How hard is a 17 minute 5K?

What was your weight when you broke 18?

That’s a very good time so early in your running career.

Your 2:53 suggests you are a very good athlete. 6:28 indicates lack of aerobic development.

Hey, my weight has been the same since I've been running. Thanks for the answer, I agree I need more endurance, hope that comes naturally with time, even though I don't run that many miles weekly

I think with your 1K and 2K results, you have a good shot. Even if you come up a bit short, running a low-17 5K after a year is good progress and you shouldn't beat yourself up.

What does your training plan look like for the next two months that you're giving yourself? I would recommend doing a weekly tempo session, if your speed is good but your endurance needs some work. Based on the volume you're doing, maybe 4x mile w/ 1 min rest, or 2x 2 mile with 2 min rest.

Well, basically I think I'll do 2-3 easy days, 1 day of intervals and 1 day of a progressive run ending at goal 5k pace or so.

I was thinking of 5x1000m as a regular interval workout, but those mile repeat do seem more beneficial for me. At what pace should they be done you think? Thanks!

If you're doing 4xMile it should be at just a bit slower than 5K goal pace -- maybe 5:30 - 5:35. 1 minute rest is not much rest, so it may be more like 5:35. 4x1M with 90 seconds rest @ 5K pace is the best 5K predictor workout I have found. Whatever pace you can hit for that workout is pretty close to what you can run for the race.

Wow, yes! I remember a few weeks before breaking 18 I did that exact workout, 4xMile with 90 second rest as a test for my 5k pace. I did those at an average of 5:50 but it was full effort, like a race almost (and that was the goal). Then on the race day I did 17:53 (5:45 per mile pace).

The thing is, if I do this workout fairly regularly I don't think I should aim for sub17 pace cause that's like race level effort and it would be too hard, so around 5:35 pace seems fast enough I think, yeah, thanks!

It totally depends on your natural athletic ability.

After a year if consistent and smart training I’m going to guess you could break 17. But actually based on your recent time trials I think you might have some further work to do.

Did you have COVID-19 or were you just wimping out for two months because of it?

There are not a lot of guys running under 17 at 180lbs and 35 mpw.

It took me 3 years to dip under 17:00... but I also started out as a 30:00 guy and some people can do it with a years worth of training.

We typically have 3-4 freshmen break 17 after just 3 months of training at 15 years old.

Where I live there was an almost 2 month long lockdown, so we just couldn't go outside

Wow that's such a big improvement, from 30 to 17! I started at around 20:30-21 so I defintely don't have the room to improve 13 minutes lol, although 3-4 in one year would be awesome

Thanks, I agree I'm not there yet, so let's see if 2 months is enough or it will need more time

Yeah, that's what it looked like to me in the few races I have run, most of the guys going under 18 and even more 17 were much lighter than me. I don't really want to lose weight and I thought that in the 5k I could still hang around and do good (in 10k and above I really struggle, I think because of lack of endurance and weight is a bigger factor).

30-35 miles a week is not too high, but those would be all focused on 5k training and I can't do much more right now cause I also invest time in other sports

I ran 14:36 at 6'2 and 180 lbs in college. We had an assistant coach who would regularly run 10k's on the track in 30:15-30 at 6'3 and 200 lbs. You're statement is as inaccurate as it is ignorant.

I'm now in my mid 30's, run 15-20 miles a week at 185 lbs and still run 17 flat. OP is completely fine at the weight he is and should focus on quality mileage and workouts rather than weight.

You got the speed. Don't try to train like a professional. Do you endurance work. One long LSD session a week, approx 10 miles. The rest of the week, no detailed plan. Run fast when you feel for it. Fartlek, not intervalls. And do some threshold training, when you feel for it. 10 slow-20 threshold- 10 slow. When you reach 16-16:30 you can consider temporuns and more serious intervall training. You will reach 17: 00, either in two months or in four months. Train, don't be obsessed with time limits. Try to happy with running. Good luck.

ReturnOftheMac wrote:

I ran 14:36 at 6'2 and 180 lbs in college. We had an assistant coach who would regularly run 10k's on the track in 30:15-30 at 6'3 and 200 lbs. You're statement is as inaccurate as it is ignorant.

I'm now in my mid 30's, run 15-20 miles a week at 185 lbs and still run 17 flat. OP is completely fine at the weight he is and should focus on quality mileage and workouts rather than weight.

The OP has not mentioned that they have been professionally trained like yourself and certainly doesn’t have 15 years of conditioning behind them.

Without more information is difficult to judge what would be best, though focusing on speed, aerobic and strength/power will help and then over time slow be able to build to where it can be maintained at low volume training