Can I get to 16:30 in the 5k?

Summer base phase basics:

Just do lots of fartlek runs over rolling hills, during your summer base phase. Find a course with rolling hills and surge up the hills and take it steady/easy going down. Keep your volume around 130 to 160 kilometres a week. Double as much as possible. Don't forget to do your long runs at a steady effort over rolling hills. Once a week do some hill reps. Also, finish your long runs with some strides. Also, do what Steve Ovett use too do during his winter base phase: find a hill about a kilometer long and do about six reps up it, once a week.

Run4ljfe wrote:

Hey I’m about to be a senior and would like to run as fast as possible this coming cross season and I think a solid time would be 16:30 if I run 70 miles a week could I be good enough to hit that? I ran about 33 miles a week last winter inconsistently I’ve run multiple 12 milers on my own and this track season ran prs of

10:40

4:58

And 2:08

I know injury is probable so if I stretch with a green band before and after my runs soak in a hot tub get at least 8 hours of sleep a night and ice bathed 2 or 3 times a week would I be able to make it in injured?

As Always when I read questions about how many miles per week will give a special time.....

IT`S NOT MAINLY ABOUT HOW MANY MILES PER WEEK YOU RUN. IT`S MORE A QUESTION ABOUT HOW YOU RUN YOUR MILES!

- The Mighty Wizard -

Doesn't seem likely to me based on your PRs at shorter distances, but prove me wrong!

Sorry no way.

I think a solid time would be 16:30

Frank Horwill, famous coach and founder of the British Miler's Club, had a heuristic for estimating 5km time from 800m time. he said that your 5km time is 8 x 800m time, by which standard your 2:08 is worth a little more than 17:00.

he was also talking about racing on a track, so if you're racing x-country you should allow a little extra for sub-optimal conditions and perhaps give yourself the goal of breaking 17:00.

but, hey, LetsRun is where dreams become reality, why not just go for it. but there isn't a magic number of miles per week that are going to guarantee success. don't train hard, train clever.

cheers.

Cottonshirt wrote:

I think a solid time would be 16:30

Frank Horwill, famous coach and founder of the British Miler's Club, had a heuristic for estimating 5km time from 800m time. he said that your 5km time is 8 x 800m time, by which standard your 2:08 is worth a little more than 17:00.

he was also talking about racing on a track, so if you're racing x-country you should allow a little extra for sub-optimal conditions and perhaps give yourself the goal of breaking 17:00.

but, hey, LetsRun is where dreams become reality, why not just go for it. but there isn't a magic number of miles per week that are going to guarantee success. don't train hard, train clever.

cheers.

That's weird. I can run 16:20 but I can't break 2:10 for 800m.

ghfnmjfgmfmh wrote:

That's weird. I can run 16:20 but I can't break 2:10 for 800m.

Guidelines are guidelines, I was opposite, ran 2.04 for 800 m, but could barely handle a 18 minute 5000. What you have trained for, speed, aeorobic capacity and ability to handle anaerobic processes all plays a part.

SUPERIOR COACH JS wrote:

[quote]Run4ljfe wrote:

season ran prs of

10:40

Well, for starters 10:40 is 5:20 per 1600, which is ~16:40 pace. Not saying it's impossible, but without a major breakout it is highly unlikely that you will run faster than your track 3200m PR for 5000m over XC terrain.

The question was not if he can run 16:30 now, but if it would be possible later this year with good summer training.

The OP suggested to double up his mileage from 33 miles per week to about 70. Of course this might enable him to run 16:30 as it does just mean to hold his 2 mile pace for 5 k. However, with doubling the mileage fast, you have to be very careful to avoud injury. And sometimes the breakthrough needs some time, so don't be dissappointed if you can not feel the improvement after 4 or 8 weeks, sometimes the body just needs some more time to adapt to the new training load.

SUPERIOR COACH JS wrote:

As Always when I read questions about how many miles per week will give a special time.....

IT`S NOT MAINLY ABOUT HOW MANY MILES PER WEEK YOU RUN. IT`S MORE A QUESTION ABOUT HOW YOU RUN YOUR MILES!

- The Mighty Wizard -

That's how James Li coaches at Arizona. That's how Bernard Lagat and Lawi Lalang were trained. He focuses on quality miles, and not entirely on quantity.

FlyingFast wrote:

SUPERIOR COACH JS wrote:

As Always when I read questions about how many miles per week will give a special time.....

IT`S NOT MAINLY ABOUT HOW MANY MILES PER WEEK YOU RUN. IT`S MORE A QUESTION ABOUT HOW YOU RUN YOUR MILES!

- The Mighty Wizard -

That's how James Li coaches at Arizona. That's how Bernard Lagat and Lawi Lalang were trained. He focuses on quality miles, and not entirely on quantity.

But like all the other so call "low mileage" runners, if you look into it they don't count their warm up, cool down and easy/shake out mileage. For, if they did it would put their 50 to 70 miles a week figures, into the 80 to 100 miles a week.