Forums >Racing>2015 sub 20 5k
Good luck Eric. I think with a 1:34 half you have a good chance at doing this.
Agreed. Add in that you've trained consistently over the winter and done some interval work, it's time to take a crack at it.
5000 meters, ran on an 200m indoor track with people from a local running club who rented the two inner lanes of the track for a couple of hours.
Finish time: 19:28
This was not a goal race. I am training for a 5K, but am not even halfway through a Daniels program, so I pretty much only did strength/speed work until now, and almost no VO2Max or endurance work. But the opportunity was too cool to pass, and I thought maybe I could do it. Even if I did not succeed, it was an automatic PR, and it would give me a reference for my next (and target) 5K scheduled on May 2nd. It was also a chance to meet some guys (and gals) of a running club I’m thinking I might maybe join in the future.
I was in wave 2. The speedy guys were in wave 1 (in the 16s and 17s). Wave 2 was for expected results of 18:30 to 21:30. After talking with everybody I pretty much knew how I would place. There was a young guy, in his early 20s, who was going to go for 18:30. He was going to finish first. Then there was an experimented guy, in his forties, who had run in the 18s in his twenty, but was well aware of his current fitness. He was going for 19:35 (47s /lap). There was a french guy, from France, who(m) I saw run before, and his normal running pace was way faster than mine. He had no idea how he was going to do in a 5K, but I knew he was going to finish ahead of me. Then, there was a rather shy guy, who was going for sub 20, like me. There were also 2 guys who were going to finish in the 21 something range. Shy guy decided he was going to try to follow experimented guy and go for 19:35. Since 20:00 means 48 secs/lap, I figured I could use them as pacers and go for a second faster per lap and shoot for 19:35 also, and if I couldn’t follow, then drop a bit.
Ready, set, go!
I followed experimented guy and shy guy for like 5 seconds and quickly realized they were going out too fast for me. So I dropped immediately and fell in my own pace. A few meters after that, French guy also dropped at about my pace, so I started following him from maybe 20 meters behind. I was pressing my lap button every 5 laps, meaning every 1000m. After a little while, Frenchy and I passed shy guy. Guess 19:35 was a little fast for him. A little later, we passed young guy. He really blew it. I was now third behind experimented guy, and right behind Frenchy. So here are my first 3 splits :
1 – 3 :56
2 – 3 :56
3 – 3 :57
In the 4th I was gaining on Frenchy. I didn't know if he was fading or conserving energy, but I passed him. He didn’t push to follow me so I slowly pulled ahead. I was now 2nd but experimented guy was almost half a lap ahead. I was also breathing pretty hard, and my legs were feeling tired. I was wondering if I was going to fade, but felt like I could probably hold the pace. So I just pushed a little bit in the 4th km, and held that faster pace for the 5th. I was not following Frenchy anymore, so felt like I should go with my gut feeling. I still thought I could hold, but didn’t care much if I faded a bit in the 5th because I had a few seconds in the bank. But I held. In the last lap, I wondered if I could make in sub 19:30 so I pushed just a tiny bit more but didn’t feel like I could push much for a whole 200m. So I went conservatively for most of the last lap, and after the last turn, I had some kick left for the last straight (30 meters maybe?) and gave it all I had.
4 – 3 :51
5 – 3 :45
Finished 2nd out of 7 behind experimented guy (19:13 if I remember correctly) and ahead of Frenchy (19:40 ish) with 19:27.93 on my watch. There was no chip time, and the volunteers (runners from a different wave) clocked me at 19:27, and the another one at 19:28, so I’m happy with 19:28.
Walk-Jogger
Cyberic, that's outstanding! You smashed it - well under 20:00! Congratulations. Track 5k's are a lot of fun.
Retired & Loving It
Sweet!
Now that it is done, I'll be cheering for you all!
From the Internet.
Nice job, well below 20 minutes!
Congratulations on a nice race Cyberic99. Well done.
I ran my 5K road race this morning and really did well relative to where I though I was. I ran a 20:17 (chip time). I started out running in the low 6's and I thought "hey, I'm back!". First mile was 6:15 but mile 2 and mile 3 revealed how lacking in endurance I am. Mile 2 was 6:31 and Mile 3 was 6:30 so at least I didn't fade further in mile 3. Very happy with this race. Onward!
Ken, 20:17 is a great start considering how little mileage you've done so far this year. I predict you will speed up quickly from here. How are your feet feeling after the race?
