trainme wrote:
I’ve been stalking milesplit a bit and found a ton of people who went from running in the low 18’s or high 17’s, to the next year running high 15’s. How is that type of progression possible, and can I replicate it? I plan on running 60’s by the end of July my 5k is the 16:50 and I’m willing to do absolutely anything to reach as close to sub 16 as possible. Does anyone know the type of workouts I should be doing on and off the track? Plyometrics, core, arm exercises? Tempo paces or fartlek paces? Thanks all!
That progression is nothing unusual, most serious HS runners actually progress a around that rate.
If you've been running for 1-2, max 3 years you should be able to go from 16:50->16:00 in one year. If you've already trained for 5-6 years and done 50+ mpw for few of them, it's unlikely you will experience big jumps, but sub 16 should still be possible.
2 workouts a week, one long run (easy, max 90-105 min). Combination of tempo & Fartleks. Optimize nutrition and sleep.
Do a little bit of core if you feel like it, I think a little goes a long way. I'd stay away from plyos (injury risk) and arms (big biceps won't help much).
Getting a coach or trainer could be very useful, training is what matters the most by far and there are so many ways to overtrain and undertrain and miss the perfect stimulus for improving a 5k time.