Fergus Crawley's Guide: 5 Tips to Enhance Your 5K Running Experience

These tips are a good reminder to boost your cardio training.

At the 2023 CrossFit Games, a 5K run emerged as a pivotal challenge, assessing the speed and cardio endurance of individual athletes. Prior to the competition's commencement in early August 2023, hybrid athlete Fergus Crawley, renowned for his exceptional versatility, dissected strategies to achieve faster 5K runs.

On July 31, 2023, Crawley uploaded a video to his YouTube channel, offering five invaluable tips for boosting 5K running performance. As an athlete actively working to enhance his mile time and having achieved notable feats such as lifting the renowned Dinnie Stones, Crawley's expertise in running is unquestionable.

Thank you for providing Crawley's five essential tips for running an improved 5K. If you'd like, I can help you incorporate those tips into your text.

• Manage Expectations

Crawley advised setting reasonable goals and expectations for achieving an ideal 5K performance. Acknowledging that each individual's fitness, lifestyle, and background differ, he emphasized the significance of avoiding comparisons with others. Instead, focusing on short-term goals takes precedence over a distant, long-term vision for running.

[Running] is a skill,” Crawley said. “It’s something we need to develop and be mindful of. It’s important not to compare ourselves with arbitrary numbers or what other people are doing.

• Spend Energy Wisely

To maximize running performance, Crawley stressed the importance of creating a well-structured plan and meticulously tracking progress throughout a single training week. He advocated for the application of the Pareto principle, where 80 percent of training consists of easy efforts, while the remaining 20 percent involves moderate to challenging workouts. Crawley recommended incorporating three types of running sessions within a week: Long, slow runs to enhance aerobic capacity; high-intensity sessions for peak performance; and moderate sessions to build 5K endurance. According to Crawley, 'easy' efforts entail pushing oneself to 70-80 percent of their maximum heart rate, while anything more demanding surpasses that threshold.

• Strength Training

Crawley highlighted the benefits of general strength training for runners, emphasizing its role in enhancing understanding of body mechanics and refining running form. He suggested integrating strength training as a complementary component to overall fitness. Crawley's recommendations for improved running performance included incorporating heavy back squats, trap bar deadlifts, and various single-leg movements into one's training regimen.

• Commit to a Plan

Having a structured plan for running goals not only facilitates integration into daily life but also enhances focus, making it easier to achieve occasional milestones along the way.

• Turn Training Into a Social Opportunity

Crawley's final piece of advice emphasized the importance of not isolating oneself during training. He highlighted the value of making connections and socializing within the running community, as it can significantly enhance the fulfillment of achieving running goals. Crawley shared his personal experience of spending much of the past two years training alone, which ultimately had a negative impact on him. In contrast, in 2023, he began training with others, finding that it added more joy and camaraderie to his training process.

Featured image: @ferguscrawley on Instagram