2010 Goal of Sub 20 5K (Read 2886 times)

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.

Wow, this is funny. Two years ago the Dawg was having trouble taking 2 seconds off his PR and breaking 20.

Now he's taken well over 2 minutes off his PR and broken 18 (and still getting faster)! Should serve as great inspiration for this thread. Don't set your long-term goals too low, folks!

I guess technically I am in this club right now seeing as I haven't posted a 5K under 20 since 2004.  I did a couple very hilly ones last year in 20:48 and 21:02, and some of my tempo runs came very close (3 miles in 19:34).  Anyway I've upped my mileage to get my times down.  Last year I averaged 23.5 miles/week which was my best in some time (20.1/week in 2006).  This year I'm over 30 and feeling great.

I had a breakthrough of sorts today because I caught an ideal day (sunny, 44 degrees, no wind and dry conditions).  I went over to the rail trail which is fairly flat, just gentle sloping, to do an out-and-back long run.  I had no designs on hammering a run, I just wanted to finish 10 miles for the first time in 5 months.  Feeling good I started to pick it up, hit 3 miles in 22:37, then 5 in 37:17...8 in 59:28 and pushed the last 2 miles which sloped downhill, finishing in 1:13:22 beating my time last year by over 3.5 minutes.  I had made a pretty hard effort but didn't kill myself...I could go and run another 3 or 4 miles later today if I had to.

I feel confident I could do 5 miles in 32.  I'm not sharp yet, I've done some strides and a tempo run other than my hockey games which serve as speed workouts.  I want to race in a month or so.  Good luck everyone!

Thanks for restarting this.

I've been around since the last thread.  I've finally retired from playing Ultimate Frisbee after yet another injury, so I'm ready to give it a go now.  20:52 in January after a terrible Fall dealing with PF (or maybe heel spurs? - from frisbee).

And thanks to Bad Dawg for reposting Jim's advice.  Time to suck it up and get 'er done!  Hoping to roll into summer with consistent mileage and be ready this Fall.

Steve

All right! We have a good group to set this goal for this year! I'm excited to be part of this!

When is everyone's goal races?

I'm running a 10 miler on friday (if all goes as planned) and then I'm planning to go for the 5k (1st try) on April 11th and then again on the 25th - but the 25th is a very hilly course.
We will see!

When is everyone's goal races?

Earlier I said I was going to give it a go on April 12th. This Friday I learned about a 5K that starts and ends a couple blocks from my house on the 11th and I want to run it. (Why do they think 3 weeks is enough to promote a race??) "Problem" is, it's a challenging course. I'll be racing hard but I don't expect to get too worried about time. Following this is an April vacation and a focus on my May goals. I'll have to play it by ear with a next 5K attempt. Fortunately they aren't hard to find and I'll be adding more volume.

I've been thinking about running this fast 5K in June. If so, I should go sub 20 but it might feel a bit hollow. Anyone have any thoughts on these kind of races? 

April 10 is my next race....

Goal is to better my January time of 20:52 and see how close I am to my PR (20:31 if I remember right).

Going to be tough to get it done before the hot summer months down here.  Main thing is to get that extra running day per Jim's instructions...I had a great week last week with 27 miles (most in a long long time).

July 3 may be my next data point after that. 

Last year my 5K Times were 20:21 in April and May, but then 20:58 and 21:08 in August. I ended the year with left foot pain, maybe PF or a deep bruise. I took October 2009 off. Over the winter I ran most days on a treadmill at 9 to 10 minutes per mile. Most of the time I ran 50 minutes, sometimes 30 to 40 minutes, and occasionally took a day off.

My left foot is not perfect, but a lot better than last summer/fall. My lower back occasionally flares up. Currently it is causing a lot of discomfort. I hope I can add tempos, CV intervals, striders, and races to my training, and also get rid of the aches and pains that I usually don't have. I am not in sub 20 minute shape right now, but hope to be healthy enough to get into that kind of shape by mid to late summer.

My next race is April. I have entered that race every year since 2002 except for 2006. Here are the times: 21:33, 20:18, 20:06, 20:04, N/A, 20:28, 21:01, and last year's 20:21. xhristopher, I think that April race is in the "fast race" category you describe. It is not short, but not as hilly as some of my other 5K races. It is relative. I had thought the race was mostly downhill, but looking at Garmin elevation readings, it actually is not. It is just not as uphill as most of the races in my area. I think it is up to the runner to decide if a course is PR worthy.
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I look forward to reading about everyone's 2010 training and racing!