Sub-20 Goal for 5k (2012) (Read 5412 times)

    My achilles is a little sore after two fast days earlier in the week, but I am hoping it will be ready to race tomorrow morning.

     

    It is a hilly course, but I am looking to improve on my time from earlier in the year. Training has been going well, so I will be happy with a sub-19.

     

    --

    Nashville, TN

     

    flyrunnr


      I am pursuing membership into the elite sub-20 club. A few weeks ago I ran 20:41 for a new PR. I'm 43 years old, and just started running this year. It's kind of nice to get a new PR nearly every time out. It's obvious that progress is not linear and tapers off an then eventually plateaus for some time.

       

      Here are my results from my 5K's this year.

       

      4/21:  26:01 (8:22)

      5/19:  22:37 (7:16)

      5//27  22:45 (7:19)

      6/10   21:45 (6:59)

      6/17   21:29 (6:54)

      6/20   DNF  - calf injury

      7/28   20:41 (6:39)

       

      I recently started adding some intervals training, where I run 1K at a fast goal-supporting pace of about 6:20ish (then I walk for 4-5 min for recovery) and repeat this two more times. I am really struggling to do this in training, but during race time, I get the adrenaline to push faster, but I am very tired near he end of he race. I rarely run more than 3.2 mi in training and have only done 5 mi twice this year.

       

      Do I need more of a base of longer runs to build endurance or should I focus more on speed work? What speed work?

       

      --

      Philadelphia, PA

      https://www.strava.com/athletes/2507437

      PR's - 5K - 17:57 (2017) | 10K - 38:06 (2016)  | 13.1 1:23:55 (2019)  | 26.2  2:58:46 (2017)

      2020 Goals - Sub-2:55 Marathon                       Up Next: TBD, Boston on 9/14?

       

      C-R


        Crud. I just noticed I haven't posted here in a while. Haven't actually ran any 5ks for the first part of the year. Ran one (it's a fundraiser for our church) on 8/4 and hit 20:14. Likely to run another at the end of the month (a different parish fundraiser) and see if I can knock off those pesky seconds.

         

        Congrats to everyone who made it so far and keep working hard to those of us that are getting there.


        "He conquers who endures" - Persius
        "Every workout should have a purpose. Every purpose should link back to achieving a training objective." - Spaniel

        http://ncstake.blogspot.com/

        L Train


          Do I need more of a base of longer runs to build endurance or should I focus more on speed work? What speed work?

           

           

          Tough to know with the log closed.  Great progress, though. 

           

          lagwagon



             I am really struggling to do this in training, but during race time, I get the adrenaline to push faster, but I am very tired near he end of he race. I rarely run more than 3.2 mi in training and have only done 5 mi twice this year.

             

            Do I need more of a base of longer runs to build endurance or should I focus more on speed work? What speed work?

             

             

            It sounds like you may have good base speed but lack endurance.  Without seeing your log my guess is yes, you could benefit from more mileage and some longer runs.  

             

            Are your 5k race splits substantially positive (ie each mile is slower than the prior?)

              18:27 today. Those summer track sessions paid off!

               

              --

              Nashville, TN

               

                20:30 last night. I know that I'm seeing improvement this summer, but I feel like I have practically no natural speed. I'm still at a point where running at roughly 7:00/mi for an hour is considerably easier than running 6:40/mi or so for 20 minutes, which just seems weird to me. I'm not sure what I need to be doing in my training, besides continuing to build my mileage.

                   running at roughly 7:00/mi for an hour is considerably easier than running 6:40/mi or so for 20 minutes

                  Maybe not so weird, if you plug in a 12 K time of 52:30 (7:03 pace) into McMIllan, it projects a 20:48 for the 5K. You may be an endurance type athlete and can really benefit from Speed focused workouts (intervals, 20 min temp runs etc), if you don't do those now.

                  Slo


                    Crud. I just noticed I haven't posted here in a while. Haven't actually ran any 5ks for the first part of the year. Ran one (it's a fundraiser for our church) on 8/4 and hit 20:14. Likely to run another at the end of the month (a different parish fundraiser) and see if I can knock off those pesky seconds.

                     

                    Congrats to everyone who made it so far and keep working hard to those of us that are getting there.

                     

                    You and me both CR. I completely bombed my last one. I think I've only run 3 so far this year. I completely bombed this last one. Solid on miles one and two but could not hold it together in  the last mile.

                      Maybe not so weird, if you plug in a 12 K time of 52:30 (7:03 pace) into McMIllan, it projects a 20:48 for the 5K. You may be an endurance type athlete and can really benefit from Speed focused workouts (intervals, 20 min temp runs etc), if you don't do those now.

                        Maybe not so weird, if you plug in a 12 K time of 52:30 (7:03 pace) into McMIllan, it projects a 20:48 for the 5K. You may be an endurance type athlete and can really benefit from Speed focused workouts (intervals, 20 min temp runs etc), if you don't do those now.

                         

                        That's a good point. I've been trying to figure this out for a while, actually - i.e., the question of whether I'm naturally better-suited for longer events, or what. This year I ran a 1:10 10-mile and a 20:30 5k. The 10-miler predicts a faster 5k by about 20 seconds. Considering that the 10-miler was in May and the 5k was just this past Thursday, and I've been running 30-40mpw all summer, you'd think that this would be a pretty reasonable prediction. But no. However, when I was at my running 'peak' in 2009, I ran a 1:30 half, an 18:32 5k, and a 3:15 marathon. Here the 5k is the strongest event by a long shot. Pretty confusing. I was running much higher mileage then, but still.

                         

                        I do intervals and tempos now but I fear that I'm doing them a bit half-assed, partly out of fear of injury/pushing too hard. I'm going to make more of an effort to get 2 solid sessions in per week - one tempo session and one interval workout. For the intervals, I'm not really sure if I should focus on more strength-oriented, longer reps or shorter, speed-oriented ones. I might have such poor raw speed that 200s etc. would help but I basically have no idea.

                        montag


                        Super Pro Lurker

                          I didn't sign up in the beginning, but can I be in the club? I ran 20:01 (argh) in June and then 19:16 today (much nicer weather!).  

                            New season's best of 19:45 last weekend. I wonder whether I can get down to last year's 19:34?


                            SMART Approach

                              Awesome! Congrats. Maybe a couple more races and cooler weather may get you there.

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                                19:30 today - 4 seconds better than last year's best Smile