Goal of sub 20 5k (Read 12722 times)

Tom, Good luck with your goal. I've thought about setting my sights that high, but I'm not sure at this point I'm ready to think about concrete goals at any distance (I did this last year, and despite reaching all my goals in good time I was a little hurt towards the end of the year). There is a 5k training group here at RA: http://www.runningahead.com/groups/faster5k. I think I might join once I get my miles up to a more regular level. Let us know how you progress! Drew

I've set my sights on sub-20 this year. Last year I wanted to break 21 and managed a 20:27 on my last 5k, so I feel like its in my grasp if I can stay healthy and consistent.

Yeah. I want to do -20 in the 5k this year, in june/july. Though it's a goal, I'm not sure how much specific 5k training I want to do. I really prefer the Marathon. I'll be running Miami this coming weekend. I'm thinking about running Charlottsville, VA in April. In mid-May, after a nice tapper, I'll put in some more speed work. Hopefully I'll run a good 5K prior to starting my fall marathon training in July. Even without a whole lot of specific training, I think I can run sub 20. I ran three 5Ks in 07, all of which were 20x. Good luck.

> Does anyone else have this goal? Along with the previous positive responses, myself as well Good luck and injury free racing to all of us!

I'm hoping to get under 20:00, I don't know if it's realistic or not. It would be 40 seconds off my PR, and last race season taking two seconds off my PR was a b*tch. I have a great training plan for your races, they're called races. That's right, use this week's race to prepare for next week's PR. The Good Times Series runs every Tuesday night starting in April, and you could just hop on 495 (or maybe 110 from Methuen?) and make your way to beautiful downtown Lowell. It's around 18 5K races over a 20 (or so) week period. Have a beer (or two...) at Hookslide Kelly's after, and get your big ol' series PR "medal" (in genuine PVC). Good stuff. www.goodtimesrun.com I also started a Good Times group, it's pretty quiet at the moment (now there's an understatement) but with the season's mudslinging and ribbing camaraderie it should pick up. RA Good Times 5K user group

I'm hoping to get under 20:00, I don't know if it's realistic or not. It would be 40 seconds off my PR, and last race season taking two seconds off my PR was a b*tch.

You can get there without a doubt if you are willing to do a little more. First thing would be to run on at least one of those days you take off each week. Compared to several I see posting here your mileage is ok, but it's still not a lot. The next thing would be to a add a weekly track workout. It doesn't have to be a ****buster either...I'd say that 5 x 1K at about 8-10 seconds per mile slower than your current 5k race would do just fine. Take a half lap recovery jog between each rep. If you are real consistent, religiously doing them every week, you will see measurable results. You can rotate between those, 800's, and 1200's if you want. Just do about 3 miles worth of each. A lot of people will tell you to run them harder, do 400's and a lot of other stuff, but I can tell by your PR's that endurance/threshold work is what you need most at this stage. Running your intervals a little slower and taking a short recovery will boost your lactate threshold if you keep doing them. You should also be able to recover from them quite easily. So that's it...run an extra day or 2 each week, and throw in those intervals. There are other things you can do but this is enough to get you to your goal. I see that you have been doing some nice long runs, so that's good. I picked on you because you're easy...if you've run 20:40 off of what you've been doing it's not going to take drastic measures to get your sub-20. I would say to everyone else who has posted here that the best thing you can do is increase your mileage. Don't think that because 5k is a short race that you don't need lots of endurance to run it well. That's a very common misconception.

There is a race on July 4th that I totally blew up in last year. I want to break 20 in it this year. It will require a 90 second improvement on my current PR, but my training has picked up and I believe I can do it.

Hey Len, hire Jim as your coach and you shouldn't have a problem. Check out his PR entries, he knows of which he speaks. And Jim, before you go posting any more helpful stuff like that, please check the user's profile for location. If they are from Massachusetts, DO NOT help them. Especially Trentman359, do not help Trentman359 under any circumstances. If the young lad beats me up in Lowell, he will be IMPOSSIBLE to deal with. I can't wait for April.