Needs an estimate on current fitness for 5K

XCrunner293838 wrote:

Fri: 3 mile tempo @5:35 pace rest 15 mins

3 mile tempo @5:41 pace

How comfortably hard are these efforts?

Nobody can answer the question in reality (for XC) because we don't know the courses you are running. A 16:00 on one 5k course in XC can be equal effort to a 17:15 on a different 5k course. You even noted in your post that you couldn't match your PR because of the tougher courses you ran in your Junior year.

Ok so say there is an nice flat fast course, or even a track what can be an estimate then?

The 5:35 pace was tough but manageable, as for the 5:41 that tempo pace can be very manageable for up to 4-5 miles

Somewhat of a mistake I did run those through a hilly park, I do usually run them at flat paces

Sounds like you are in sub 16 shape, maybe even closer to 15:30ish on a burner course. I would note that your long run pace seems fast in comparison to the rest of your week. Either that or your tempo is too slow, which I seriously doubt. The 4:22 shows promise and you've flirted with sub 16 before. Maturity, improved fitness and the modest/steady increases in mileage should yield a nice fall campaign. Large luck.

I will admit my tempos do need some work, what would be a more reasonable pace to work up to? Also my long run was a day that I kinda tapered for to see what I can really do for that distance. I will say though longer distances has always been my favorite, I ran a 10 mile race last November in 56:35 and I'm quite confident I can beat that now, as for my mile that was a huge breakthrough for me but it took more 800 type training which I've now switched back to distance. As for increases in mileage, i would like to get it up to 70 by the end of August, this week will be around 60-63 does that sound reasonable to increase it to that level? With my increases in mileage lately I still feel healthy and have stayed on top of recovery e

XCrunner293838 wrote:

I will admit my tempos do need some work, what would be a more reasonable pace to work up to?

Not saying the pace needs any "work" necessarily, it just seemed disproportionate to the 6 min pace for the long run. Running tempos is not about hitting a certain time per mile, it's about running comfortably hard, or running hard easy if that makes any sense. There is no pace to "work up to." Just keep prudently adding miles and slowly increasing daily paces without exerting much more effort, if any at all, and your times will drop.

You also have to trust that if you have the strength to run a sub 60 10 miler and the speed to run 4:20ish, then a fast 5K is right in your wheel house.