~15:30 5k Guys - Your Training

I ran 15:30 one year after college on a dare with no training. I used to do 15:30 in tempo runs. What exactly is your question? The training for 15:30 is entirely dependent upon talent.

Large base mileage then

60-65mpw in season

4-5mi tempo 1x per week. Average 5:32/mi starting slower, ending faster.

3-4mi of repeats at 4:55-5:10 pace

Strides

LR 12-14mi

Bulk of easy runs around 6:50/mi

One would assume TheBanaman is asking about runners who trained consistently with the goal of running 15:30 and achieved it.

100 mpw (30 in doubles and 70 in main runs) for 10 weeks, a week of running only 4 days ( hit 45 miles), and then an 80 mile week with a 5k race at the end. Went 15:20.

5 miles every morning @ 7:2x ish (starting at 7:45 - 8:00 and getting down under 7 by the last mile)

Lydiard style base

M - Shorter Uptempo + Strides

T - Longer and a little easier

W - Same as Monday, maybe a little faster or a real tempo

Th - Same as Tuesday, but a little longer

F - Easy/Short

S - Long Run fast

Su - Easy/Short

Miles varied day to day but followed that. I did 4s and 2s at mile pace with equal distance jog (like 6x400 or 8x200) every other week and hills every other week (8x30 sec hill w/ 2 min rest or 6x1 min hill with 3 min rest (kept it like 6:30 pace though)). Nothing glamourous, just did the miles.

PRs before breaking 15:30 (all set indoors before a fall time trial off 80 mile weeks)

800 - 2:03

Mile - 4:29

3k - 9:01

also +1 to versatile (or whatever his username is), it really depends on your starting point for the training replies youll see.

Uptempo was near 6:0x and a little slower would be like 6:3x. Short/Easy would be as easy as I needed, as slow as 8 min pace

nobrakesnobreak wrote:

Large base mileage then

60-65mpw in season

4-5mi tempo 1x per week. Average 5:32/mi starting slower, ending faster.

3-4mi of repeats at 4:55-5:10 pace

Strides

LR 12-14mi

Bulk of easy runs around 6:50/mi

This is the tried and tested approach: long run, intervals around race pace, tempo, some short quicker stuff for mechanics, and solid mileage. It is difficult to go wrong with this!

Tempos are perhaps a little out of fashion these days, with long(ish) intervals being a common alternative. But for the 5km more than any other distance, probably, it is the strength to hold a quick, slightly anaerobic pace for the full distance that is vital, and the continuous tempo, whilst hard, is very specific training for that. For the 1500m and down, arguably the 3000m as well, continuous tempos are less specific, since one can cover race distance in a longish interval. For the 10km tempos are likely to be more like steady aerobic runs; 10km or more worth of threshold intervals is arguably more specific than a continuous tempo in that well. Thus it is really the 5km, and arguably the 3000m, that continuous tempos really shine, I feel.

I was able to run 15:30 (+/-) for about 10 years post college, where I had been a mid-level DIII runner.

Winter volume a running+ cross training, 8-10 hours a week on average.

Mid-mileage rest of the year, at 50-60 mpw and some light cycling or cross training once or twice a week.

Tempos of 3-5 miles every week to 10 days at 5:20-5:30 pace. Would do these for maybe 8 months of the year.

Hill reps in the spring for about 6 weeks usually at 5K to 10K effort, with 5-8 reps of 2 or 3 minutes and jog down recovery.

Shift to reps of 2-5 minutes, maybe more 10K pace in the transition from hills, then focusing more on 3K to 5K. Once a week or 10 days. e.g., 6X800, 3 or 4X 1200, 5X 1000, or 3X 1600 at 3k to 5K pace.

As bigger races approach short workouts of speed work/fartlek at mile race pace or faster with equal or longer jog recovery.

Longer run of 10 to 14 miles.

Would take a late summer break/relaxed period for about a month and then run cross country, using similar training.

Masters runner. 7 miles a day, 5 days a week. All at 6:30 - 6:40 pace. No workouts. Race weekly 5k.

letsracer wrote:

Masters runner. 7 miles a day, 5 days a week. All at 6:30 - 6:40 pace. No workouts. Race weekly 5k.

The combination of consistent moderate running plus a regular hard, quite anaerobic effort is also tried and tested, though less common. I'd be interested to know whether you reached 15:30 by doing this, and if so your progression over the few years before you did it, or if you had rather previously run this time or faster off different training, and were then able to maintain 15:30 times off the training you describe?

Junior year of high school. Ran 15:55 for a decently fast XC 5k and 9:28 on the track for 3200. Probably in 15:20s-15:30s shape for most of the year. Ran 50-60 mpw in cross, 5-10 less per week in track. 3 quality days and one rest day per week, the rest easy runs (~60 minutes), a little less before a race (30-45). Consistent strides after easy runs. Some examples of quality days:

5xMile@4:50s cutting down to 4:44 with 5 min rest

30-40 minute fartleks

80-90 minute long runs

20x200@32 with 200 jog rest

5-6x1600@5:15-5:25 or so with 1 minute rest

20-30 minute tempos@5:20-5:40

my experience wrote:

