So I’m 19 year old boy who’s just started running, I ran a 5km a few days ago to see where I’m starting at and I ran 21:29 max effort. I have no experience in running and haven’t done much activity for years. I was wondering if I could get a sub 20 by around the new year in about 2 months. Also how long would I then expect to break sub 18 and 15 if possible?
Sub-20 in two months: absolutely.
Sub-18 might also be possible in two months, but for sure you should be there by March.
Sub-15 is gonna take some more time. It’s honestly just not in the cards for everyone. You need to be able to run 72 second quarters, so your 1500/mile best should be around 4:00/4:20. That’ll probably take you 2+ years at minimum.
Sub 20 yes. Unless you are morbidly obese or something it is unlikely you will get down under 15 given where you are starting. I suspect most 14:xx 5k runners are under 20 minutes without any formal training at all.
Oh wow thanks, I didn’t know sub 18 would be right around the corner I thought people would say years for that. I did 5x1km at 4min each today (1 min rest) and I was sick, probably the hardest thing I’ve done physically.
And yeah I think sub 15 may be pushing it. as a kid I did sprinting, as a 12 year old I ran about 13.8 in the 100m so I have some speed, but who knows. And did an 800m in 2:40 also at 12 but that’s about it for my past experience.
asthma123 wrote:
Oh wow thanks, I didn’t know sub 18 would be right around the corner I thought people would say years for that. I did 5x1km at 4min each today (1 min rest) and I was sick, probably the hardest thing I’ve done physically.
I think sub-18 is doable, but I may be less optimistic than the other poster that you just get there automatically in 2-5 months. It really depends how much you train and how well you respond to it. Might be a few months, might be a few years (more likely if you aren’t super responsive). But definitely a reasonable goal.
Do you know what you can run a mile in?
Absolutely to sub-20. Sub 18 will come with consistent training. I'm not sure I agree with the other commentors that it'll be right around the corner. After that it'll get harder and harder to make improvements, is it possible for you to break 15? Yes. Is it likely, ehh, 14xx is an extremely fast time. Be consistent with your training and you'll get faster.
Sub 15 is incredibly fast for the reasonably talented runner. Most never get there. But you just might. Never know til you try.
Sub 20 will come quick for you. I don't know - sub 18 may take a bit longer. Really depends.
Biggest trick is not to injure yourself along the way. You are just starting and you will be training hard. That's typically the perfect storm for an injury. Make sure you take rest days and include easy days and don't be afraid to back off running for 3 days every once in a while to let your body catch up to your aerobic improvements.
Around a year ago my friend challenged me to a mile which I ran just under 6 minutes, like 5:57. That was actually the last run I did since this week.
Okay thanks, is there anything else important that I should be doing to reduce chance of injury?
asthma123 wrote:
Okay thanks, is there anything else important that I should be doing to reduce chance of injury?
Strength training.
asthma123 wrote:
Okay thanks, is there anything else important that I should be doing to reduce chance of injury?
Stop training so hard that you feel sick every session.
Okay not like anyone is interested but I’ll come back on news years day and do a parkrun and I’ll post my time in here
I'm interested! Just be sure to rest for a couple days if you feel any pain in your body - don't let it develop into something more serious
Okay thanks, I’ll keep updated on what goes off, yeah my calves kill but I think that’s just because I’m new
asthma123 wrote:
Okay not like anyone is interested but I’ll come back on news years day and do a parkrun and I’ll post my time in here
I'm interested as well! It's always fun to monitor these training threads. Feel free to update along the way as well. You'll get a few troll like responses, but for the most part people are pretty well-intentioned. Do lots of easy runs, don't overdo workouts, and keep at it.
A common mantra here is train at the fitness you are at, not where you want to be. That's why the 5 x 1 km was so awful. Do workouts like that too often and you'll wind up burned out and injured. You would be better served doing something like 5 x 1 km @ 4:15 with 2:30 - 3:00 min rests. Then you can work your way to 4:00 reps. It should feel hard, but not overwhelming. At the end of a workout, you should feel like you could do another 1-2 reps if you had to. The workout you did was to test if you were in sub-20 shape (which you aren't quite yet!), which is why it felt terrible.
Keep at it! What's your weekly mileage?
Okay so I’ll stay away from the extreme workouts for a bit, with regards to my weekly mileage I’ve literally done 3 runs so far since starting I did the time trial about a week ago then the intervals 2 days ago then just another steady 5k today.
What sort of mileage should I be aiming for to begin with? Maybe 15-20km a week? And are there any other types of runs that are good to help improve faster?
asthma123 wrote:
Okay so I’ll stay away from the extreme workouts for a bit, with regards to my weekly mileage I’ve literally done 3 runs so far since starting I did the time trial about a week ago then the intervals 2 days ago then just another steady 5k today.
What sort of mileage should I be aiming for to begin with? Maybe 15-20km a week? And are there any other types of runs that are good to help improve faster?
15-20 km is a good place to start if you haven't run much before. Building would help too. In the beginning, you divide your mileage up over 4 days in the week. Consider something like this:
Week1: 15k
Week 2: 20k
Week 3: 20k
Week 4: 25k
Week 5: 25k
Week 6: 30k
Week 7: 30k
Week 8: Time Trial (do 15k + 5k time trial)
Sample weekly schedule:
Sunday: EASY (probably something like 9-10 min/mile...you should be able to easily have a conversation while running)
Tuesday: Track Intervals (Mix up the options each week: 5 x 800 w/ 2:30 rest, 8 x 400 w/ 1:30 rest, 6 x 600 w/ 2:00 rest...you should run at a pace that is quick, but allows you to feel fairly recovered by the time the next rep starts...if you are still out of breath when the rest ends, you ran too hard)
Thursday: EASY
Saturday: Steady (run a 1k warm-up easy and 1k cool down easy, and in between run at 8-8:30 pace)
This is just to get started. Take time off if you ever feel a little banged up.
Okay sounds good, I’ll use this and come back and report on what happens
Hello, as a report of what’s gone on, I’ve been running like 10-15km a week with not really any speed sessions, I did a 10k a few days ago in 44 flat and a 5k a few days ago in 21 and The 5k was meant to be 22 so I probably could’ve gone faster. I’ll start upping the mileage now and maybe include some intervals, I don’t have a track available so I’ll just do like 1k repeats or something.