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


Future running partner.

    I'm going to make an attempt tomorrow. However if I don't make its OK. I've been doing a lot of base mileage over the last 8 weeks, and just starting doing some tempo / high end aerobic work the last couple of weeks. I feel like i have a good shot though. My last attempt was on a very warm humid day this past summer and was a 20:30 on a course the may or may not have been long.

     

    Negatives:

    1. Not as much speed development as I had this summer.

    2. Coming off a 70 mile week (high for me) with 2 fairly heavy workouts.

    3. Felt a little more sluggish then usual on my 7 mi recovery run today.

     

    Positives

    1. Weather should be much better tomorrow then over the summer. Low 70s and dry is much better then 85F and a 75 DP.

    2. I have a stronger base. I've covered about 250 miles in the last 30 days and I feel more aerobically fit then I did over the summer.

    3. I've done more 5k pace specific work so far with this one. Tuesday if 24 x 200/200 at 5k/recovery pace as a high end aerobic workout.. 5k pace feels fairly comfortable now.

    4. I am also better prepared to pace my self better. The last race I did I didn't know how to pace myself well and went out too hard.

    5. Today on my recovery run even though it felt sluggish I ran a some short 5k pace pickups in midst of it. What felt like comfortable 5k effort was showing up as under sub 6 pace on the Garmin. Confidence boost!

      EnjoyTheRide - Good luck! Looking at your log, it looks like you've got a really good chance. It looks like you've been doing some very solid training.

       

      As for me, I did it this morning! I was the first overall woman with a time of 19:12. I felt really good during my warm-up, which almost never happens, so I had a good feeling about things. I ran with a pack of high school XC boys for most of it, occasionally passing or being passed. By the third mile the pack had thinned out and I was totally on my own. This is the point where I tend to lose it, but I managed to dig deep and keep the pace this time. I feel really good about it. The first mile was the fastest but the second and third were only within 4 seconds of each other, which is pretty good pacing for me. As a nice bonus I won $100.

      lagwagon


        Congrats YO!  That's an excellent race and a solid achievement.  Its awesome to see someone who spent the whole year working towards a goal realize it.  

         

        As far as the actual distance, you'll never know the truth.   FWIW, I ran a HM this weekend that came up about 0.2 mi short (per my garmin).  I also projected my pace to the full mileage (which, like you, still significantly exceeded my goal), and at then end of the day decided that I'll take the faster time as my PR.  I'll just have to aim (much) higher to beat it now.

         

        Enjoy the base building and we'll see you in the sub 19 thread next year...

         

         

        ETR, how'd it go?


        Future running partner.

          First of all a big congrats to YO!. Awesome race! It had to feel good beating all them high school kids. I had a pretty good race today, I ran a 20:17 officially which took about 13 seconds of my PB. I gave it my best effort and ran a pretty smart race given the conditions. What went well is that I made sure I started the race off focusing on being fast but comfortable. The last race I ran I felt like I gassed before I hit the first mile and was passed for mile 2 and 3. This time I held back at first and it paid off. At the halfway point I think I was like around 10 or 11 the place overall and I ended up finishing 5th overall and 1rst in my age group (if you don't count the overall winner). I did end up winning a $25 gift cert to New Balance. I ran a hard enough race throughout that I wasn't able to spring at the end. A few things may have kept me from going sub 20.

           

          The biggest problem was that I was overly nervous all morning. The race wasn't until 1:30 in the afternoon and I was already starting to feel fatigued before the race even started. Morning races for me are better because I don't have time to waste nervous energy.

           

          I also use a Garmin FR60 which solely uses the footpod. I am finding that the faster I run the less accurate it seems to get. So the pace readings it was giving me where misleading. Its the second race in a row where it read nearly 3.3 for the race. I also jogged the course as a warmup and it read less then 3.1 because I was running slower then the pace that I calibrated my watch with. Time for a new watch. Here are the Garmin splits:

           

           

          1 Interval 1 mi 6:18.79 6:18.79 6:19      
          2 Interval 0.05 mi 0:18.76 6:37.55 6:16      
          3 Interval 1 mi 6:20.38 12:57.93 6:21      
          4 Interval 1 mi 6:05.88 19:03.81 6:06      
          5 Interval 0.22 mi 1:11.59 20:15.40 5:26      

           

          I also noticed that my mouth felt really dry before the race started and I couldn't seem to drink enough to get it wet. It was also a little warm for what I have been used to running. It was about 70 this afternoon and lately my runs have been in 30 and 40 degree temperatures. The last thing was that I just finished a 70 mile week yesterday and may not have been as well rested as I would have been had I tapered back some this past week.

