bostonxc wrote:
Recently, I did the following workout:
4 x 1600m w/ 30s rest at 4:59, 5:05, 5:01,5:00
jogged 5 min
4 x 800m w/ 30s rest at 2:24, 2:23,2:23, 2:21
I've been running 75-80 mpw for the past 2 months.
What do you think I could run a 5k in right now? Indoors?
Please don't give the answer that I have to run 1 x 5k workout. I want to know what pace is reasonable to go out in.
Yes more info would help. What do your mile pace and tempos look like? Based on this alone I would predict 14:55-15:10 depending on the other variable.
I went low 14:50s last season, and I think I could have handled this workout with more ease than you describe. It would have been tough, but the 4x1600 wouldn't have been terrible, and then it's just a matter of shifting gears and dealing with short rests on the 800s. Although I think it's weird and would never have run it myself.
The 4x1600 was sort of an in-between pace, don't you think? It's not 5k and it's not tempo, so why shoot for 5:00 pace? And 30s rests? Why on earth?
To give you an idea of what I was doing at peak shape, a sample week for me included
Session 1: 4mile tempo, 4 min rest, 2 mile tempo (5:10 average)
Session 2: 3x1600m + 2x800m with 4 min/2 min rests (4:44 average)
Session 3: Some combination of mile pace totaling ~4800m with 2:1 rests. I finished the season just a hair under 4:20 in the mile.
I was doing the same mileage as you and these workouts were always controlled. I always could run faster, but I knew what my paces should be and I stuck to them. Hard efforts, but a long ways from race effort.
Hope that helps.