner who’d won a clutch of medals in the past for his lightning speed. I’d already read his book ‘The Art of Running Faster’ and when I heard that he’d offered to host a training session for our running club the next morning, I just had to go.

We met in the Akamas, a headland of valleys, gorges and wide sandy bays. After some warm up jogs and stretches, Julian got us sprinting whilst he observed and modified our running technique-apparently I was bringing my arms too far forward.

‘Pump your arms behind you,’ he urged. ‘That will drive you forward.’

‘Quick and quiet! Quick and quiet! And look up!’

We were instructed to take lots of small steps (quick) and take care to run lightly on our feet instead of pounding (quiet).

It was a lot to take in. Julian went on to explain that we should ‘fall’ into the run; it should feel like you’re constantly falling slightly forward and you use your steps to catch yourself.

2. Do Fartlek or Intervals

Fartlek is almost as much fun as it sounds. It’s Swedish for ‘speed play’ and is more unstructured than intervals, more unpredictable. For example, you might decide to run fast to the next tree or road sign then slow right down to recover before choosing something else to aim for.

Intervals are short, intense efforts followed by equal or slightly longer recovery times. So you might run for 2 minutes at a hard effort followed by two to three minutes of easy jogging or walking to catch your breath.

3. Try Running Slowly

Now for something completely different – try running as slow as you can. this is super important concept to practice if you plan on tackling longer distances someday. Don’t dismiss the slow, easy runs in your training – they’re crucial in building your endurance. I know lots of runners are taken aback when they first realise quite how slow they’re supposed to go during these sessions and they ask: ‘… how do I go that slow?’

Don’t think it’s just the pros that experience this. When I started my ultra training and chose a plan to follow I found it really difficult at first to achieve the minimal pace suggested – I was literally on the verge of walking.

‘Slow’ is a relative term, of course.

You can use metrics such as pace and/or heart rate to determine effort but on this short run I would use your rate of perceived exertion (RPE).

Your RPE is a subjective assessment of how physically and mentally difficult an exercise is for you.

This is from Strava:

Easy (1-3): Can talk normally, breathing naturally, felt very comfortable

Moderate (4-6): Can talk in short spurts, breathing more labored, within your comfort zone but working

Hard (7-9): Can barely talk, breathing heavily, outside your comfort one

Max effort (10): At your physical limit or past it, gasping for breath, can’t talk/can barely remember your name…

To slow down, definitely keep your RPE within the 1-3 bracket and try these suggestions too:

• Take shorter steps.

Reducing your stride length really helps.

A good tip is to imagine you’re running on an ice patch. As you’ll find, this forces you to take much shorter steps!

• Reduce your arm swing

Your arm swing helps propel you forward; the faster you pump your arms, the faster you’ll go.

4. Practice Eating and Drinking On The Go

When I started running and was mainly doing 5 or 10K, I couldn’t imagine being able to eat anything as I was moving.

However, if you decide to tackle greater distances, you’ll need to learn to handle this. Your muscles will need additional fuel to power you through a longer run.

Although you don’t need to take in any food on a short run, you can definitely get some fuelling practise in by taking some nibbles along with you and learning to take a few bites of food every so often then chewing and swallowing. This can be quite challenging to combine with your running and breathing motion.

Good things to try are dates, chunks of banana and energy bites. I also like cubes of banana bread and ginger cake which surprised me as I thought the texture would be too sticky in my mouth making them harder to swallow but I especially love the zing of ginger and they work for me.

Everyone is different in what they can tolerate so practising beforehand is really important.

5. Try Tabata Protocol Runs

Here’s a simple one to try.

Set 1: Sprint at a moderate pace for 20 seconds. Rest for 10 seconds.

Set 2: Do as many push-ups as possible in 20 seconds. Rest for 10 seconds.

Set 3: Sprint for another 20 seconds at max speed. Rest for 10 seconds.

Set 4: Do as many squats as possible in 20 seconds. Rest for 10 seconds.

Set 5: Sprint as fast as you can for 20 seconds. Rest for 10 seconds.

Rest for two minutes and repeat the whole sequence twice.

You could also do squat jumps or burpees.

So next time you’re out for a short run, pick one of these suggestions and give it a go, if not for the entire run then just for a couple of kilometres. It just keeps things fresh until we’re able to return to normal again.