Mile training plan for Masters runner

Curious what your 5k time is. I am 47, 17:17 recent PR and ran a 4:53 off of hills, sprints and mile repeats at 5:30. Want ot go sub 4:50.

I likewise want to focus on the mile next spring. Seems to me the key is a few sesions of 200 -800's with a weekly temp and every ten days or so long run.

I am 41 and just broke 5 min last year (4:59). If you are hitting your track repeats in 73 - 75 that is fantastic. Try doing 10 x 400 instead of 8 x 400. Those last two repeats are killers and really build strength and confidence. I also include a tempo run (3-4 miles at 6:15 pace)and a long (8 miles) run with alot of big hills that I work very hard on every 10-12 days. Good luck and let us know how you do.

Tigerox I have one I ran a 3:03.2 1200m this summer. I am 41 post your e-mail.

Get to the point where you can run a 1320 (3 laps) in sub 3:45 on a regular basis (once every 3-4 weeks). You should not be running this all out. You should come through the 1200 feeling like you could go on another 100 meters if you had to. Do this workout alone or with someone pacing you.

It is an old Roger Bannister workout but it worked for me.

go to Masters Racing website, there's a Rich Stiller training program which involved very low mileage

The 1200m was a tt on a saturday not a race. No help in may 58/1:59.8/3:03.2

Tigerox,

The 5/10k strength stuff is the good base that you will need to finish up the last 400-600m of the sub 5 mile. I too am 45 yrs old and have been just north of 4:00 minutes as a Master miler (Mr Sorenson took control of that mark this year!).

When I was quicker, I would do 1200's or 1000's at goal (or faster) mile pace (ala Bannister), about every three weeks. This was after six months of good 5/10k mileage with tons of longer interval work (1000's up to 2 miles) and lots of Tempo stuff. Get a couple days of 10 x 100 each week during this phase, work on your core too - you'll need it!

When you can time trial 3:40-45 for your 1200, then all of that strength will get you home and help you carry on the pace!

I time trialed a 1200 in 2:57 about 10 days before my 3:46 1500 in 2003. When we hit the 1200 in 3:01, I didn't panic and held on.

Good luck with your goal!

tOnY

I am in the same boat. Jan 06 I ran 5:04.73 indoors, no races since. Just time trialed solo yesterday in 5:58, way out-o-shape. How do I get in race shape(sub 5) by Jan-March of 08? Any help?

Tigerox wrote:

Any advice on a realistic training plan for a 45 year old to develop some speed to run a mile / 1500?

I have seen a lot of elite level plans that are way beyond what I could push my 45 year old body to do. I have much more modest goals.

I have done a 5:05 mile and would like to get below 5. I basically do 5K - 10K training (long intervals for speed work) and will throw in an 8 X 400 repetition workout at 73-75 sec to tune-up before a mile race every 6 mo or so.

I want to now put a little focus on the mile to see if I can shave off the 5-6 sec in time for some indoor track meets starting in January.

Any advice on key speed workouts to get there in 6-8 weeks would be appreciated.

Below is some info that Joe Rubio posted on this subject. Good Stuff:

One more vote for a Bannister -style approach. In case you are leaning towards less training than some of the very good suggestions already posted, I run 1x1200 regularly in the 3:50-4:05 range, along with 400-600-400 at 75 pace. I ran 5:05 at 53 off this, which totals 20 mi per week.

bump

check with the Henry Rono thread. He's been training to get the masters, mile record for his age group for over a year and 1/2 now. From what I can tell; all he seems to be doing is jogging slowly twice a day for close to an hour and a 1/2 to 2 hours.

No. I've been following the Rono thread for over a year. He is stuck and been going nowhere (towards fast competition) for the past 5 months. His slow jogging has become a 'comfort blanket' to him and he can't seem to move beyond it. Don't follow what he's doing.

Okay... Who are all you guys? Those times for those distances are CRAZY FAST for 40-year old plus guys! You have to be some of the BEST masters around with times like that!

Paul S. You are quite a bit faster than I. I am good for a 17:48 5K. I had basically run everthing from 1 mi to marathon, so not much focus. I had a pretty bad injury from marathon training, so was forced to build back up from late Spring on. I am back now to my master's PB for the mile and close to PB for 5K. However, my mileage is much less and my longer races are weak. I enjoy the short races and will try to focus on the mile and 5K for the next 6 months or so and see what I can do. Some great advice so far in the responses. I will go through and figure out a plan. Best of luck in meeting your goals.

