Hey everyone, I'm currently a college freshman and due to some unusual circumstances I've had to can my XC season early and plan to start my base and build up for indoor/outdoor track. I just finished a 9 day break to let myself rest before building back my endurance (haven't taken a break in about a year and a half). Primarily, I need to run a decent 5k time sometime around mid-late December to impress some college coaches.
I've averaged around 65-70 mpw this summer and season but have run some 80 and 90 mpws before. For reference, my 5k PR from last season is around 15:45.
Here's the plan so far and I'm looking to see if this is too much to start up from that length of a break or if I should listen to my body to asses how I'm handling a fast-increasing workload. All of these runs are around 6:30-6:45/mi (should I go slower or faster?).
Weeks 1-4: 40, 45, 50, 60
Weeks 5-8: 65, 60, 70, 75
Weeks 9-12: 75, 80, 65, 75
Also, when is a good time to start to add in some speed and tempo work to not only prepare myself for a respectable mid December time, but also for the long-term development into outdoor track? Thanks!