Junior year of high school. Ran 15:55 for a decently fast XC 5k and 9:28 on the track for 3200. Probably in 15:20s-15:30s shape for most of the year. Ran 50-60 mpw in cross, 5-10 less per week in track. 3 quality days and one rest day per week, the rest easy runs (~60 minutes), a little less before a race (30-45). Consistent strides after easy runs. Some examples of quality days:

5xMile@4:50s cutting down to 4:44 with 5 min rest

30-40 minute fartleks

80-90 minute long runs

20x200@32 with 200 jog rest

5-6x1600@5:15-5:25 or so with 1 minute rest

20-30 minute tempos@5:20-5:40

That first workout looks like something a 14:50-15:00 guy would do. You might’ve left your best race at practice dude.

aged mid 40's i ran 15.30 for 5k. based off about 50mpw

2 sessions a week - 1 longer session like 4*1200 off 2 mins at race pace, 1 shorter like 12*400 off 60secs @ race pace

the rest of my running was easy with the sunday long run 12-15miles.

the key for me was the sessions at race pace and getting used to it. i would slow the recoveries down to make sure i could hit the race pace and then overtime reduce the recovery time back to normal.

of course others will advocate tempos and i would agree they are beneficial but i didnt do them. i used the 2 track sessions to get my quality in.

the training plan was 10 weeks and everyone who followed it ran a PB/PR

nahhhhh bro wrote:

my experience wrote:

Junior year of high school. Ran 15:55 for a decently fast XC 5k and 9:28 on the track for 3200. Probably in 15:20s-15:30s shape for most of the year. Ran 50-60 mpw in cross, 5-10 less per week in track. 3 quality days and one rest day per week, the rest easy runs (~60 minutes), a little less before a race (30-45). Consistent strides after easy runs. Some examples of quality days:

5xMile@4:50s cutting down to 4:44 with 5 min rest

30-40 minute fartleks

80-90 minute long runs

20x200@32 with 200 jog rest

5-6x1600@5:15-5:25 or so with 1 minute rest

20-30 minute tempos@5:20-5:40

That first workout looks like something a 14:50-15:00 guy would do. You might’ve left your best race at practice dude.

Looking back on my high school training now, the second part might be true...however all that workout is, really, is 5 miles of work at 95-100% of VO2max (cutting down from 5k to 3200 pace) with equal rest. I was only supposed to go from 4:59-4:50 in the cutdown IIRC, but things got a little competitive on the last rep and we kicked it in with a 65 or so. I had a teammate who was in sub-15:00 shape when we ran that workout and he ran all his reps between 4:46 and 4:48 (he didn't like to kick in workouts, probably a good mentality). My freshman year of college, I was 14:50-15:00 guy (8:35 in the 3k, didn't race 5k) and that year I did 6xMile@4:54-4:59 with 3 minutes of rest as one of our big XC workouts. That was hard, but definitely not all-out, and it consisted of more volume with much less rest.

Versy Tile wrote:

I ran 15:30 one year after college on a dare with no training. I used to do 15:30 in tempo runs. What exactly is your question? The training for 15:30 is entirely dependent upon talent.

Training is not dependent on talent. You can train whether you are talented or not. Everybody can get down to 15:30 if they put in the time.

I assume you are trolling. 99% of people can not get down to 15:30. Thousands of D3 guys do everything right and still only run 17:00. Most people can do everything right and never break 19 minutes.

I'm in my late 30s. I ran a 15:4X 5k last fall (and then a 31:5X 10k two weeks later) following the Strava 5k training plan (which I think is McMillan) averaging 30-40 mpw. These were both lifetime PRs for me (for reference, I ran 1:55/3:59 800/1500 + 25:4X XC 8k in college, ~15+ yrs ago -- never raced the 5k then, and only ran a couple of XC 10ks). I found the plan very flexible/easy to implement, and typically included a 1-2 days of easy-moderate cycling instead of recovery runs each week, + one day totally off. I've always been a low-mileage guy (45-50 mpw in college), but that plan suited me well.

versy tile wrote:

I assume you are trolling. 99% of people can not get down to 15:30. Thousands of D3 guys do everything right and still only run 17:00. Most people can do everything right and never break 19 minutes.

Nope, sorry that you gave up. Everyone starts from different points in fitness and talent and some need less time to get there than others, but if you spend enough time on it I don't see why a kid can't run 5:00 pace for a 5k. It's not fast. It's certainly not slow, but don't pretend it's impossible. Most people think they are doing everything right and they simply aren't. Nobody does everything right as it's virtually impossible.

I typically only use pejorative language for political posts but you have to be a moron to actually believe this.

As the above poster said 95%+ of the world population is probably completely incapable of running 15:30 for a 5k even with a lifetime of perfect training and performance enhancing drugs. You do understand how selection bias works right?

15:30 is certainly not an elite time but to think that it is doable by anyone is so absurd its probably not even worth engaging in any sort of discourse with you.

Just consider how many people you see on strava etc. that are running 70 mile weeks with workouts and taking running pretty darn seriously and not even getting within a stones throw of that time. Your comments are fairly insulting to that entire cohort.

highhoppingworm wrote:

Just consider how many people you see on strava etc. that are running 70 mile weeks with workouts and taking running pretty darn seriously and not even getting within a stones throw of that time. Your comments are fairly insulting to that entire cohort.

I'm curious, how many guys do you know are running 70mpw for over the last 3 years or more, under the age of 35, who aren't at least under 16? I really don't know many.