Forums >Running 101>Feasible 5k time
So I'm 31 years old, 6'2" and 204 lbs. I am fairly athletic in that I lift weights regularly and play basketball on a somewhat regular basis where we get 3+ miles in... just not within the last month or two.
I recently (stupidly) challenged my younger sister who has run 5k's for the last few years. I have 3 months to train and her last 5k time was around 23 mins -- that's what I have to beat.
I just started training and was able to log a 7:58 mile without having done any running from basketball in the last 30+ days (I was dead tired after that mile though). From some other running I've done recently I'm looking at a 27-28 min 5k time currently with minimal training.
Think I can shave 4-5 minutes off that time in the next 3 months?
finnegan begin again
Sure you can do it. Three months is plenty of time to develop a small base and then do more specific training. There are many ways to accomplish it. Presuming your time trial mile of 8 minutes, you should begin to log miles around 10;30-11:00 pace. Occasional tempos in the 9 minute range. As your conditioning and fitness improve you can increase the paces.
One of the most frequent problems for new or returning runners is to run too fast during training. That and just not being consistent.
Search for 'training paces' and beginner 5k plans. Hal Higden is a frequent resource for training plans.
Good luck.
I'm looking at a 10k in 10 weeks with little fitness currently. My goal is to break my streak of personal worsts. My usual strategy is to be inconsistent and run too fast during the last few weeks.
"... the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value..." Thomas Paine Dec 23, 1776 The Crisis
Adversity is the first path to truth. Lord Byron
"No one plans to fail…..they fail to plan" Skinny Pete
not bad for mile 25
Wise advice. Run lots. Mostly slow.
Great advice. I'm certainly pushing hard right now so I'll back off the pace and just work on getting some miles in. Thanks!
If you can run a solo 8 min mile, you can run a 7:00 ish mile in a race, and a 23 min 5k from there is not a big leap. So just get some miles in your legs to be able to run 3.1 miles hard. A 5k predictor that works for me is to run 3 x mile with a min break after each mile. The time you took to run the 3 miles will be close to what you can run the 3.11 if you were to race today. This is kind of a hard workout and not really recommended as a training workout for a 5K, you might want to try a 6-8 X 400 m at 5k pace once every other week, which in this case would be about 1:40 -1:45 for the 400 m.
ha ha love your strategy.
TG: you should have no problem if you follow the good advice from the others