Goal of sub 20 5k (Read 13664 times)

dev_08


    You can get there without a doubt if you are willing to do a little more. First thing would be to run on at least one of those days you take off each week. Compared to several I see posting here your mileage is ok, but it's still not a lot. The next thing would be to a add a weekly track workout. It doesn't have to be a ****buster either...I'd say that 5 x 1K at about 8-10 seconds per mile slower than your current 5k race would do just fine. Take a half lap recovery jog between each rep. If you are real consistent, religiously doing them every week, you will see measurable results. You can rotate between those, 800's, and 1200's if you want. Just do about 3 miles worth of each. A lot of people will tell you to run them harder, do 400's and a lot of other stuff, but I can tell by your PR's that endurance/threshold work is what you need most at this stage. Running your intervals a little slower and taking a short recovery will boost your lactate threshold if you keep doing them. You should also be able to recover from them quite easily. So that's it...run an extra day or 2 each week, and throw in those intervals. .
    This is the best advice so far in the thread. Lower mileage runners tend to get caught up too much in hard and complicated track workouts. One day a week, run that 5*1000 track workout (at ~10 sec slower per mile than 5k pace) with 200m jog rest. With 2-3 miles warmup and 2-3 mi. cool down it makes for a higher mileage day. You could even tack on 4*200 at mile pace (with 200m jog rest again) at the end to work on speed/turnover. Then, one day a week do a long run with the last 20-30 min at tempo pace. The rest of the week run easy, or even slow if your body needs to recover, as many days as you can. Throw striders into the middle of some of these runs. When I'm building up (like I am now), I start with getting used to running every day, then I add one of these longer days per week. When my body can handle that, I add the other long day.


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      Dev, You sound like another Tinman advocate like Jim and myself.

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      dev_08


        Dev, You sound like another Tinman advocate like Jim and myself.
        You're right! (Lest anyone think these are my own original ideas). I picked these up over at the runzone and it's worked very well for me the last 2 years. Just started using this site for my log in the last few months.
          Had a 5K this morning. According to my training plan, this was a "test race", as the race I should be in the best shape for will be in 4 weeks. Anyway, I finished in 20:23, a new PR (by 7 seconds) and only 23 seconds away from the goal. Now, I feel like I HAVE to get under 20 in the upcoming race. I'm feeling really good about getting there now!
            Thankfully, I ran my first 5k a couple of months ago and got 19:59 Big grin I've run 10Ks and marathons, but I never challenged myself to do a 5k. I was very pleased that I don't have to obsess over a sub 20 any more.
              Had a 5K this morning. According to my training plan, this was a "test race", as the race I should be in the best shape for will be in 4 weeks. Anyway, I finished in 20:23, a new PR (by 7 seconds) and only 23 seconds away from the goal. Now, I feel like I HAVE to get under 20 in the upcoming race. I'm feeling really good about getting there now!
              I wish I could run times like yours on low mileage. Just increase the mileage and I bet you will get sub 20 in a tempo run effort. I ran a record 171 miles in March and whether I like it or not I will be faster for it. I was hoping to run a 5k this Saturday but the wife has other plans so my races keep getting pushed back. No biggy I will just keep upping miles. I am thinking about a possible track 5k time trial in the next week. I have my 1st big 5k race on April 20 and I am running that no matter what.
                I ran 171 miles in March besting my all time best 159 miles set last July. That is the time last Summer that I ran 3 five-ks in 20:17, 20:22, and 20:24. So 2008 mileage totals for the 1st 3 months are: 126, 142 and 171 respectively. I am still doing most runs on treadmill at 1% grade since my daughter is 3 years old and my wife wants me to take her in the basement to play alot so hopefully the outdoors will not seem too strange when I start racing. I am trying to run 40 miles per week total. My long runs on Sunday are 9 miles. I run one interval session and one tempo session a week. The intervals are like 6:00 per mile pace for about 3 miles total with long recoveries in between. Typically 200, 400 meters per rep and occasionally an 800 meter run in 3:02. Tempo runs are 40 minutes total at 7:15 per mile pace or so. I can smell sub 20. I am so close. What will I do when I knock the bastard off? I have been trying for nearly 4 years now. Sometimes I wonder if I subconsiously dont want to break 20 so that I can continue to have a goal to reach. Also when I start to feel confident I look at race results and see that what seems like 98% of runners do not go sub 20 in a 5k race and am like darn thats hard. From what I gather my weakness is mile 2. I start out conservatively on mile 1 but still can go below 6:30 so thats not really a huge problem to have. I can pick it up for the last half mile of a race as I smell the finish so the 3rd mile time is usually respectable. Its just in mile 2 I think about floating to save something for the finish because if I hit mile 2 tired it is very difficult to continue at a good pace. Somewhere in that 2nd mile I start to hold back and I need to break myself of that habit.
                  I agree with you MichiganFlyer, about the difficulty of running a 19:something 5K. I have run several 20:something 5K's since 2003. For the number of miles I am willing to run, it is just beyond my reach. It takes a lot of effort for me to get into top shape: long runs, tempo runs, intervals, and the most difficult thing for me: diet. I am a junk food addict. I have run 158, 136, and 142 miles over the last three months, but not much quality: a 10 mile run at a slightly quicker pace than my normal four to six mile every-day runs. Many of the normal runs are on a treadmill. My next 5K is April 19, and my goal is sub 22 minutes. Good luck at your next race.
                    In the first race of the Good Times Spring series last night, I blew away my 20:40 PR and made my goal of breaking 20:00 with a time of 19:54.7. I had run a 6:33 pace for a recent 3 mile race, so I thought I could get close. I went out too fast, but my Garmin saved me. I think I was about a half mile in when I first glanced at it, and it showed a Kenyanesque (for me) pace of 5:45. I just bought the Garmin a couple of months ago, last year I would have carried that pace longer and flamed out. I backed way off until it displayed 6:30 average, then worked to bring it down a couple of seconds and held on to the finish. Training for Manchester last Fall, running through the Winter for the first time and adding a fourth run to each week seem to have paid off.

