Biggest chunks of time you or others have cut off your PR's and how you did it?

taper

my first year of running, i went from 5k pr of 19:20 to 18:33, by doing more tempo runs and hills!

In high school I dropped my 5K PR from 20:02 to 18:39 by increasing my milelage from around 25 miles a week to an average of 40ish miles a week and adding morning runs to my normal high school practice.

In college I dropped my 6K PR by about a minute because I was running in a strong field which pulled me along.

freshman year 17:17 three-mile in the beginning of the season to 15:19 by the end.

In one year I went from a 17:22 5K to a 34:08 10K, how'd I do it? Same intensity more mileage (went from 40-50 to 60-70 CONSISTENTLY)

I am 25 years old and I ran my first 5k earlier this year in February with a time of 25:20

I ran a new PR in a 5k I ran last month with a time of 21:45

So about 3 and 1/2 minutes in 8 months. My girlfriend got me into running, so now I read books and magazines and I build my own workouts. I was doing close to 30mpw until I started school last month.

I think I am faster now...I started lifting weights and I "feel" fast. I ran a 61 second quarter a couple weeks ago in my ROTC detatchment, so I am hoping to break 21:00 soon.

New runner - x football player wrote:

I ran a 61 second quarter a couple weeks ago in my ROTC detatchment, so I am hoping to break 21:00 soon.

Uh, with a 61 second 400, you should be looking to break 16 or better. That's great if you're just beginning, but you have good 400 speed. With 61, you can and will run much, much faster with better training. Happy running.

Running a fast quarter has nothing to do at all with your 5k speed. If in fact that was true we would see a lot more high schoolers running faster times. There are plenty of guys that can do a 57-58 quarter and still not break 18:00 for 5k and they still call themselves distance runners. My best quarter is around 56, and I can run mid 16s 5k.

As for the topic, my best 5k in high school was 18:44 and I ran 17:08 in my first 5k on the track in college freshman year.

ONCE I GOT A CALIBRATED TREADMILL, ALL OF MY PR'S DROPPED SIGNIFICANTLY.

High School Personal Bests by Year

200

Freshman: 28.9

Sophomore: 26.4

Junior: 25.9

Senior: 22.6

400

Freshman: 1:09

Sophomore: 56.4

Junior: 54.3

Senior: 48.2

800

Freshman: 2:40

Sophomore: 2:19

Junior: 2:15

Senior: No Time

College Frosh: 1:59.51 indoors

College Soph: 1:52.75 indoors

In one year, from last xc season to this one, ive dropped from 30:30 to 26:30, 8K, with some races left to PR. The 30:30 was in trainers, with maybe 10 miles a week probably less. Now i run 70 a week.

That was my first time of the season last year though and first competitive race of my life. By the end of the season Id run 28 min, just realizing how to push my body and how much running really should hurt durring a race.

consistant mileage... dropped to sub 16 min 5k just from running 60 miles a week and doing a interval workout once a week or two. the increase from about 40 to 60 miles per week caused my 5k time to plummet from around mid 17's.

I started off as a college freshman running our school's six mile cross country course in 48:24. By the time I was a junior I was down to 34:31 and by the time I left I'd run it in 32:29.

I did this by taking my weekly mileages from something like 35 asa freshman to well over 100 at times as a junior and senior.

[quote]st3 wrote:

In one year, from last xc season to this one, ive dropped from 30:30 to 26:30, 8K, with some races left to PR. The 30:30 was in trainers, with maybe 10 miles a week probably less. Now i run 70 a week.

quote]

Okay, Jason, we're all very impressed.

I was injured my sophmore year of college xc, and spent my junior year abroad just running 40 mpw slow, but went from 27:30 to 26 flat (8k) during my senior season. I spent my first year out of college just running 60-70 mpw with a handful of hill and tempo workouts, with a couple of long breaks to travel the world, and ran 25:08 a few weeks ago in my first post college xc race. No secrets, just staying uninjured and staying within myself on workouts instead of trying to race the workout everyday like I used to.

I ran my first marathon six months ago in 3:28 (off of 25-35 mpw). Then I ran Chicago last Sunday in 2:59 (40-50 mpw). Dropped 29+ minutes in 6 months.

been there wrote:

I ran my first marathon six months ago in 3:28 (off of 25-35 mpw). Then I ran Chicago last Sunday in 2:59 (40-50 mpw). Dropped 29+ minutes in 6 months.

That's impressive--congratulations on Chicago!

I went from a 36 minute 10k in the spring of my senior year in college to a 33:10 in the following winter because of 70 mile weeks and one long hard run a week. After another year I was down to 32:10 and 25:20

STL_Runner wrote:

High School Personal Bests by Year

200

Freshman: 28.9

Sophomore: 26.4

Junior: 25.9

Senior: 22.6

400

Freshman: 1:09

Sophomore: 56.4

Junior: 54.3

Senior: 48.2

800

Freshman: 2:40

Sophomore: 2:19

Junior: 2:15

Senior: No Time

College Frosh: 1:59.51 indoors

College Soph: 1:52.75 indoors

What the heck did you do?

28.9 to 22.6 in the 200? You're on drugs or you did some CRAZY training? What did you do to drop that much time? Being at the 28 range myself, I'd love to run 24-25, not to mention 22!