Base Training for a 4:35 mile

Good grief, man. This is a ton of work just to get to 4:35.

Is this enough to get you there? Certainly.

If you have guys that are already at that fitness or faster, ask your coach if you can run portions of the workout with them. If they are 4:20 guys, maybe you take every 3rd or 4th rep off for extended recovery.

Don’t just work at paces for your current fitness. The Newbury Park guys were all 17:00 5k runners once. If they kept training at 17:00 5k pace workouts, they’d be like low-to-mid 16:00s now. They started training to be sub-14:00 guys instead, and it’s showing.

I was going to say exactly the same thing as Lenny.

Why would you put all higher end aerobic work on the shelf for almost 2 months and train like you’re getting ready for a 1/2 marathon? Take one of those tempo days and do something at 3200 pace instead. It doesn’t have to be crazy hard, but don’t neglect the aerobic power that you’ll need to run 4:35. Use your most recent 5k as a guide. Aim for 20 sec per mile faster than 5k. Take full recovery, after all, it’s only November. A workout that might be appropriate right now could be 6x600@1:55 with 2-3 min recovery. Over the next 13 weeks progress that until it looks something like 6x1k @ 3:10-3:15 with 2-3 min recovery.

Don’t be afraid to run some 200-300s at goal pace or slightly faster during this period also. 6x200@33 or 4x300@50 with lots of recovery would be just fine and would keep you in touch with the paces you’re trying to run in the spring.

First you want to take a week or two completely off. Rest is important. Then I would build your mileage up first which would be like half your 13 weeks already. Then start these workouts.

Monday: 4-5x1 mile threshold 1min rest, 1 mile jog to hill, 8x200m Hills Instead!

Tuesday: 60 mins easy (7:40-8:00 pace) + 4-8x100m strides

Wednesday: 60 mins Easy!

Thursday: 25 mins threshold, 1 mile jog to hill, hills sprints 80-100m depending on what you got.

Friday: 60 mins easy (7:40-8:00 pace) + 4-8x100m strides

Saturday: 90-120 mins moderate (7:15-7:20 pace)

Sunday: 30 mins very easy (8:00-8:30 pace)

If you have 90 minute basketball practices I would not be doubling.

A lot to digest there. I think this generally looks pretty decent. I would combine the tempo/threshold day & just alternate 1 workout like that/week instead of doing them back to back. I like the 100s/200s thrown in. You could also do a light speed session every 2nd or 3rd week. Something like 200s or 300s. I think your last 6 weeks has a lot of quality mixed in.

Also you seem to be running for a team but write your own training? Or you only have XC & outdoor & are on your own in the winter? Does your coach write winter training?

You're young and your body can probably handle what you outlined but you might get a bit more out of your training with 2 workouts/week. You could also get going a little more on your long runs without an extra session.

But, yeah, I think this kind of training will get you strong & ready to rip shorter workouts come spring.

M-Easy run with 2x3x200 going slow, medium, fast, you'll work down into sub 30 comfortably by the end of base

T-5x800 with 400 jog, cutting down from about 5k to 3k pace, try and get those jogs under 8 min pace

W-Easy

T-Tempo run, 20-30 min

F-Easy

S-Every week switch between off, or 6x10 sec hills if you're up for it (THESE ARE IMPORTANT)

S-Long run

Monday is a basic day but with 200s at the end, it's not going to destroy you, you should run within yourself. Maybe start with 36-34-32 and eventually you'll be doing 32-30-28 easily.

I tweaked the first workout with the 5x800, you can play around with interval distance weekly so you don't get bored. But for someone who will be able to run mid-distance you will need to remember and build on that feeling of cutting down instead of pure threshold.

The 10-sec hills are important because you need to build your pure speed too, with a faster 400 combined with strong endurance you will run a faster 400. Let's say you could run 56 in the 400. Now you run 54. But with this newfound endurance, you can hold 62s back to back, that's 2:04. Now with 2:04 and endurance you will be able to run 4:35, and maybe even faster with all this work.

Strength and speed are necessary. I see your 3x400 at 800 pace but I think a true speed workout like the hills will be way more important, the 3x400 at 800 pace comes later, save that for 6x200 now.

Thursday is a regular tempo, you know what to do.

I won't even read this.

I'd run 40-45 miles a week, one 20 minute tempo, run 6x400 then 6x800, then 6x1000 over time some other day, speeding up and cutting down rest, and go 12 miles one weekend day. Keep it simple, and shut it down it you're not up for it.

Born that way wrote:

I won't even read this.

I'd run 40-45 miles a week, one 20 minute tempo, run 6x400 then 6x800, then 6x1000 over time some other day, speeding up and cutting down rest, and go 12 miles one weekend day. Keep it simple, and shut it down it you're not up for it.

+1

I never succumbed to the lures of high mileage. I was a member of two intercollegiate championship cross-country teams, yet I don't recall doing more than 5 miles in any given practice. When I returned to running, I found that the veterans I met trained 5 miles a day and ran a race every week. And that's been my practice ever since. Except for races, I remember running more than 10 miles only once or twice.

We forget that Roger Bannister broke the 4-minute-mile barrier on 5 hours of training a week. Bannister later wrote that an additional 10 seconds of improvement would require four times as much training.

Research by exercise physiologist Dr. David Costill confirms Bannister's theory. Dr. Costill found that the greatest percentage of improvement occurs with 25 miles a week. Close to maximum improvement takes place with 50 miles a week. Beyond this––training as much as 200 to 225 miles per week––resulted in no further increase in maximum oxygen uptake or the ability of the heart to pump blood. In fact, training beyond 50 miles a week reduces a runner's anaerobic strength, which affects speed and the "push" at the finish.

I discovered these truths on my own. First I found I could run a respectable marathon on 30 miles of training per week. By observing my colleagues, I also figured out that if I doubled my weekly mileage, I could probably improve my marathon time by 5 minutes. But in return, I would risk the staleness, illness, and injury that comes with excessive mileage.

George Sheehan, 4:47 mile @ Age 50 (age-graded 4:11).

"member of two intercollegiate championship cross-country teams" but Sheehan graduated college in 1940, of course he didn't run high mileage.

Any combo from 30-60 is probably good for HS kids based off background, endurance, and speed etc

Run one hour a day

A common thing I noticed when I was in high school, in the 80s.

The state champs all ran ten miles a day.

Everyone who ran ten miles a day was not a state champ.

Thanks for all the great advice everyone!

I wish I had hills, but I live in Florida, so those are hard to come by.

Do you have any access to a treadmill?

You can use that