           

          Anyway enough with the bitching, The DW and I are running Turkey Trot 5k which will be my next shot at it. My schedule has me doing 2 more 70 miles weeks and then a cutback week before going until hills and speed phase of training. I may switch the final 2 weeks of November to do the cut back week on Thanksgiving week and then do 70 the final week before going into repetition/hill phase of training, so that I am more rested for the race. I will also probably do at least 1 or 2 5k races in December, or maybe a TT on the track if I can't find one that fits my schedule.

           

          I am pretty happy with the race and I just need to be a little more patient on the Sub 20 goal. Congrats again to YO and all the others who have accomplished Sub 20. Sorry for the long post, (I like to talk about myself, maybe I need to journal more).

            Congrats YO!  That's an excellent race and a solid achievement.  Its awesome to see someone who spent the whole year working towards a goal realize it.  

             

            As far as the actual distance, you'll never know the truth.   FWIW, I ran a HM this weekend that came up about 0.2 mi short (per my garmin).  I also projected my pace to the full mileage (which, like you, still significantly exceeded my goal), and at then end of the day decided that I'll take the faster time as my PR.  I'll just have to aim (much) higher to beat it now.

             

            Thanks! I'm really happy with it. It's pretty cool to think that the first race I did this year (in March, after 2 years of no racing) was a 21:58 or something. I've run every race progressively faster since then. If only I could take another 3 minutes off in 2013! Hah. I'd be very happy just getting into the 18s; I'll be in the sub-19 thread for sure. 

             

            I just read your post in the sub-90 thread and it looks like you had a great race - congrats! That's a really impressive time. 

              First of all a big congrats to YO!. Awesome race! It had to feel good beating all them high school kids. I had a pretty good race today, I ran a 20:17 officially which took about 13 seconds of my PB. I gave it my best effort and ran a pretty smart race given the conditions. 

               

              Thank you! Congrats to you as well! From your description it sounds like you ran a great race. Even if it wasn't sub-20, it was a PR, and that's always awesome. Plus, you've got a few more opportunities to go for it this year. I think with your mileage you will get into the teens very soon. I bet you could do it in a morning race with cooler temps, especially if you back off the volume a little in the week leading up to it (if you're feeling tired). Good luck at the Turkey Trot!

              Durst


                Hey everyone,

                 

                I haven't posted here in a while. I have yet to achieve my goal of Sub-20 but I hope to get one more chance before the end of the year. I only ran in one 5K in May (20:54) but I recently ran 34:34 in a 5 miler and 1:39:23 in the Philly Half. So far two of the three goals complete. I am very happy with these races as I only run about 20-25 miles a week and have been battling nagging calf and other left leg pain. Good luck to everyone still trying to break 20.

                 

                -- Durst

                2013 Goals

                1600m -- 5:30 (completed -- Penn Relays Corporate DMR 5:30)

                5K -- Sub 20

                5 Mile -- 32:30

                Half-Marathon -- 1:35


                Mmmmm...beer

                  Little late to the party, but I'm hoping to go sub-20 on Thursday. 

                   

                  Not really sure if it's possible, but I think if I push hard enough I might have it in me.  Since I started running in April, I've been doing nothing but slow, easy base building, but my easy pace has come down significantly.  I've averaged 50mpw for the last 8 weeks, most runs are around 8:00-8:20/mile, with a few dipping down to 7:30/mile when my legs are feeling strong.  I pretty much just run at whatever pace feels comfortable.  Daily  run is 8 miles, long run is 16-20.

                   

                  Last week I did a two mile time trial, just to see what kind of speed I could pull, ran 6:33 and 6:38 and I feel like I could have gone faster (had enough left in me to do another 10 miles @ 8:20/mile).

                   

                  Plan is to shoot for 6:25 for the first mile, see how I feel and go from there.  I've only run one other 5K, and that was back in June, ran a 25:45, so even if I don't go sub-20, I'll have a pretty nice PR.  Smile

                   

                  I'm not sweating it too much, if I don't hit it on this race, I think I can get there soon with some more dedicated training.  Just figured I'd say hi and throw my hat in the ring. 

