sub 20 minute 5km training plan female

Looks pretty good. Guessing your about 30ish miles? Could be good to work on getting mileage up, Thursday could be replaced with another easy run to focus on getting 40-50 range.

I'm a guy, but I was running 22-min 5ks and worked hard in my 30s to break 20 mins. It's definitely possible. Biggest difference-makers for me:

1. Long run of 8-10 miles once per week (so 3.1 miles didn't feel long)

2. Track workout of 6 x 800 once per week at 3 mins per 800 with 2 mins rest (so 6:25 pace didn't feel too fast)

3. Lost 5-10 pounds (only a good idea if you truly have weight to lose)

4. Ran a race on a fast, certified course with 100s of sub-20 finishers (so I wasn't alone)

Well......a sub 20 min doesn`t look to be so difficult if you now can run 21:45 .

You don`t need anything more than one maxVO2 pace workout and one LT pace workout and the rest of the days easy runs at right individual pace . Sometimes my runners runs their goal

times in just 2-3 months training, and sometimes they need a little more time.

The Wizard JS wrote:

Well......a sub 20 min doesn`t look to be so difficult if you now can run 21:45 .

You don`t need anything more than one maxVO2 pace workout and one LT pace workout and the rest of the days easy runs at right individual pace . Sometimes my runners runs their goal

times in just 2-3 months training, and sometimes they need a little more time.

Completely agree - you only need one VO2 max and one LT session a week. I am a sub-20 female runner and I have never done that many hard workouts in one week, it would kill me and my body would break!! Typical week for me:

Mon - rest

Tues - Interval session e.g. 6x800, 5x1000

Wed - easy run

Thurs - LT session

Friday - rest

Sat - easy run

Sun - easy long run (9-10 miles)

What's your mile time? Because that gives an indication on what you need to work.

For example if you're running 6min mile then you have all the speed, you need to run sub-20 (6min26/mile) and need to work on endurance.

If however your mile time is barely quicker than 7min/mile (the average pace of your current 5K time), you'll need to work on speed.

I havnt run a mile race since I was 14 and I think it was around 6 minutes definitely more to do with my endurance so tempo runs and easy runs + more miles are probably the way to go

hey! im a female around the same age and I dropped my 5k from 21:59 to 19:36 my last two xc seasons. the biggest things for me were increasing my mileage and my long runs, and doing strides after easy runs!

when I broke 22min, I was doing 30-35 miles a week on average, and my easy runs were usually 8:30-9:00

when I broke 20min, I was doing 45-55 miles a week on average, along with higher volume workouts and my easy runs were 7:30-8:00, obviously important to go off feel and not worry about pace too much on easy days!

my weeks w/ racing would have easy runs two days a week, an interval workout, a tempo workout, shakeout or off day, race, and long run. if I didn't race that week, the race day would be another easy run. I occasionally double as well and I prefer to double on workout days (usually a shakeout after the workout)

I think the long run is really important, because its important for your training and it also helped me a lot mentally!

hope this helps :)

I'm actually in a similar position (although male as a freshman in high school). I think a good plan would be about 40 miles per week, with two speed workouts, one long run, and the rest easy to build your aerobic system:

Monday - 8 miles: easy, conversational

Tuesday - track workout: 12x400, 6x800, 20x200, 5x1000, 3x1600 (about 2-3 minutes rest, can change intervals and rest)

Wednesday - 6 miles: easy, conversational (recovery run)

Thursday - 5 mile fartlek (every mile do 1 minute on/1 minute off until end of the mile)

Friday - 8 miles: easy, conversational (recovery run)

Saturday - cross training/strength training (60 minutes recommended)

Sunday - 10 miles: easy, long run

My brother followed something similar to this, and jumped from 20:28 freshman year to 18:51 this past sophomore year. However, if you're not at this mileage/intensity level yet, don't overdo it. You don't want to injure yourself.