IS this feasible? 5K

Ha good luck with that buddy. Never going to happen

Why not? That's 6 months more of training, and I am not even running -that- much right now.

If I up my mileage to like 60-70mpw week slowly over that time and get those 6 more months of training I don't see why it would be impossible I have natural speed too.

I have only been running for 3 years and barely ran below 16 minuites, so im hardly qualified to comment but i would think its possible on a faster course but highly unlikley on the same course. Usually even for beginners 2 minuites of improvement is 16 months of work or so.

65432123 wrote:

I have only been running for 3 years and barely ran below 16 minuites, so im hardly qualified to comment but i would think its possible on a faster course but highly unlikley on the same course. Usually even for beginners 2 minuites of improvement is 16 months of work or so.

That's fair. I ran cross-country in college (not a good school) and ran high 16s / Low 17s. Haven't run for like a half decade now, but I am pretty sure it also comes back quicker to some one that ran a lot previously.

The course will also be a faster course than the ones I ran 18:3x on.

i dont see why not

If you were previously a 14:30 guy in college, it would be possible. But you are talking about basically hitting a lifetime PR off of a few months training after not running for a few years. That just does not happen.

Precious Roy wrote:

If you were previously a 14:30 guy in college, it would be possible. But you are talking about basically hitting a lifetime PR off of a few months training after not running for a few years. That just does not happen.

This is exactly what I was going to say

In what temperature was your 18:30 5K? If it was 80F, then hell yeah you might break 17 this fall once the temps drop.

Precious Roy wrote:

If you were previously a 14:30 guy in college, it would be possible. But you are talking about basically hitting a lifetime PR off of a few months training after not running for a few years. That just does not happen.

To be fair it's not like I was just a couch potato the whole time I wasn't running. I lifted weights and always had abs and I'm only 28. Granted I just ran 18:3x in only 2 months training with my highest mileage week being 36ish miles what could I reasonably expect in your opinion? With solid training and more miles would 17:30 by April be attainable?

whatsmyname wrote:

In what temperature was your 18:30 5K? If it was 80F, then hell yeah you might break 17 this fall once the temps drop.

Looks like it was 78 with 40% humidity. Pretty solid weather for running I would say. Huge uphill last mile. I'm not even looking for anything great this fall although that would be awesome. I'm hoping to get into 16s by next spring.

Anyone else? What do you think is a reasonable time in April I should be able to expect?

Last year I went from mid 18s in late July to 16:30s in January/February. I'm in my 30s and my lifetime PR was almost 10 years before that at under 16:30. So essentially I got close to PR shape which is what you're wanting to do. So yes I think it's possible. My mileage was a bit higher as I averaged like 70-80 mpw from Sept to Feb. I think you'll find it's possible if you can avoid injury.

My advice would be to take it slow and see where you get. It's better to have lower expectations and be pleasantly surprised at the results than to try to hammer through mileage and workouts to drop the time quickly. You've got plenty of years to improve if you can stay motivated and healthy.

So it sounds like you don't have any weight to drop.

How was your pacing in the 18:3X? How was the pacing of your 16:5X?

My guess is if you really have to improve 2 minutes in 7 months, but can get Mark Wetmore or someone similar to be your coach and your tolerance for effort, commitment and injury risk are very high you can do this.

Why do you want to try this when you, almost certainly, could run 16:30 in the spring of 2016 without all the superhuman effort and risk?

akornfv897g wrote:

So it sounds like you don't have any weight to drop.

How was your pacing in the 18:3X? How was the pacing of your 16:5X?

My guess is if you really have to improve 2 minutes in 7 months, but can get Mark Wetmore or someone similar to be your coach and your tolerance for effort, commitment and injury risk are very high you can do this.

Why do you want to try this when you, almost certainly, could run 16:30 in the spring of 2016 without all the superhuman effort and risk?

Well I am like 35 pounds heavier but it's mostly muscle so I probably will have to drop at least 10 pounds of muscle. My pacing was 5:41, 11:51, andthen 18:32. For the 16:57 it was a long time ago, but I believe it was 5:09 (lol) 10:40, and then 16:57.

I don't want to try so hard I injure myself I guess what I should be asking is what is a realistic goal for the spring in 2016. Long term I would like to get down to low 15s or maybe faster but one step at a time obviously.

You can probably break 18 just with better pacing and some decent training. Beyond that, it is hard to say. 35 lbs is a lot of extra weight to be carrying, but most everyone fills out a bit after college. Low 15s on the road takes talent. There are a lot of runners out there who train their butts off and can't break 17. Best thing for you to do is to just relax and enjoy the process. It should be pretty obvious to you what training paces are appropriate based on effort level. VO2 max and threshold paces are pretty obvious. If you majored in engineering and need statistics, do a time trial and use the Daniels tables for your workouts. The best thing about 5k racing is that they are cheap(er) and you can run a bunch of them and still get in some good workouts.

Precious Roy wrote:

You can probably break 18 just with better pacing and some decent training. Beyond that, it is hard to say. 35 lbs is a lot of extra weight to be carrying, but most everyone fills out a bit after college. Low 15s on the road takes talent. There are a lot of runners out there who train their butts off and can't break 17. Best thing for you to do is to just relax and enjoy the process. It should be pretty obvious to you what training paces are appropriate based on effort level. VO2 max and threshold paces are pretty obvious. If you majored in engineering and need statistics, do a time trial and use the Daniels tables for your workouts. The best thing about 5k racing is that they are cheap(er) and you can run a bunch of them and still get in some good workouts.

Thanks bro, I hope to break 18 next 5K I run, since the 18:32 was about a month ago.