Goal of sub 19 minute 5k (Read 5724 times)

I think Quint explained it as least as well as I could. And it was Tom "Tinman" Schwartz who got me started on that workout along with several other ideas that shaped my training the last 3 years. I just passed them along to Ken. Tom coaches a bunch of runners, mostly via the Internet but I got to meet in him a few times while he was doing some contract work here. I suggested mixing in the 1000's at 10k pace because it was something I tried and got good results from. I thought that was enough to bring up for now, but there was often an added twist to these workouts in the form of 3 or 4 quick 200's that were added right after the last 1000 or 1600. These were at estimated 1-mile race pace. Another key workout that I thought I'd save for later was hill charges following a 3-4 mile tempo run. It was part of the mix of workouts that preceded a string of good races I had last year. The hills would be either 10 x 30 seconds or 5 x 60 seconds. I should actually do this one more often as it helped quite a bit. Like the intervals it included a lot of supplementary running along with the tempo and hills. The whole workout was usually between 11-14 miles. To be honest, I think these workouts helped more for races in 10k-30k range than 5k. Although I did set my 5k PR it didn't score as high on the scale as the other races. Ken tacked on few other key workouts near the end of the year and when on to run a couple very nice marathons. My season died about a week after the 30k I ran in November. A week after that race I started out with Ken to try that 6 x 2-miles workout he mentioned but pulled up about 50 yards into the 2nd rep. There were some stops and starts after that but it's only been in the last month that I've started to come around. I think Ken felt sorry for me so he went ahead and got injured too. All part of the game I guess.

My highest mileage week ever last week at 42. Will try to hold around 40 through May. We'll see if the higher mileage brings me to the promised land. At least I have the fast and flat weekly Good Times 5k course on my side, plus a bunch of slightly faster guys like BadDawg to help pull me along.

Thanks Quint. Wow, you're really piling up the miles. All the in the know veterans say that's the way to go. Good luck.

Good luck with your races coming up. Jim24315 gave some pointers over on the sub 40 10k thread on an approach to running 1600's that I am going to be trying sometime in the near future. ...

Maybe this one: http://www.runningahead.com/forums/post/4acd927fd51e416fafe518a4d4316e44#focus ?

Rest or recovery between the 1600s, and how much? (It may have been mentioned earlier in that thread; after I found that post I didn't continue going backward.)

Well earlier this week I had a 2.5 mile tempo (incorporated in a 4.5 treadmill run) in 15:49 and was not dying. That's 6:19 a mile and definitely put me on target for a sub 19 5-K on June 6. I was heading for another week in the low 30's mileage-wise. Then I've had Achilles tendonitis flare up so I have to take a few days off. Hopefully after a few more days and getting new shoes (my shoes were getting older and I'm a pretty big guy) I can get back on target but I may scratch the June 6 race and hit one in July instead. I am still having trouble adding anymore mileage due to my schedule - I have been unable to do more than low 30's. I hope everyone else is more on track than me! Good luck!

Thanks Quint! Hopefully it fades out in the next few days here...