Going from a 5:05/11:05 to a sub 17 5k over the summer.
How possible is this while following the summer of malmo?
Not a troll.
Going from a 5:05/11:05 to a sub 17 5k over the summer.
How possible is this while following the summer of malmo?
Not a troll.
My first year of XC I ran a PB of 19:33 and the following track season I had A PB of 5:06/11:32 for the 1600/3200m runs. During the summer I didn't really get to build a base because I didn't know how to. I was new to running and the school I went to wasn't a school for runners. I averaged about 8-21 miles a week during the summer and when XC season started I increased my mileage to the 25-34 range. Each 5K race I noticed that I began to PR. It went like this:
18:45
18:43
18:02
17:54
17:26
17:11
16:57
It was crazy that each race was a PB. I am thinking that God really blessed me even though I was such an inexperienced runner and I didn't have Coaches like other running schools did. I think it is possible for you to get sub 17 for the 5K. Just make sure that you are working hard and do not slack off during the runs. BTW, my mileage consisted of just regular runs. I didn't do much speed stuff.
Don't over do it with the training, like with anything else it takes time.
you can do the summer of malmo if you want, but keep in mind that it will give you the same or 99% the same as any other higher mileage program.
this summer you should just run more than you ever have before, but not so much more that you'll be really risking a lot.
if youve been running 40 mpw, then you can probably get up to 70 this summer while averaging 60ish. that will do you plenty good. you will probably break 17, and you are already fairly close in potential. i didnt break 17 off of 4:56/10:55, but i also didnt run 70 mpw to train for it.
Increasing mileage will help a lot but you've got some work to do. I ran 4:41/10:08 on about 35mpw, increased for a few weeks in the summer to about 60mpw and late in the summer ran 16:39 at an allcomers.
Depending on how long you have been running you may not even need to increase the mileage. I never ran high mileage again (it was the late 80s) and less than a year after I ran 16:40 I was in 15:40 shape.
So if you are a relatively new runner you could make the drop pretty quickly.
Oh, and the season I ran 16:39 I started the year in March with 10:48 in my first ever 3200m, and 4:59 in the 1600m, which at that time felt like close to all out. Two months later I was passing through the 1600m in the 3200m around 5:02-5:03...
When you're first starting out (first couple years) miracles do happen, frequently. Later, not so much...