For a 17:30 runner, is a run at 6:30 pace too slow to be a workout?

If your heart rate makes it to at least zone 1 for most of the session, you're fine, even if somehow you're just walking. The pace isn't as relevant on easy base runs.

Depends on you, sophomore year highschool I was around 17 flat and I could do 7:15 for 6 on a good day

I ran a 5K in 17:22 about 5 months after running a half marathon in 1:23, so 6:30 was a hair slower than my HM pace. 6 miles at that would have felt good, not too exhausting, but definitely a workout. (I ran 1:20 later that season).

A lot of people are answering using a definition of 'workout' that might be different from the person asking the question.

OP: when people say 'workout' they often mean the 'hard' days in a training program, which can't be done too frequently and require some recovery afterwards. E.g. some days you just run 6 miles and that's an 'easy day', other days it's 1k repeats at 8k pace, that's a 'workout'. But it almost seems like you might have meant 'workout' as in 'a run done for training purposes'. (Some people say 'speed workout' for hard 'workout' days, but that's an unhelpful term, because speed can mean a lot of things and you're not working on raw velocity like a 100m sprinter would.)

So there are two questions to answer, really:

1. Is a continuous run (6 miles) at 6:30 pace too slow for it to be valuable training? No. In fact it's probably too fast if it's intended to be more on the 'easy' side of your training days.

2. Is 6 miles at 6:30 pace too slow for it to occupy one of the limited 'workout' type runs you can only slot a few of into a training week? This is more arguable and might depend on the type of runner you are.

Nah that's good easy run/recovery pace for a 17:30.

Every 17:30 or 17:00 or whatever 5k runner you want to pick is somewhat different. It also depends on when in the periodization cycle you’re in, what you’re doing in a given week, etc. My son is a 17:20 XC high schooler. For him that is somewhat above AT pace and so it’s a good honest easy/steady type run. But if he does it two days after a race, it’s harder effort. If he does it as a focused workout during the week, it’s easier. Every run has a context, and a purpose. The same run in different contexts and for different purposes is a different effort.

That seems like a pretty standard tempo (sub-t or LT1), maybe even bordering on threshold (LT2) towards the end.

If you're doing a continuous tempo run, you want to be conservative with the pace, or else you'll likely be way over threshold by the end, due to cardiac drift.

That particular runner is likely getting a better training effect, for that particular workout, than they would if they ran at 6:10s.

Cut it back to 5 miles, but break it up into 5 x 1 mile reps with 60-90 seconds static recovery between. Do this in the morning.

In the evening, do your "thresholds", but again break those up into reps. Short ones. Maybe something like 15 x 400m with a 2:1 work to rest ratio. Don't jog the recoveries, and run the reps closer to 10k pace than traditional threshold.

Do two of these days a week. You could probably even throw in some hills on a Saturday when you get more adjusted to the system.

Not too slow. Good workout.

To add to this: 6:30 pace means 86.65 % of 5k pace for a 17:30 runner. For most fit athletes this is roughly MP. But most 17:30 runners might be underdeveloped in terms of endurance.

So a 6 miler at 6:30 would be an ok tempo run. A 10 miler at 6:30 would be a very solid effort to develop endurance. A 15 miler at 6:30 would be a great marathon workout. For a young track runner I'd give them regularly 5 - 10 miles at 6:40-6:30 and shorter broken up "tempos" like 3-5 x 2k, 2-3 x 2 miles etc at 6:15ish (dependent on specifics of course), 4-6 x mile at 6:00ish etc.

6:30 per mile is roughly marathon race pace for a 17:30 runner (people who can maintain 5:38 per mile for a 5k can maintain 6:30 per mile for the marathon with proper marathon training).

Marathon race pace can indeed be a workout pace for long workouts.

I am over 40 / M and probably around 18 flat for the 5k. I just did 9 mi including 6 mi @ 6:23 yesterday and that felt like a decent tempo run. Planning on 12 mi @ 6:40 Sunday as longer tempo (marathon pace ish).

For a 17:30 runner I think 6:30 is a bit too slow to be a proper tempo, would be more like 6:15 at least. At 6:30 as others point out may just be both too slow and too fast, kind of a 6 mi marathon pace run which isn't huge.

17:30 5k is what 5:38/5:39 pace?

So 6:30 for 6 miles is basically "Tinman Tempo" territory. He's a good coach. It's not my model, but he's had A LOT of success. If it's good enough for him, it's good enough to me.

OP here.

I put my most recent 5k (17:36) in the vdot calculator and it gave me a marathon pace of 6:26. I think 6:20-6:30 is a pretty honest pace for me to do for 45 minutes to 1 hour so I might give it a try.

I tried to do 8x400m this morning and could barely go faster than 5:35 which was my 5k race pace last month. My speed has always sucked. I didn't do any speedwork in the run up to my race, just threshold and jogging.

Your 5k pace is roughly 5:35 per mile.

So, 6:30 is a bit slow for tempo and too fast for an easy run- hate to use the term junk miles but you are training in a bit of a nether zone.

Tempo pace should be 6:00-6:20, your easy runs shouldn’t be faster than 7 minutes per mile.

Best of luck with your training pal.

For a 17:30 5k runner, paces would likely be roughly...

5k - 3:30/k (5:38/mile)
10k - 3:40/k (5:53/mile)
HM - 3:50/k (6:10/mile)
Marathon - 4:00/k (6:29/mile)

Is a 10k run at marathon pace a good workout? Yes. Good for anyone training for 10k-marathon.

Should it be a staple of training for a 1500/5000 runner? Probably not.

This. Really only useful as marathon-pace specific training, which is essentially junk if you are preparing for runs 12-25% of that race distance (5/10k).

If you were 17:22 and 1:23 at the same time, your endurance must have been terrible at the time of the 1:23.
6:30 should be about marathon pace for a 17:2X 5k runner, who should be running at ~6:10 for a half (as you soon did).

Worst post on this thread.

Almost so bad it should be deleted.