Breaking 15

I know there are a ton of good threads on this, but most of them are about people closer than I am. I believe I have the time and work ethic to get sub 15 in a few months IF I train right. Current PR is 15:30 and I am much more of a strength based runner (my mile is 4:38 granted I've never been in a good race, prob around 4:30 fitness). Took a little time off after a disappointing race and have been building for the last month or so at around 70 mpw. Current schedule has been 1 quick 90' long run at 6:0x and 1 longer workout alternating 4-5 miles of volume of longer reps at current 5k pace and 10-12k of work at 10k-10mile off 60ish rest (generally 1600-2k reps). Alternating light tempos every other week. No doubles. Had 2 great last workouts and recently did 6 x k at 3:02 off 2:00 rest followed by some hard 400s of 90". I have a time trial planned on Thursday so I will make sure to update on that. To be very clear I do not think I am in 14:5x shape YET. As I stated earlier I think I have the potential to reach that and was wondering what a good progression of workouts over the next 2 months would be. I've began to respond very well to what I've been doing so far and am feeling much more benefits than my previous methods but i've always had a problem with peaking. How and when should I start to introduce more speed and what other key components am I'm missing?

anothertrainingthread wrote:
I know there are a ton of good threads on this, but most of them are about people closer than I am. I believe I have the time and work ethic to get sub 15 in a few months IF I train right. Current PR is 15:30 and I am much more of a strength based runner (my mile is 4:38 granted I've never been in a good race, prob around 4:30 fitness). Took a little time off after a disappointing race and have been building for the last month or so at around 70 mpw. Current schedule has been 1 quick 90' long run at 6:0x and 1 longer workout alternating 4-5 miles of volume of longer reps at current 5k pace and 10-12k of work at 10k-10mile off 60ish rest (generally 1600-2k reps). Alternating light tempos every other week. No doubles. Had 2 great last workouts and recently did 6 x k at 3:02 off 2:00 rest followed by some hard 400s of 90". I have a time trial planned on Thursday so I will make sure to update on that. To be very clear I do not think I am in 14:5x shape YET. As I stated earlier I think I have the potential to reach that and was wondering what a good progression of workouts over the next 2 months would be. I've began to respond very well to what I've been doing so far and am feeling much more benefits than my previous methods but i've always had a problem with peaking. How and when should I start to introduce more speed and what other key components am I'm missing?

Obviously you should be training like someone who’s run 15:30. Since you haven’t broken 15 yet, your paces should be relative to your current fitness, not your goal fitness.
A good structure for 1500/3000/5000 runners is the Bakken/Ingebrigtsen double threshold structure. Now, I’m not saying completely change your training, but I am saying take some inspiration with some of their workout ideas.
Sessions like:
8-10 x 1km @ Threshold(actually one or two seconds above threshold) w/ 60s jogging rest. Your pace should be 3:23-3:25/km
20-25 x 400m @ 5k pace w/ 30-45s rest. This workout is both mentally and physically tough but doable. Your pace should be 74-75s per rep.
Hill strides: 10x300 or 2x10x200m @ 1500m effort(not pace). The hill should be challenging, like 7-10 degrees. Recovery should be either a crawling jog or a walk back. Recovery should be close to double or triple the rep time amount(i.e, 45s for 200m, rest should be 90s). This workout should be feel challenging but not impossible.
You have a good mileage amount right now. If you can break 15 on 70mpw, good for you, but you will have to increase mileage in order to go under 14:30.
Your long run pace is bit too fast unless you’re trying to make it into a threshold session. If I were your coach, I’d either have you do your long runs at 6:30-7:00/mile for 90mins, or have you do a progressive 30km where you’d start at 8:00/mile and work down to your threshold pace by the end of the run(for you 5:24-5:30/mile).
In addition to your general aerobic runs: you should always do strides after, practice good form. These should be by effort not pace. And if you don’t already, I would like for you to add in 2-3mile doubles twice a week.

Breaking 15

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