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Help running a faster 5k (Read 172 times)

John tylerson


    i am a senior in high school and played soccer all my life. Recently I have started to wanna run competitively. So I contacted the cross country coach from the college that i plan on going to about walking onto the team. He wants me to run a few 5ks to see what my running level is. I've never ran an actual 5k race but have been training for about 2 weeks now and am planning on doing a race May 9th. I would like to run the 5k in 18:45 but I'm not sure it's possible to improve this fast as when I first started 2 weeks ago I ran 1.5mi in 10:30. Is it possible to improve by this much?

    Chris Pinney


      I think this is a very ambitious goal. The good news is you play soccer so I assume you run quite a bit. How did you feel after that 1.5 miles. I would recommend running on soft surfaces at first since that's what you're used to. I predict 21:30 on May 9. Not saying you can't get there eventually though. I would talk to your schools XC coach and see if he can get you in the right direction.

        How bad do you want it?

         

        This is similar to advice given by our group coach I used to work with to a younger runner. I am modifying it a bit for your paces.

         

        If you can run 10:30 for 1.5 miles solo off of 2 weeks training, 18:45 in a race is not out of the question in 6 weeks but will take some work. You likely have the speed  with your soccer background, and probably need to work on your stamina, and tempo runs are likely your best bet.  I'd warmup for 10 minutes, then run 2 miles a bit slower than your 10k pace every week, I'd aim for just a bit faster than 14 min for 2 miles, which is the same pace as your 1.5 mile run, (cool down with another mile or so), extend this to about 2.5 miles or 20 minutes whichever comes first by April 30.

         

        Run 3-4 miles at easy pace 3 times a week in addition and a 6-7 mile long run (about an hour total) for a total of 5 days running with just two of those being hard workouts, the tempo run and the long run.

        John tylerson


          Thanks this helps a lot, I was kind of thinking during some of my runs that I can run pretty fast just not for too long

          RunnersOnTheGo


            I agree with Happy Feet that tempo runs are the best bang for your fitness buck.

             

            That being said, with short time to train I would say interval training will give you the quickeest results.

             

            I think happy feet did not reccomend any interval training because of your soccer background (soccer is basically one big lon interval workout.)

             

            However, I think you could see some big gains from some event specific interval training, especially if you incorporate it over the next few weeks.

             

            I would reccomend the following workouts:

             

            4X1600(or 1 mile) at your goal 5k pace (for you that is 6:00/mile) with about 3:30 rest between intervals

            6X1000 meters at your goal 5k pace (for you that is 3:45 for 1000 meters) with about 2:30-3:00 rest between intervals

            8X800 meters at your goal 5k pace (3:00 for an 800) with about 2:00 rest.

             

            I would also add in 12X400 meters at a little faster than your 5k pace (1:20-1:25) with 1:00-1:30 rest

             

            You can adjust the rest accordingly, but what is most important is that you are able to hit the pace for the interval. If the workouts feel doable with that much rest it is a good indicator that you have the fitness to run the time you are looking for.

             

            I would reccomend doing the 1600s this week (two days after your tempo run,) the 1000s next week (again, two days after your tempo run) and if I were you I would do the 800s the next week and replace the tempo run with the 400s. At that point you are not going to gain much of the aerobic benefit the tempo run is giving you for a race on may 9th.

             

            Let us know how you do. Even if you don't hit your goal, there is a good chance you could with another few weeks of training.

             

            Good luck!

             

            -John | Runners On The Go

              Good advice from John, but the reason I did not want the OP John to run intervals (apart from his soccer background) is that he needed some volume more than speed (longer runs and more days running), and speed tolerance (tempo) to go from 1.5 miles to 3.1 miles at the same pace.  More than 2 hard workouts for a beginning runner may be a bit much.  Maybe alternate the tempo and intervals every other week, and not do both every week? But since the runner is young and probably fit enough, he can likely get away with both for this CC tryout.

               

              If the OP can run controlled 12 X 400 in 1:20-1:25 with just 1:00-1:30 rest, I think 18:45 would be well within reach, but I suspect he is going to run them too fast in the beginning, and not be able to finish the workout, if I run this workout, I'd start at a bit slower than 5K pace (slower than 1:30), and aim to run each subsequent interval a sec or two faster, stop when I can no longer hit the split.

              RunnersOnTheGo


                "But since the runner is young and probably fit enough, he can likely get away with both for this CC tryout."

                 

                That was my thought, essentially the OP would only be doing two hard workouts a week for abou three weeks at this point.

                 

                Alternating tempo and interval workouts would work out as well.