18 min 5k?

How I ran my 5k pr of 16:30:

I ran about 70-90 miles per week and that was it.

Long run was 15 miles which most of it was a "tinman tempo" .

What changes I would make:

Once a week do some LT-intervals finished with short hill reps. Example: 5-6 x mile, w 2 min easy + 10 x 150m hill

Once a week do a tempo run 4-6 miles + short hill reps

Add some strides and drills on my easy days.

what speed were your tempo runs at roughly?

brandon443 wrote:

what speed were your tempo runs at roughly?

A tinman tempo is 5k pace + 1 min.

So if your 5k pace is 5:40 your tinman tempo pace would be 6:40.

possibly a stupid question... but what is tinman tempo? i'm fairly new to this running stuff...

brandon443 wrote:

possibly a stupid question... but what is tinman tempo? i'm fairly new to this running stuff...

Ran decently in HS, took off 20+ years, then started running again. I broke 18 again about 5 months back in. Your 4 @6:09 sounds right on. I ran similar length tempos in the 6-6:30 range. Also, workouts like 6x800 or 5x1k at, say, 5:45 pace are good (try to use a jogging rest of 2 min or, if possible, 1 min between repeats). It shouldn't feel easy, but it's a good way to get to that pace. And, yeah, hills and stairs definitely help.

Also, you probably need some more miles overall and a longer run of 10 or so once a week. I broke 18 as a rusty old man on about 35 miles/week.

all of my runs, if they involve a recovery are jogging recoveries. i hate to actually stop running fully once i've started a workout. i think my "long" runs of the week are about 7 miles, due to time constraints more than anything, i get up at 4:30 in the morning and go before the kids and everyone else is up. i don't do track workouts, but try to pick distances like .25 and .5 miles for my intervals just by using street lights, etc. im hoping this rusty old man can break 18 here in a couple months!

Just like a lot of people here I was faster years ago, but now , when training I am about 17:30.

When I am in that shape my tempos are right at 6:00 pace.

brandon443 wrote:

all of my runs, if they involve a recovery are jogging recoveries. i hate to actually stop running fully once i've started a workout. i think my "long" runs of the week are about 7 miles, due to time constraints more than anything, i get up at 4:30 in the morning and go before the kids and everyone else is up. i don't do track workouts, but try to pick distances like .25 and .5 miles for my intervals just by using street lights, etc. im hoping this rusty old man can break 18 here in a couple months!

Hit 2:52 consistently on your .5 x 6 repeats, limit your jog recovery to 1 min, and you're in like Flynn (Errol not Michael).

For me I just ran easy for a couple of months. I was fairly new to running, less than a year. My mileage was in the 45-50ish range and I was running 18:30s no workouts. Bumped it up to about 80ish for a while with no workouts did a time trial one the same amount of mileage (75/80) and ran 17:5x. I guess I respond well to high mileage. I have a lot of natural basic speed so I guess that helped too.

I've only race one 5K and I ran that in 20:15 when I first got started. 1 year of consistent mileage was enough to get my times down. I still run high mileage and have yet to train for a 5K just to see what I'm capable of.

Some people need speedwork and workouts I only needed to get my mileage up because I was new to running and had never trained a day in my life.

Everyone is different. Some can do it off less miles but like I said since I was new I needed to build some type of aerobic base.

Hope this helps

agree that everyone is different. it is nice to hear from people themselves what helped them hit milestones and what didn't. id say i'm fairly new, really only been consistently running for about 1.5-1.75 years, and have seen a drastic change. before i started running, i wasn't much of a runner. more lifting weights and what not, but in the last two years roughly i've really taken a liking to the multi-sport races. running is definitely my strong point, and my bike is coming along very nicely. swimming is a struggle because its hard to get to a pool.

how old is "rusty old man", Brandon443? Your name suggests an age similar to mine (44); and I have a similar goal and similar set of circumstances with early runs and kids in the mix. If you're in a position to do so, if not owning one already, find a GPS watch to help you with your intervals (pre-programmed times or distances) just to better gauge your progress.

Best of luck!

this rusty guy is only 31... but feel much older most mornings! i currently have garmin vivoactive which i think is great, but don't get all the running metrics i would like. i bought this more basic watch not knowing how much i was going to use it/get into running, etc. now im dissapointed i didn't get something better at the time. my biggest gripe about this watch is not being able to make workouts on the connect app and transfer to the watch. therefore im trying to run and pay too much attention to my watch to check the pace/distances as i am running. im going to keep an eye out on black friday and possibly pick up the 935 or 735 so i can have some more of these metrics.

brandon443 wrote:

this rusty guy is only 31... but feel much older most mornings! i currently have garmin vivoactive which i think is great, but don't get all the running metrics i would like. i bought this more basic watch not knowing how much i was going to use it/get into running, etc. now im dissapointed i didn't get something better at the time. my biggest gripe about this watch is not being able to make workouts on the connect app and transfer to the watch. therefore im trying to run and pay too much attention to my watch to check the pace/distances as i am running. im going to keep an eye out on black friday and possibly pick up the 935 or 735 so i can have some more of these metrics.

The Garmin 235 is a good watch. Fenix 3 and 3 HR are good ones that are on sale too. Don't go overkill with metrics you might find yourself running like a robot or trying to force things. The more you run the better economical you will get.

Happy running and Best of Luck!