Forums >Racing>Goal of sub 20 5k
Quality / quantity isn't exactly an either / or situation. You're doing 400 meter repeats at 80 seconds so you should be able to crack 20 for 5k. If you were doing those same quality workouts on 40 or so miles a week, sub 20 wouldn't be a problem for you at all. You might have to sacrifice the quality while you build mileage, but you should be able to put it back in once you've adjusted to the new base.
Michigan, sorry to be so plain, but you do way too many time trials on the track and on the treadmill. Save it for races. There is no way I could reproduce a PB effort on my own, and there's no way I'd want to. If you're in 19:55 shape, you probably can't run faster than about 3-4k at that pace on your own, and you get a lousy workout every time you do that. Do some 800s instead and race maybe once a month.
Thanks for the advise. I am still curious as to what kind of shape I am in for my 5k race in 13 days. I was gonna try to run 2 miles at a fast pace with my new racing flats this Thursday but I may take your advise and try 4 fast half miles with jogs in between or else try a 20 minute tempo run with the flats. I just want to get a sense how they feel.
2014 - Get 5k back under 20:00. Stay healthy!
I think adeel is on the money with his comment. I'm usually just lurking, but enjoying this thread. I'd like to go under 20 also, but I haven't stepped it up yet (need volume and intensity). I'm somewhere around 21:00 now - I think. Have a race Saturday so I will get a data point. Going back to what Adeel said... I can run 400 repeats at 1:30 with 400 jog recoveries in between all day long (for a while anyway). But today, I ran 3 800's with SLOW 400 jogs in between and struggled to stay around 3:05-3:10. I would've tanked on the 4th repeat for sure. I think my progress will be slow unless I "suck it up" start getting those longer intervals done. Course, some more miles wouldn't hurt me either Steve
I can run 400 repeats at 1:30 with 400 jog recoveries in between all day long (for a while anyway). But today, I ran 3 800's with SLOW 400 jogs in between and struggled to stay around 3:05-3:10. I would've tanked on the 4th repeat for sure.
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I'll join your quest. Current PR is 21:01 but its from about a year ago. No idea where I'd be if I tried one today, I'd guess 20:30-45. After this months marathon of marathons I'd like to turn my attention to getting under 20:00.
adeel, Well, that 2:00 jog is more like a 2:40 crawl for me. (Yes, I need to decrease that rest time!) I'm doing a little mini-taper for Saturday's race: (note these are actually .5 mile, using my garmin for these repeats on a mostly flat stretch of road) Yesterday: 3 x 800 (warmup, #1 3:12, 2:33 recovery,#2 3:02, 2:41 recovery,#3 3:04, cooldown) Today: 2 x 800 (warmup, #1 3:04, 2:46 recovery, #2 3:05, cooldown) The 5k on Saturday will help me figure out where I'm at. But hopefully I will be able to buildup on the number of these intervals and short recoveries. I may try that 1000 m workout someone mentioned early also. I'll see if I get fired up during the race, but I think I'm a little ways off right now. (My speed comes from Ultimate Frisbee - I'm very quick in short distance, but tank pretty quick. Last year was my first year over 1000 miles so I'm still very much learning to run distance) I will watch some of you guys succeed and hopefully I'll get motivated. Steve
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.
Son, when you participate in sporting events, it's not whether you win or lose; it's how drunk you get. -- Homer Simpson
Yesterday: 3 x 800 (warmup, #1 3:12, 2:33 recovery,#2 3:02, 2:41 recovery,#3 3:04, cooldown) Today: 2 x 800 (warmup, #1 3:04, 2:46 recovery, #2 3:05, cooldown)