Goal of sub 20 5k (Read 13664 times)

Thanks all...here is my extended race report. http://runningahead.com/forums/post/da2fddecdaa04ad0ba659121aeeceffc#focus

Good job mich! almost there! me however, i was 20:43 on saturday...a bit slower than the 20:22 i ran in March. Mile splits were 6:20, 6:40, 7:00 + :43 at the end. I died at about 1.5 miles and my right calf got really tight. meh. I know it's all because I still only get about 13 miles a week in. If i can get more miles in per week it'll be a cake walk...I just don't have the endurance on such low mileage. I'll probably try again in about a month...

Good job mich! almost there! me however, i was 20:43 on saturday...a bit slower than the 20:22 i ran in March. Mile splits were 6:20, 6:40, 7:00 + :43 at the end. I died at about 1.5 miles and my right calf got really tight. meh. I know it's all because I still only get about 13 miles a week in. If i can get more miles in per week it'll be a cake walk...I just don't have the endurance on such low mileage. I'll probably try again in about a month...

Man you were ahead of my 2 mile split. I hit 2 miles in 13:06 en route to 20:03. You need the endurance to run the whole race at a hard effort. Not surprising at 13 miles a week you couldn't hold the pace going out at 6:20 you were on pace for 19:38 I would think there is no way can you run that fast yet...if it was hot out it might have hurt your time as well. I know most people go out faster in the 1st mile and hope to hold on to break their goals....but most days you are not going to break a record...so you need to run smartly. Kind of nice to have times in the 20:40 range though and be dissapointed that you had a bad race...that is still within striking distance if you do a little more training.

Just want to make sure this thread is still working...It looks like evtish posted yesterday but the post hasn't shown up yet. Ok it works...I went to therunzone.com website and asked Tinman some questions and he says most runners only have 5-6 hard runs in them before they peak then will start to burn out. Well after hearing that I think I am going to do some more tempo runs the next 8 weeks or so as I have done 3 weeks of hard interval work with 4 races in the past month. I would like to peak from now to late July as I have three races in that time frame in whiich I think I can best 20.

Just want to make sure this thread is still working...It looks like evtish posted yesterday but the post hasn't shown up yet. Ok it works...I went to therunzone.com website and asked Tinman some questions and he says most runners only have 5-6 hard runs in them before they peak then will start to burn out. Well after hearing that I think I am going to do some more tempo runs the next 8 weeks or so as I have done 3 weeks of hard interval work with 4 races in the past month. I would like to peak from now to late July as I have three races in that time frame in whiich I think I can best 20.

I still think you would do well to fit in a 12-miler on all non-race weeks. You don't seem to be making the connection between your increased mileage, including that 13 you did earlier this month, and your improved time. Tinman has told me that the weekly long run should be the highest priority of all workouts I do. I know it might not seem logical that a long run could help that much for a short race such as the 5k, but it does both directly and indirectly. We often think that running workouts harder than race pace will make that pace feel easier during the race, and it might. However, the key is to be able to keep it up for the entire distance. It is of little value to go out it at a good pace and think "wow, this feels pretty easy" only to be sucking air a mile later. Mileage and LT workouts give you that ability to keep going, even when the pace feels somewhat hard relatively early in the race. Another thing (I saw your post on r zone, btw) is that I see that you do your tempo runs on the road, and that the pace is uneven. I think it's a good idea to do them on the track at an even pace. From what I understand that's what "tempo" means--running at a certain tempo rather than as a progression run or fartlek. It's much easy to monitor on a track than on the road. Also, I find that doing longer intevals between 1k and 1600 with short recoveries at 10k-HM pace have made a huge difference. These would also be very even rather than making each rep faster than the one before. It's amazing how much these workouts translate to a strong even pace during the races. Do you catch this one during that discussion on r zone? "An aside, it's a total fallacy that you have to run faster than race-pace to make race-pace feel comfortable. Nonsense! I've seen runners do big mileage bases at no faster than 7 minutes a mile and then jump in a 5k, 8k, or 10k race and set a personal best time at close to 5 minutes a mile." He told me very much the same thing almost 2 years ago. I wrote it down in my log and have never forgotten it. It is so true.

Jim, Thanks for that post. I think that is good advice for me too. I have set PRs on my last couple of 5ks, but my pace chart looks like a "camel hump". Good start and a good finish, but always a rough patch in the middle. Same with the 5 mile I ran on 4/26. Some of this may be mental (confidence), but I've made it a priority to hit those 90 minute (or close) long runs all summer before I run another 5k. I think it is going to pay dividends this fall. Steve

I still think you would do well to fit in a 12-miler on all non-race weeks.

Jim, you are so dead on with this. I just PR'd a 5 miler by over a minute. I attribute all of it to getting out for that 12 miler every weekend. It's amazing how you can keep going when you're used to that LR. I ran a 34:14, and I hadn't run a sub 7 mile in probably over 2 years. Best part was that the pacing was superb, all miles wer under 7 minutes. You're right, make the long run the priority. Skip anything but he long run. Now I am wondering how low I can go with the 5K.

I wanted to get some fast running in today since I have 9 days till my next 5k and possible sub 20 attempt. I went to the local track and banged out 4 X 1200 meters with 2 minutes rest. Splits 4:46 4:46 4:47 4:37 One has to love the splits the track offers. Every 200 meters I can see how I am faring splitwise. But I don't like running in circles that much so glad to get this run out of the way. After 2 runs I was feeling quite hot...temps only around 62 but the sun was hot okay? So I started nice and easy on the 3rd interval and still knocked out a relaxed 96 second lap....which for those who don't know is 20 minute 5k pace. I was aiming for 4:48 per 1200 meters as that is 20 minute pace so I succeeded nicely. I kept on target with splits...last lap was 84 seconds thats why the last 1200 meters was faster. Another nice goal I reached 174 miles a new monthly record ... have to toot my horn on that one.