Need Help With Training

1. The classic 20-minute tempo run. It's a great workout for 5K runners. Once you've got it figured out (and it might take you several tries), then...

2. 5K-paced intervals. Start with 400m and work up. 800/1000m repeats are basic 5K workouts. As you get closer to a race, try 1200m or 1600m, but start out with small doses at first.

What's your hill training looking like? Any hill workouts and doing hills on your easy runs?

6 x 1000 m w/ 400 m recovery jog was my key workout leading up to a 16:57 three weeks ago. I averaged 3:28.6 for the 1000's

SanDiegorunner wrote:

I've been running 50-55 mile weeks the past 4 weeks and just wrapped up a 67-mile week ending with a 23-mile long run. I mostly train alone and haven't done any workouts yet. Thinking of throwing in some speed endurance to get fitter. My pbs are, 4:18 1500*, 2:04 800m and 53 second 400m. Compared to my best distance efforts which aren't strong at all. I've never broken 17 minutes for a 5k and I really want to this year!

Any recommendations are training workouts, routines, etc to improve my mileage and strength. I've been doing mostly moderate/easy runs and just did my first workout this week. As soon as I recover from today's long run I plan on doing another workout. Any tips are appreciated greatly!

Ok, I'm no expert. But 23 miles for a long run, esp for a 5K runner who hasn't broken 17:00, just sounds crazy to me. What, did you go for a 4 hour run?? Yikes. I think you might wanna cap your long runs at 90 minutes (but I defer to anybody with decent expertise if they say I'm wrong on this).

Also, "throwing in some speed endurance to get fitter" may not make any sense (in part, this depends on what you mean by "speed endurance"). Where are you in your training cycle? What is the purpose of each workout, and how does it build you towards the next series of workouts, and eventually toward your goal 5K?

There are tons of 5K training programs out there. Sounds like you might benefit from giving one a try.

Thanks for the response guys! For the post above, I ran 23 miles yesterday because it was my birthday! I ended up averaging 6:47 for 21 miles then jogged the last two bringing the average pace down to 6:50ish pace. I usually run for 90-95 minutes.

I’m actually just running right now to get in a nice base. Workouts are barely being input into my training cycle that I’m not to sure about. My best bet is to time trial a few times & hopefully get on a track to solo a 5k/10k or even a mile. I definitely will check some out!

my 2c wrote:

1. The classic 20-minute tempo run. It's a great workout for 5K runners. Once you've got it figured out (and it might take you several tries), then...

2. 5K-paced intervals. Start with 400m and work up. 800/1000m repeats are basic 5K workouts. As you get closer to a race, try 1200m or 1600m, but start out with small doses at first.

Tempos have always been my weakness & I always avoided them. I’ve done 2 mile tempo surges in between 8 mile runs but I haven’t done a solid tempo workout. Adding to the training as well. I

I’ve done 400m repeats in the past and did a few 800s last week at tempo pace. How’s 2-4 sets of 4x400 short recovery as a start?

jiggymeister wrote:

6 x 1000 m w/ 400 m recovery jog was my key workout leading up to a 16:57 three weeks ago. I averaged 3:28.6 for the 1000's

Was your 400m rest at regular run pace or slower?

SanDiegorunner wrote:

Was your 400m rest at regular run pace or slower?

It varied between 2:04-2:25, getting progressively longer each rep. So it was my regular run pace initially, and got slower towards the end. I run the recoveries by effort though, and my HR drops enough before the next hard bout.