When I was much younger (cough…cough…teenager), I ran a cross-country 5K in 18:22 that has stood as my 5K PR ever since.  I was a crappy, undisciplined runner in high school and was consistently at the back of the pack as a result.   After an 18+ year hiatus from running due to a lacrosse induced knee injury, I started running a couple of years ago and the have really rediscovered the enjoyment of running.  A couple of half marathons and a full later, I find myself working through another training cycle for the Chicago marathon with good results. 

During a recent long run, my wind was wandering around and the idea of beating my 5K PR took root.  My more recent 5K time is 22:45 (April 2010)  that is pretty soft given my increase in volume and fitness since it was set.  While I realize that there is a vast fitness difference between 22:45 and 18:22, I am a smarter, more focused runner now and can see that it may be possible given appropriate training and enough time.    I would obviously need to wait until after the current training cycle and race are in the books given the differences in workouts for a 5K vs. a Marathon.    With that being said, I have a few questions for the runners out there who are smarter than me(most if not all of you):

1 – Am I kidding myself to think this is possible?    My running in recent years has been more focused towards distance vs speed.  Is it possible that I could develop the speed necessary to run a 5K at a sub 6 minute pace?

2 – If the answer to number 1 is that I am not insane, what would you suggest as key workouts to build 5K performance for a masters runner (43 years old)?    My current marathon plan has two quality runs per week (long, alternating tempo/speed) with the speed intervals being 1600s and 800s.  The rest of the runs are just basic easy runs.  My simpleminded view of the running training suggests that I should shift my interval work to shorter distances (200,400,600, ladders) and think about adding more hillwork and fartlek runs).  Are there other workouts that would be helpful?

I noted a couple of older postings in the RA archives that refer to Pete Magill’s blog that has unfortunately been taken offline.  Any thoughts and guidance would be appreciated. 

Thanks

I definitely think you can do it -- I actually broke 17 (but I hate short races).

Short version, not a runner growing up but ran a lot for baseball, football and basketball.  Ran a few races off of that training and did OK.  If I recall correctly, I THINK I ran sub 40 for a 10k once.

Started running at 39 and progressed quickly.

Best advice I can give -- don't worry about having the speed.  Your focus should be on strength (your base).  Once you have a good base, the speed will come.  Of course that's just my opinion, I could be wrong...

I don't think being insane is a barrier to beating a lifetime PR.

Actually, it might help!

Short Answer: Yes you can beat your lifetime 5k PR and you may or may not be insane, we don't know you well enough yet.  And as Hermosa & BTY pointed out being insane might be an advantage toward achieving your goal.

Longer Answer:  Dreams are powerful things.  Masters runner are often much more disciplined than younger runners and able to focus more on their goals.  On the flip side - we often have a lot more on our plate too like job pressure & travel, family needs, lack of support from family toward running, etc.  So my opinion, it ain't going to be easy and probably won't happen this year but next year, maybe...if you want it bad enough and your circumstances are favorable.  Hermosa is a VERY TALENTED runner - he suggested adding base mileage.  Your base mileage seems very low to me for achieving this kind of goal.  I would bet Hermosa has logged well over 2.5K miles a year for the past two-three years at least.  Looking at McMillan's performance calculator, an 18:22 5K equates to 38:09 10K, 1:25 HM and a 2:59 Marathon.  Pretty ambitious.  But doable if you want it bad enough.  But be careful about ramping up too fast.  Also, you might want to consider hiring a coach if it's really important to you.  Good luck!

Skip

of course you can.

ps - could I lend you mine so you could beat it too.

Just enter as "barefoot jon"

thanks.

 I think that I have insanity covered.  As I dressed for a 20 miler last winter and subsequently ran it in 8 degree weather, I saw a look in my long suffering wife's eye that can only be described as sympathy for the deranged man that she married.  On the other hand, I thought that 20 miles in 8 degrees sounded like a great idea.....until my water bottle froze at mile 17.

I wholeheartedly agree with the comments on increasing my base.  I ran 600 miles in 2009, 1100 in 2010 and I am on track to break 1500 this year.  As I have slowly pushed my base up to around 40 MPW, my legs seem to be agreeable and I have noticed a general improvement in my running fitness (lower HR, improved endurance, food tastes better etc).  Based on what I have read and your comments, I think that I will continue this trend and slowly add a mile or two each week after I complete this training cycle until I get closer to 50MPW.  Improvements in pace will hopefully result from this approach.  I have also dropped 10 pounds since I started running.  Losing another 10 is completely doable and wouldn't hurt my speed.

After giving this some more thought, I also realize that 18:21 will be a stretch / long term goal even though it may be possible.  Perhaps I should focus on some interim goals in the meantime (like breaking 21 minutes).

Thanks to all for your comments.

Jon

Jon, don't get hung up on the numbers:

 

Miles per week

5k time, etc.

 

My suggestion for ramping up the base is more about building a bank of miles that you have on your legs and watching your fitness grow.  As you continue to do this in a responsible manner, the numbers will take care of themselves.

 

In the grand scheme of things, running a fast 5k is fairly simple.  It is all about having enough stamina to maintain a fast pace over the distance.  Most often you see people who flame out because they do not have the stamina to maintain the pace that they expend in the first mile for the entire race.  When I was first working on moving my 5k time down, I was very strict in my pacing.  I would figure what time I wanted to run and then shoot for having the first 1.5 miles = 51% of the total time.  After the first 1.5, it was go time to run as fast as I wanted.  This helped to prevent the 5k bonk that I tended to experience as a beginning runner.  You don't want to set a mile PR in the first mile of a 5k... 

I am with you on mileage comment.  I have added mileage very slowly as I found that I wanted to run more.  The progression in mileage has just sort of happened over time and will probably be the way that I handle it going forward.   Run more when I want to....take a rest day when I need to....run hard when it feels good......run easy most of the rest of the time.

Thanks