                    E.J.
                    Greater Lowell Road Runners
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                      In the first race of the Good Times Spring series last night, I blew away my 20:40 PR and made my goal of breaking 20:00 with a time of 19:54.7. I had run a 6:33 pace for a recent 3 mile race, so I thought I could get close. I went out too fast, but my Garmin saved me. I think I was about a half mile in when I first glanced at it, and it showed a Kenyanesque (for me) pace of 5:45. I just bought the Garmin a couple of months ago, last year I would have carried that pace longer and flamed out. I backed way off until it displayed 6:30 average, then worked to bring it down a couple of seconds and held on to the finish. Training for Manchester last Fall, running through the Winter for the first time and adding a fourth run to each week seem to have paid off.
                      Great job - congratulations. Your experience with a garmin is what I am hoping for with mine.
                      jeffdonahue


                        Great job - congratulations. Your experience with a garmin is what I am hoping for with mine.
                        I had a similar experience with my Nike+ running a HM a few weeks back. We got to the top of the first big hill and started off on a 5 mile downhill/flat section and I must have gotten excited because I found myself about 45 seconds/mile faster than my goal pace. It allowed me to back off and have a really strong run for the rest of the race.
                          I agree with you MichiganFlyer, about the difficulty of running a 19:something 5K. I have run several 20:something 5K's since 2003. For the number of miles I am willing to run, it is just beyond my reach. It takes a lot of effort for me to get into top shape: long runs, tempo runs, intervals, and the most difficult thing for me: diet. I am a junk food addict. I have run 158, 136, and 142 miles over the last three months, but not much quality: a 10 mile run at a slightly quicker pace than my normal four to six mile every-day runs. Many of the normal runs are on a treadmill. My next 5K is April 19, and my goal is sub 22 minutes. Good luck at your next race.
                          MaineRunner....on those miles you should be able to go sub 22 easy. I know you were close to 20 last year. You are close to my age and have done alot of work in the past. I hear what you say about only being able to run a certain number of miles comfortably. But I am starting to think if I really truly want to break 20 I may have to pull a couple 200 mile months to put this one to sleep forever. It will take a lot of sacrifice and some family time but I am putting in alot of time now. I think consistency is the key as Tinman tried to tell me. If you keep your weekly miles close and don't go below 30 miles in a week you shouldn't lose anything. That is the hard part keeping weekly miles above 35...some weeks you get sick or are busy and you fall to 25 miles and think how much of my base did I just lose? Well good luck to you....you have been running alot of miles so good job there.
                            Thanks, MichiganFlyer ________ Question for folks: Using mapmyrun.com, it looks like most of my runs are between sea level and +200 feet. April 13 to 17, I am taking a business trip to Colorado. I think the elevation will be between 5,000 and 5,500 feet. I am racing a 5K April 19, two days after the trip, back in Maine (~sea level.) Anyone have advice/thoughts/comments? I have not run at that elevation. I wonder if it will feel like a baseball player swinging a bat with a couple Doughnuts. When I get back will I feel fast? Maybe it will not make any difference.
                              I don't have any experience with running altitude, but from what I've read you're probably going to have to slow down a lot. I say just get as many miles in as you can. Maybe take it easy your last day there to start recovering for the race. I'm sure you'll see benefits, even if they're just psychological because running closer to sea level should feel much easier when you get back.
                                Yep, that's what I was thinking - thanks