What do I need to do to break 5:00 in the 1600m?

Work on your aerobic capacity by doing a lot of steady paced distance runs with an occasional tempo run. Also don't be afraid to be doing some fast stuff like repeat short hills or 200-300's. Just make sure you don't overdo the fast stuff. The 200-300's should be more like long strides you would do before a race. And take good rest between each one. Don't make it an anerobic workout. Just working on leg turn over.

Step 1: before anything else, start thinking about break 5 for the *mile*.

1600m is for bitches.

krispy kremlin._._._._ wrote:

Step 1: before anything else, start thinking about break 5 for the *mile*.

1600m is for bitches.

Completely agree!

Pick an actual event. Something for which a World Record exists. A mile is only about 9 meters more.

Wow those 9 meters really mean a lot to you huh

I don't organise track meets, I just run them. We don't do 1500m or a mile, we do 1600m. I run what the meet has, and the meets only ever have a 1600m.

So mainly focus on volume and then add in a moderate amount of speed work? Sorry I just want to make sure I'm understanding you correctly

trying to break 5 wrote:

So mainly focus on volume and then add in a moderate amount of speed work? Sorry I just want to make sure I'm understanding you correctly

This is a good, keep-it-simple approach. Don't build up volume too quickly -- patience & consistency over time is more beneficial than rapid build-up to big miles. I'd suggest a tempo-type session once a week, and as has been suggested do a speed session once a week with plenty of rest between reps. Like 8 x 200, hills one week and track the next.

This training approach is basically preparing you to be at a higher level (both aerobically and speedwise) when you eventually start your pre-season / in-season training.

trying to break 5 wrote:I don't organise track meets, I just run them. We don't do 1500m or a mile, we do 1600m. I run what the meet has, and the meets only ever have a 1600m.

trying to break 5 wrote:

I don't organise track meets, I just run them. We don't do 1500m or a mile, we do 1600m. I run what the meet has, and the meets only ever have a 1600m.

Somewhat hard to believe, but maybe I should give you the benefit of the doubt since you're not at the meets I watch. Thing is, I watch pretty much any track that's on TV, pay to watch meets in person at times, and I've never seen your favorite non-event offered. Never run one, never seen one run. Again, I watch track. What kind of meet organizer would make up a random distance like that? Do the same meets have a 4000m? Then again, don't know where these events are, so it's conceivable you could be telling the truth. Just seems easy enough to find organizers offering standard events. They happen all the time.

Well first, you need legs.

Well you're correct that I'm not at the meets you watch. Random HS track meets aren't exactly prime time viewing on ESPN or anything like that lol. I go to whatever meet my coach says we're going to. HS track is full of bogus distances like 1600m instead of 1500m and 3200m instead of 3000m. We don't even have 5000m at my meets which sucks because that'd be a lot better. I have no idea who came up with 1600m races or why the meets I run at have those instead of 1500m/mile, it's dumb and I'm just waiting for college so I can finally run track 5Ks.

Got it, thank you!

dude, you know what the 1600 event is

4 laps on the track makes more sens than 3.75 laps or 4.0225 laps doesnt it?

get a life mate

OP, aerobic capability now with strides and maybe some light strength work. eventually you will get to doing harder workouts. if you have a coach listen to them, if you dont then buy jack daniels book and work off of that

Run the first 400 in <60s. Repeat 3 times consecutively in a row one after the other

mathleter wrote:

Run the first 400 in <60s. Repeat 3 times consecutively in a row one after the other

Sounds like your math is about as good as your coaching...

I keep hearing about that book so I'll definitely check it out, thanks!

To be fair, they're not wrong, if I did that I would definitely be sub 5 lol

When I was in high school (about 15 years ago), I had similar PRs to you my sophomore year. The following track season I ran a 4:56 1600, just by building up a solid base after my junior XC season. I found some winter base template from Amby Burfoot on the old running times website, and just followed that, it was a slow buildup to almost 60 miles/week. I don't remember the exact distances but the general principles were:

-long run on Sunday

-two medium-long runs during the week

-rest on Saturday

-back off the mileage every 4th week to recover

My own additions were add some threshold miles at the end of the longer runs based on how you feel, i.e. feeling good do one or two miles at threshold or none if feeling a little beat up. Also do some strides on grass 2-3 times a week just to keep in touch with turnover.

You probably won't be able to break 5 out of the gate (unless you have some natural speed) but after 3-4 weeks of some speedwork once your season starts you should be able to.

The plan looked something like this (from what I can remember)

S/M/T/W/Th/F

8/4/6/4/6/4 (32)

10/4/8/4/8/4 (38)

12/5/8/5/8/5 (43)

13/5/9/5/9/5 (46)

8/4/6/4/6/4 (32)

12/5/8/5/8/5 (43)

13/5/9/5/9/5 (46)

14/5/10/5/10/5 (49)

8/4/6/4/6/4 (32)

13/5/9/5/9/5 (46)

14/5/10/5/10/5 (49)

14/6/10/6/10/6 (52)

8/4/6/4/6/4 (32)

14/5/10/5/10/5 (49)

14/5/12/5/12/5 (53)

15/6/12/6/12/6 (57)

I am also trying to break 5 this track season and have a similar PR with a 5:22. I am going to try and build up to around 40-45 mpw with at least one quality workout a week and a long run. I will build up from 20-25 miles slowly. I am going into my junior year track season