Obsession

Will they be getting as much recovery as they need between kilometers in a race? I would say you are in a good position considering it is early August. Tell your teammates about your goal and fit that into a larger team goal. Try to work with your teammates during workouts and it will help all of you improve and become a better team.

I think you can pull it off.. but..

DON'T RACE YOUR WORKOUTS!

No, do race your workouts, they might not race you back though. But the thing that really puzzles me is that you said that you beat them by "3-4 minutes" on a 1k???.... I usually do my 1k reps at about 3 min. soooo....

he finished the whole workout: 5X1000 3-4 minutes before. including prob 30 sec of rest less he was taking

I agree with advice person. It's one thing to have the drive to train like an animal and run your best, but that doesn't always cut it. You have to be smart and controlled in your training efforts, otherwise your best performances will be in workouts and not races. You seem to be doing well, but there's an awful lot of time left before the meets that matter so don't drive yourself into the ground trying to destroy your teammates every day. Just run the workouts the way they're intended to be run, and really do go easy on your easy/recovery days. I hope you reach your goal and then some, good luck man.

I wasn't racing this workout at all. I pushed myself but I wasn't on the verge of collapsing or anything and my legs didn't seize up. Plus I immediately went off and continued my mileage.

some small advice if i may (you can take it as you like):

you want to break 17 in the 5K - that is a great goal. why are you comparing yourself to others? don't - focus on your goal and for god sakes don't race workouts, that can be a recipe for disaster... they might be at tempo pace and you could be anaerobic - totally different workouts

stick to your goal and evaluate your progress based on times, feel, not in relation to others (I know this is very hard)... you hit your goal and the rest doesn't matter

strides, strides, strides, strides

do 6 to 10 at the end of your easy runs, i know you got faster than 70 second 400 speed somewhere in those legs of yours

i am the same way - slow but i think strides really have helped me develop at least some speed.

These other kids are probably just out of shape. The real test will be in the fall when the races count.

Obsession is a good thing in running. Motivation is just as important as the training itself. In fact motivation is the key to running hard; but not too many people know how to take care of themselves so as to not let this motivation wane.

The "I have to" mentality can be an obstacle to motivation as it puts up unneeded stress and rigidity. I had done this and I have seen other top Americans do this and see them get so much worse. It was not for training less, it was that we all lost the nerve to give allot of energy.

All things artiest perform well at are done with a sense of joy and "flow". Racing workouts gets panned allot; however as a kid, you haven't learned where your limits are so I wouldn't say that that could necessarily hurt.

As you mature and realize your limits, you would consider taking a more metered approach to training and let your peers run as they will.

Goals are great, don't misunderstand, it's just the idea that you have to do something will take the joy out of the process.

Steady improvement would be a good sign of grouth. To reach a time or not is not the end of the world, but you can put yourself through un needed torment if you fail to reach it. If you do reach it, then the next time you go out you would apply the same model and you could get stuck.

Either way it won't mean anything until you experience this for yourself. Stay sharp, stay focused, but don't lose sight of the process. Have fun and the improvement will come.

.. also remember, with obsession, COMES INJURY, and being injured is not condusive to your goal. Look into getting a prehabilitation plan.