I'm running my first 5k race of the season next Saturday (28th) in Las Vegas. I should run very close to 20:00 if I have a good day and a little good luck. I hope I don't walk so many miles while sightseeing on Thursday and Friday that I trash my legs before the race.
Congratulations on a nice race Cyberic99. Well done. I ran my 5K road race this morning and really did well relative to where I though I was. I ran a 20:17 (chip time). I started out running in the low 6's and I thought "hey, I'm back!". First mile was 6:15 but mile 2 and mile 3 revealed how lacking in endurance I am. Mile 2 was 6:31 and Mile 3 was 6:30 so at least I didn't fade further in mile 3. Very happy with this race. Onward!
My reading of your race is the same as yours: you have the speed, but lacked a bit of endurance. Not much, either. 20:17 is a great time. When is your next shot at it?
Ken, 20:17 is a great start considering how little mileage you've done so far this year. I predict you will speed up quickly from here. How are your feet feeling after the race? I'm running my first 5k race of the season next Saturday (28th) in Las Vegas. I should run very close to 20:00 if I have a good day and a little good luck. I hope I don't walk so many miles while sightseeing on Thursday and Friday that I trash my legs before the race.
It was easy on a track to, well, keep track of my progress. Every 100 meters I could accurately measure how I was doing, so it was a piece of cake to make small adjustments to pace. On the road that aspect is not as easy.
You'll do great, I'm sure.
Thanks for the ecouragement guys. Cecil, my feet are 100% and I'm so happy to run again without my feet hurting.
Cyberic99, I've run lots of track 5,000 races (though none of them have been indoors which I'd guess would be tougher than an outdoor 400m track) and I can say that for me it's always harder on the track. I know that goes against everything but the track is mentally rough - round and round and round - so hats off to ya!
Holy cow, great race Eric, congrats!
Most of us have to put in a lot of blood and sweat and tears to get crack 20 min
Personally I'm on the Daniels 3rd Edition plan for middle distance runners (with some tweaks). This is the lower-mileage option (I think 64-80 km/ week). I just moved up to 80km this week.
Looking forward to a fun spring season
Holy cow, great race Eric, congrats! Most of us have to put in a lot of blood and sweat and tears to get crack 20 min Personally I'm on the Daniels 3rd Edition plan for middle distance runners (with some tweaks). This is the lower-mileage option (I think 64-80 km/ week). I just moved up to 80km this week. Looking forward to a fun spring season
Just because it is my first crack at a 5K race does not mean I have not been training hard and smart. And thanks
I'm following the same plan you are. I shrunk it in a 12 week program instead of 16 because I started too late. Right now I'm in the middle of phase 3, with 2 weeks to go, and then I'll enter 4 weeks of phase 4 before my target race on May 2nd. I use the lower-mileage option also (64-80). Although I pretty much follow it, it is designed for much younger and fitter athletes than me. So it does happen that I'll do one rep less than what was on the menu, or something like that.
Last week's training:
Low in mileage (33) but did get in some nice quality.
Wednesday was a 10X200 (200 recovery) ranging from 40 seconds to 36.5 seconds. Felt smooth and relaxed during the repeats, last one was tough so I quit at that point.
Saturday I ran a very hilly 4.75 mile race (with my club). Ran a time that predicts a 19:52 road 5K (if the course were flat). So big progress there.
Bottom line is that I think I'm in sub-20 shape now but I don't have a race scheduled to test that out yet. I'll start casting about for a likely candidate.
Great job kenkamet. Hopefully that will effectively translate to a sub 20 road race.
I ran, maybe for the last time in my life, a second workout in two consecutive days. In Daniels' 5-10K program, phase 3 is about working on VO2Max. In that phase, he puts the week's two workouts on consecutive days (usually on wednesday and thursday, but due to my real life schedule, I ran them on tuesday and wednesday this week). I now have only easy runs (with strides) to finish the week, and next week I start on phase 4, which is structured in a more common way with easy days between workout days.
I managed to get through phase 3 without getting injured, but I'm not so sure it was a good idea. Unless I see real progress in my running, I don't think I'll consider risking injury in this way again.
Anyone else familiar with this approach? Or have thoughts on it? The two workouts are like this:
Day 1: VO2Max workout : Intervals at 3-5K pace with about half the Interval distance of easy jog between Intervals.
Day 2: Miles at ~10K pace with 1 minute jog in between
The fact that there is no easy day in between makes Day 2's workout harder.