                  -Dave

                  My running blog

                  Goals | sub-18 5k | sub-3 marathon 2:56:46!!

                    Good luck Thursday. Do you really weigh 290 lbs.?


                    Mmmmm...beer

                      Good luck Thursday. Do you really weigh 290 lbs.?

                       

                      Thanks!  Oops, lil typo, I'm 190.  I did weigh 270 tho, I've dropped 80lbs in the last 11 months.

                      -Dave

                      My running blog

                      Goals | sub-18 5k | sub-3 marathon 2:56:46!!

                      Wing


                      Joggaholic

                        Recently I just ran my fastest 5k at 21:57. I'm curious how far away am I to getting to sub-20? Am I looking in terms of months or years? I know it's subject to a lot of things but I want to at least not set my expectation too way out of line. I try to run ~40mpw but there had been no structure to my trainings previously, I was just doing "run lots, mostly easy, sometimes rarely hard" (running fast had not really been in my program). I just found a running club that does interval training every Monday, I think I will try to stick with them, hopefully I'll learn to run faster.

                          Good luck, D! You're going to crush your PR for sure.

                           

                          Wing, it's hard to say how long it will take. In March of this year I was running in the mid-high 21s, and I just ran 19:12 a couple weeks ago. So, it took about 8 months for me. You can check my log if you want to see the training I did to get there. My case might not be typical because I was running sub-20 back in 2009 and doing 50+ mpw for 2-3 years before taking about a year off due to injury. I think having that base probably helped me, even though I'd taken some time off. In any case, I think you can get there sometime in 2013 if you keep the mileage consistent and do some 5k-specific quality work. It's definitely a fun and worthy goal to pursue. 

                          dallison


                          registered pw

                            Last year i was just a hair above 20 and this year i ran a 19:24 19:38 and 19:50. There have been a few 20-20:30 but there was other running going on there to make me go slower.

                            My goal was to finish a good amount of 5's under 20 min.

                            2017 goals:

                            sub 1:30 half 

                             

                            dallison


                            registered pw

                              I ran a 20:03 today, i felt like crap but i did finish 35th out of 2200. I haven't worked on speed at all in months. I will do some strength training this winter along with long runs.

                              2017 goals:

                              sub 1:30 half 

                               

                                Hey Guys,

                                 

                                Got er' done (barely) on Thanksgiving day! Big grin  (EDIT: Official time is 19:54, 1 sec better, but who's counting? Joking)

                                 

                                I really have not had huge miles (though closer to 25mpw avg the last few weeks, which is good for me), but I ran one of the flattest courses (http://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/155625077) in the upstate of SC with absolutely perfect weather conditions - 48 deg, sunny, dry, and no wind.

                                 

                                Mile 1.  Went out steady 6:30 pace for the slight uphill .5 and had a garmin split of 6:27 at the end.  Had to navigate through the Thanksgiving crowd of young boys who lined up at the front...This was a laid back race, so no sorting by time at the start, LOL.  I followed an awesome masters lady I've seen before during Mile 1 and Mile 2 knowing she would be near 20:00 herself.

                                 

                                Mile 2.  This is the downhill mile and I just tried to continue the same effort, and rolled to a 6:17.  At this point I knew I had an outside shot. 

                                 

                                Mile 3.  Starts downhill, but then you gradually gain some of the Mile 2 elevation back.  I was beginning to hurt here with Garmin giving a 6:40 pace halfway through and I started to doubt.  However, at ~2.7 or so we turned and I could see the mall (finish area).  Visually seeing how close I was, I decided to kick at this point with everything I had.  If you include the last .1, I ran the final 0.5 mile in about 3:09.

                                 

                                Man, it was great seeing the 19Tight lippedx on the clock during that final sprint - although I was hurting so bad there was no real celebration coming in.  I think I may have managed one fist pump as I crossed the line but my memory is fuzzy.  As a bonus, I got 3rd place Masters - most of the older ringers must have raced elsewhere, ha ha ha.

                                 

                                Thanks to all for all the advice and inspiration on this thread over the last couple years!  And Good luck to all those trying!

                                 

                                Steve

                                2014 - Get 5k back under 20:00.  Stay healthy!