How long would it take me to drop 6 minutes off my 5K time?

You raise a bigger issue about the how much training can improve anyone. I ran my first ever 5k just before starting freshman year in high school on no training. Four years later as a senior after probably 2,000 training miles, I had improved exactly 4 minutes. I'd be interested to hear about the experience of others. Presumably, if at age 14 you can run a 5k in 22 minutes on no training, you'll never run under 16 minutes, certainly by your senior year, maybe ever. But open to hearing the thoughts of others.

6 minutes, no less.

What’s the connection to the financials? Is this HS or college? Either way, I‘d say a 6 min improvement is unlikely in a year or two. Use it as motivation to orove me wrong if you‘re set on it. But more than two minutes in a year is asking a lot. 3-4 would be insanely impressive. 6 feels out of reach to me.

nicholaspohla wrote:

I just started training for xc/track and ran a 22 minute 5K as a trial run. I'm willing to train my butt off for the next year or 2 to get my time down to 16 minutes. I'm a freshman trying to walk onto my school's XC team cause my dad lost his job last year cause of the pandemic and I feel really bad putting my parents in a position where they're struggling financially if I can do something about it. How long do you think it will take me if I train in the morning and have weight room in the afternoons along with double runs on some days training 6-7 days a week? Walk on tryouts are in about 10-11 months. Could I get it down by then?

Nope. Not gonna happen, sorry.

Get a job if you are worried about finances.

What is your all out 400m time? No matter what you will need some speed to run at that level. At worst you have to be able to run sub 60 seconds now. That is being very conservative.

If this is High School you should improve quickly. Six minutes is a lot, but we have no idea what you are doing now. Are you relatively untrained. Did you walk a lot in the time trial. If you are a HS freshman your body is still maturing a lot. That help. You sound new to the sport so this is the time that you rack up the most improvement in basic fitness. Do not get discouraged if you do not take the 6 minutes off at the tryouts. Having coaching & teammates to run with will help more than you know. If you are very new to the sport I caution you about doing doubles & weight training. Too much, too soon can lead to injuries.

This is for college.

I already have 2 jobs

Kobbs Hessler wrote:

You raise a bigger issue about the how much training can improve anyone. I ran my first ever 5k just before starting freshman year in high school on no training. Four years later as a senior after probably 2,000 training miles, I had improved exactly 4 minutes. I'd be interested to hear about the experience of others. Presumably, if at age 14 you can run a 5k in 22 minutes on no training, you'll never run under 16 minutes, certainly by your senior year, maybe ever. But open to hearing the thoughts of others.

I coach Cross Country. 13 year old boy ran 28:50 in his first 5k TT. 2 years later he ran 17:06 at age 15. Should end up around 16:25 this year at age 16.

I never walked but since I'm in the Texas heat and it was around 110-120 degrees on the track I stopped about every 2-4 laps to drench myself in water and try to rehydrate with some Gatorade. Also I wanna mirror my training schedule with the XC team's to see if I can handle it and do my best to get my time down as much as I can so that's why it's as intense as it is.

RosietheCuban wrote:

Kobbs Hessler wrote:

You raise a bigger issue about the how much training can improve anyone. I ran my first ever 5k just before starting freshman year in high school on no training. Four years later as a senior after probably 2,000 training miles, I had improved exactly 4 minutes. I'd be interested to hear about the experience of others. Presumably, if at age 14 you can run a 5k in 22 minutes on no training, you'll never run under 16 minutes, certainly by your senior year, maybe ever. But open to hearing the thoughts of others.

I coach Cross Country. 13 year old boy ran 28:50 in his first 5k TT. 2 years later he ran 17:06 at age 15. Should end up around 16:25 this year at age 16.

But he said he‘s in college.

This is for college too btw

It's definitely not "impossible", but you're going to have to bust your butt.

If you were 16, I'd say unlikely, but you're young so I think you have a decent shot.

I think it's more of a 4 year project, not 1 or 2.

nicholaspohla wrote:

I just started training for xc/track and ran a 22 minute 5K as a trial run. I'm willing to train my butt off for the next year or 2 to get my time down to 16 minutes. I'm a freshman trying to walk onto my school's XC team cause my dad lost his job last year cause of the pandemic and I feel really bad putting my parents in a position where they're struggling financially if I can do something about it. How long do you think it will take me if I train in the morning and have weight room in the afternoons along with double runs on some days training 6-7 days a week? Walk on tryouts are in about 10-11 months. Could I get it down by then?

I'm 48 and I just went from 31:00 to 18:52 in 2 years and I'm still improving. If my old butt can do that, you can knock off 6 minutes in your teens.

If you do all that you say, doubles 6-7 days per week and building mileage, it's possible. When you come off the couch, improvement is very fast initially, then starts leveling off as time goes on. You'll take a few minutes off very quickly. Will you level off at 19:00, 18:00, or 16:00? Sub-16?

There's only one way to find out. Give it a shot.

These are the laziest arguments you find on LRC. „I did it so obviously you can.“ When 90% of people here are in the top 5-10% of the running community, you‘ve got a huge polling bias.

Jordan didn‘t make varsity his Soph. year and became the GOAT. Obviously then all the kids who do make varsity Soph. year are locks for the HOF!

If my quote triggered you, here's one that'll really make you mad.

"Nobody is limited." - Eliud Kipchoge

What a load of rubbish being spouted on this forum.

16 minutes is not special. Of course the kid can run a 16 minute 5k with proper training. At 32 I started running and reached 18 fairly quickly without any speed work and everything at 8 or 9 minute pace. I see plenty of 30-40 year old dads on strava who can run 15-17.

As for the user saying they ran 2000 training miles over 4 years, just lmao. I've done more than 2000 miles in 6 months as part of marathon training. That's nothing.

GettingFasterDude wrote:

dat rhombus wrote:

These are the laziest arguments you find on LRC. „I did it so obviously you can.“ When 90% of people here are in the top 5-10% of the running community, you‘ve got a huge polling bias.

Jordan didn‘t make varsity his Soph. year and became the GOAT. Obviously then all the kids who do make varsity Soph. year are locks for the HOF!

If my quote triggered you, here's one that'll really make you mad.

"Nobody is limited." - Eliud Kipchoge

My point is that saying „I did it so you should be able to also“ is just a way of propping yourself up. When other people fail because you were born with better running genetics, you can roll your eyes at their averageness.

First of all, who said it was "special"?

Another lame strawman argument. And the fact that there are "plenty" of 30-40 year olds that

can run from 15-17 proves something close to zilch. In all likelihood, every one of them

was a collegiate runner. We have no idea what this kid's ceiling is.

This must be Malcolm Gladwell under his new pseudonym "Gugufhcjchffhf".