what were your times when you went sub 20 in a 5k

How many miles per week do you run?

about 30 but during the summer I did around 40 miles pw

Zygzrtbzrtzrthtrh wrote:

How many miles per week do you run?

What a coincedence, my mile PR before I broke 20:00 was 5:11, however I had never run a 3200 and my 800 was only a 2:29 (after a 5:19). I did all that during track in 7th grade and then after playing football in the fall and basketball in then winter I entered a 3 mile race and went 19:00 (19:45ish 5k) on 0 miles a week, just my conditioning from basketball, with you running 30-40 miles per week you are probably just having a tough time mentally with racing, focus on going out the first mile no faster than 6:20, it may feel slow, then try to hit the 2 mile around 12:40 which will feel very hard then the last mile just race people and see how fast you can finish

What a coincedence, my mile PR before I broke 20:00 was 5:11, however I had never run a 3200 and my 800 was only a 2:29 (after a 5:19). I did all that during track in 7th grade and then after playing football in the fall and basketball in then winter I entered a 3 mile race and went 19:00 (19:45ish 5k) on 0 miles a week, just my conditioning from basketball, with you running 30-40 miles per week you are probably just having a tough time mentally with racing, focus on going out the first mile no faster than 6:20, it may feel slow, then try to hit the 2 mile around 12:40 which will feel very hard then the last mile just race people and see how fast you can finish

3200m: 12:10

1600m: 5:24

800m: 2:20

400m:61

If I remember correctly

You have enough speed to go much faster than 20. Raise your easy ( keep it easy) mileage slowly over a few months to 50-60 if you can handle it. A few months of this while still doing 2 workouts a week will get you there.

3200m: 12:43

1600m: 5:55

800m: 2:38

I don't get it. You can run sub 6s for 2 but can't jog 3 at 6:25s?

OP,

Are you in HS, running XC?

Between the heat of summer, the slowness of XC courses compared to the track for your 3200, the added training of early XC season and only being in HS, it takes a while to get your times down in the fall.

Depending on how much you trained to run those times in the spring, you could/should approach 19 on a fast 5k XC course by the end of the season.

Poorish endurance + the difference between track and maybe a hilly 5k course? Seems just possible to me.

I ran 17:58 in my first 5k having Prs of 2:09, 4:52, 10:41.

I have never been above 20. I started xc after 2 years of track. I think my first real 5k was arou d 18:40. My track PRs from the previous season were:

400: 57

800: 2:10

Mile: 5:00

The first 5k I ever ran was in 17:47 at age 14 before I was in high school, so I hadn't yet run a 3200, a 1600, or an 800.

3200m: No time

1600m: No time

800m: No time

I ran 19:20s on the track when I was about 17, and had never raced longer than 200 m. Just started running and picked it up to low 6s. Fit from intramural and rec league basketball, some biking, skiing, and running off and on.

Six months later I solo time trialed at 11:55, 5:27, 2:29.

A year later with some actual training (30-40 mi/week), I had done 4:48 and 2:08 (no 3200), and ran 18:25 on a hilly road course for an official debut. Track debut 7-8 months later was 16:34.

Either I am really good at endurance/suck at speed, or you suck at endurance because, I have managed to run 18:45, while i have never managed to break 2:40 for 800 and 1:10 for 400. (But i have never raced 800 and 400, the 2:40 and 1:10 from my best interval at those times, so maybe in a real race I can dip in 5 sec or so, but still way slower than your times). If I remember correctly, my mile PR is also somewhere around 5:30 (also during intervals)

Prior to breaking 20:

1600m - 5:40

3200m - 12:20

Shortly after going 19:53 for 5k I took them down to:

1600m - 5:31

3200m - 11:53

800m: 2:08

1600m: 4:45

800m: 2:46.

1600m: 5:55.

3200m: 12:36.

This was shortly after I ran 19:47 in 5k.

100m: 12.5

200m: 24.7

400m: 56.4

first 5k under 20: 19:28

I was a sprinter who decided to go out for XC.