Help, CAN I run SUB 19?????

Your not far off, try and up the mileage if possible to over 50 atleast(with a few extra steady runs). You are nearly there. Stick at it!

5 x 800 in 2:50, on 5:00 (= jog lap between).

40 MPW might be enough to squeak by. 50 would be better.

A little more overall mileage would be the first thing. Your track work is fine, but try less recovery between reps. I'm guessing you take fairly long recoveries if you can run those and can't break 19.

I went from 19-high to 18:51 in about six months. I was training in the heat so struggled to get my mileage up over 40 much. I did, however, do a lot of track stuff. At my peak, I was running 4x800 repeats at around 2:45-2:35 with 200 walk in between. Your mile repeats looks about what I was running, although I tried to do four as oppose to three. Generally, if you can run 4 mile repeats at 6:10, 6:05, 6, 5:50ish with two-three minute rest in between (preferably job, but I am soft), you should be able to break 19. And if you are focusing on the 5K, 8 miles tempo might be a bit long. I actually did a ton of 30 min. tempo runs @ 6:15-6:20 and that helped a bunch. You'll always run faster in a race, so if you can handle those tempos in that range, then 6:05 pace should be simple. Do the long run, but keep your normal runs in that 5-6 mile range @ 7 min. pace. And I don't know anything compared to what post comes below me so keep that in mind.

Will cranking up the mileage really help? It seems reasonable for longer distance but for a 5k? I start "breaking down" a little bit when I go over 40 for more than two weeks. should I just pop more Advil and suck it up?

The only training advice I have has been given- less recovery interval between the repeats. I really wanted to reply to this thread to touch on one thing. I'm not sure what you want to call it- "balls", "grit", determination", whatever. We tend to think that because we can run workouts in a specific time that we'll automatically run a race in a certain, given time. Please don't take this as a pot-shot at the original poster- it most certainly IS NOT! But I would suggest that maybe we ALL buckle down a little bit in our next race to see how fast we can really run- myself included. The original poster is only 15 second off his goal. I'll bet he can look back on that race and find periods in the race where he could shave that time off. I finish a race, and I can tell myself that maybe at the 2.5 mile mark I fell asleep ,and lost 5-10 sec. Not due to lack of training, but just a mental lapse- I let the discomfort get to me a little too much. I'm sure this makes no sense to anyone but me- oh, well. Hey- best of luck shaving that 15 seconds off, OP!

No, the guys on here are right. More miles will make you better. Most 5K college runners, guys at least, who want to be competitive, are running at least 60-70 MPW. For girls, maybe a bit less. I used to think the whole just run miles thing was bogus but I upped my MPW to 45-50 and went from an expected 1:35-40 half marathon to 1:31. Any mileage that you've never run is going to be tough. 40 was tough for me in terms of recovery, but i just got done with a 4-month half marathon training program and can do 40 easily know when I have the time. My perspective might be a bit different. I never ran track in college but played other sports and find the training and disection of times and different philosophies on running fascinating. And lastly, run 40 B2B weeks, then drop down to 30 to recover.

My advice is to push your mileage to 50+ a week, but to do it by embracing the value of sow recovery runs. Slow ... like 8:00 pace.

You will protest: That's not even running.

Let's Run Mileage Freaks will admonish: You must run very slowly on recovery days to properly develop aerobic systems.

You will try to run 8:00 pace, but will end up running faster.

Been there, done that, myself.

If you can stick with the slow, easy recovery runs and boost your mileage to 50 or more miles per week it WILL PAY OFF. Not as quickly as high-intensity training pays off, but after steady development you'll be much much faster than if you only train at faster paces.

I think you are running less and run your easy ones too fast. I am a guy and currently run 5K at 16'48" and I run my easy runs at 7' - 7'15" (I used to do 60 miles/wk and now I do about 50). Try to run easy days easier and hard days harder (I do 5x1200 at 4' with 2' recovery as an example).

So, yeah, mileage helps, slow down on your easy run helps - both your time and up the mileage.

Keep in mind, you will not see noticeable improvement until you have up the mileage for at least 4 - 6 weeks. But, I am pretty sure you can break 19, even 18'30".

I am now running 1840 of of 28-32 miles a week with a tempo run, intervals or hills and a long run on the weekend. If I runa 4th day it will be a weekend race. From your workouts you should be able to break 19 for your running your 1200's faster than I do and your average 400 as well. I do usually finish my 12x400 workout with a 75 to 72 seconds for the last couple, just because I like to do that but I usually run them in 79-83 seconds each.

My 4 mile tempos on the track in 26 minutes flat seem to help a alot as well. I used to break down a pretty easily as well but now I am better at recovery days, nutrition, rest etc. I do believe that volume can be as important as quality workouts and that Is why I have this last week ran 5 days taking off Monday and Thursday completely and just walked to the jacuzzi and stretched and 1 day took an ice bath.

You sound like you can do it with what your doing and those 4 mile tempos,even paced 98 seconds a lap will give the confidence when you complete this workout. Do a 2 mile warm up, stetch 6x8 strides, 4 mile tempo(98 seconds a lap), 2 to 3 mile cool down which should feel really good when you complete this workout as scheduled. Good luck

Regular 4-mile tempo runs on a track would be mind-numbing for some ... maybe once a season or so to be really precise about pace, but it seems like overkill to me.

The first few times I broke 19, I doubt I would have been able to do those workouts as fast as you are doing them. The only thing that seems to be missing, perhaps, is a tempo run. But if you've run 19:15, you can break 19. Just go into the race determined to run really strong in the second half, and don't give up, no matter how much you want to. If you want to, tell yourself that the person in front of you is going to break 19 and if you don't catch them, you won't. So get up there and beat them!

Yeah. Instead of a tempo, she could do 5x 1000 in 3:45 (goal pace) with a brief rest, but as long as she needs to recover. As she gets stronger she can shorten the rest.

Taking a good rest and hitting the repeat strong can really help build confidence.

Sorry I didn't read all posts so maybe someone said this, but judging by the 3x1600 workout and considering it was speeding up yeah I think you could run 18.40 or so, maybe a bit slower but you're in sub-19 shape.

You just need to race better. You're in sub-19 shape with those workouts. I don't know what is holding you back in your races, but don't worry about changing your workouts or training, because they look fine.

i am betting you are running too hard on too many days. slow down on your non workout days and you can put in more miles. im a female with a 5k pr of 17:27 on the track. and i rarely run 7 min paces i am more at around 7:30-8:00 pace on my easy training days and i go for 7-9 miles. TRUST me slow down on those easy days!!!

I think a few extra question marks and you'll be just about there.

What? do 5x1000m @RP with short rest? That is actually a decent workout coming from a guy who says to do anaerobic hill repeats in another to help your marathon.

I'd say still do your tempo and your long run and replace this with your 1200/400 track workout and really hammer half of the 3rd or 4th 1k (where ever you start to fall off pace). taking a max of 2 1/2 minutes of rest between intervals.

Good thread.