Thanks to everyone for all of the great advice. I am going to work it into my training plan and see what I can do. Since getting hurt and deciding to give up on marathoning, I have been doing 35-40 mi/week with one mid-week quality/speed workout and a weekend long run of 10-13. I try to squeeze in some tempo miles, but hard to do that third tough workout a week without getting hurt (at least for me). That has me at 5:05 mile and sub 18 5k at age 45.

My mid-week speed workout is typically a long interval - e.g. 4X1200 @ 5K pace (5:40-45). For the mile, I think I will start to phase in more mile pace Repetition workouts. I can currently get through (barely) an 8 X 400R @ 75 pace, but only do on rare occasions. I need to do more of those types of workouts. I will hope to be able to get up to 10 X 400 and/or do them faster over time. Another thing I will do is to add more sprints. I currently never do striders. I will try to add those plus some 100m and 200m repeats/drills to get the turnover going. I will also look to benchmark myself every 3-4 weeks or so with a 1200 TT at <3:45. That was good advice. I could maybe do that on a Sat on weeks where I do a 10 mi LR on Sunday since those are pretty easy for me after doing all of those 20+ mi LR's when I was getting up to marathons.

I also will continue to work on strength training. After hurting my back and doing PT, I was re-introduced to the value of having a strong core.

So, my lessons learned from your advice as a masters miler going for a sub 5 minute masters-PB are:

- Do mile pace rep workouts: 8-10 X 400 as staple; 3-4 X 800 as alternative

- Add sprint drills - striders at end of run; 100/200m repeats

- Do 1200m TT to benchmark myself every 3-4 weeks. <3:45 goal without going all out.

- Do a tempo (3-4 mi at 6:15pace or so for me) run when I can without getting hurt

- Keep up strength training: core, legs, arms/shoulders

- 10-13 LR is adequate for mile to 5K training at my level (but I will suffer on the longer races)

- Recovery pace on other days. Swap in a spin session if joints are bad. 35-40 mi/wk probably ok at my level for mile/5K training, but continue to expect weak races at 10K and up. Some people get great mile results on 20-35 mi/week.

- If I am feeling close to injury, can scale back the number of reps on speed workouts (I saw some success with many fewer reps in some of the posts, so maybe 8-10 X 400R not entirely necessary? 4-6 X 400 ok? Maintenance or improvement?)

If I missed anything major, please comment. You guys who are just over 4 min in the mile as a master are really awesome. There are some fast guys in the NYC area that I get to see, but they are in the 4:20-30 range. That is still unbelievable to me. Keep it up! Thanks

Batman, I saw your offer for a training plan. It looks like you are WAY BEYOND my abilities, but I would appreciate your plan if you can send. email should be active now.

lots of stuff to choose from here is what worked for me:

background

started running at age 39 got down to just under 35/17

on 30 to 40 mpw with a weekly tempo run

At age 43 tried the 1500 and ran 4:37

Used a miler schedule from the book:

Run with the Best by Benson and Ray

A year later ran a bunch of 1500s in the teens,4:13,15,ect.

Also ran a 15:58 5k certified flat course after doing the schedule below for 4 months.

35 to 45 mpw

2 fast days:

tempo 6 miles

vo2max type 6 x 3 minutes with 2 minutes jog

weekly 100 meter accelerations rolling start steady acceleration from mile to 400 meter pace

long run upto 2 hours very slow skipped alot of these

ez days , super ez or xtrain or day off

Emphasis is on quality

lots of fun

FiftyOne, awesome. Can you please provide more detail on the 100m sprints you did? How many? How much rest? When did you do them? I find that I can usually get through one hard Interval or Repetition workout and one long run a week. The rest of the time is needed recovery. If I go light on the long run (10mi or less), I can sneak in some tempo pace.

However, I cannot find a logical time to work in the sprints. Do I tag some on the end of a couple of recovery runs, or add them to my speed workout?

Any advice on the best way to work sprints into a training week with some specifics on how many, how often, etc. would be appreciated.