How long to go from 18min 5k to sub16min 5k?

How much time are you willing to spend at it? 10 days? 10 months? 10 years?

Took me 12 years to shave 5 minutes off my marathon time. Are you willing to commit?

Took me about 2 years (18:07-15:48). These were the first two years of running for me, so granted there was bound to be improvement. Just put in consistent work.

It took me 3 years.

I've been running for 2.5 years and in the last 10 months have gone from 18:15 to 16:48 (only 4 races, 18:15, 17:52, 17:36, 16:48), although I think I have 16:30 in me right now. I'm hoping to crack 16 before the end of the fall, but it will be tough.

I'm no expert, but I'd say an 18 minute 5K on ~25 miles would suggest that you may be able to improve fairly quickly with some devotion. I'll guess that you're under 16:00 before the end of next year.

It really depends on the person (obviously), but you can get there in a couple years if you do things right and don't keep hurting yourself.

You were injured when only doing 20-30 mpw... what were you doing wrong?

If you have been a runner before, or have always been active in some way, you at least have some base to build off of. But all too often I've seen sedentary people decide they will take up running. They try to get fast too soon, end up injured, and hate the sport altogether. I would spend the next couple years building up mileage slowly with no regard for going fast. There's no shame in running slow, just put in the time and the miles and your body will get there.

I ran a 16:32 in high school, and took about 8 years off, but I was always active skiing or biking or hiking. When I resumed running I didn't race for the first year, then I started doing a few 5 and 10ks. My first 5k back was 18:30, and two years later I'm running low 16s. Most importantly, I haven't been injured. Don't rush it.

it could be never.

I've went from (1999) 21:30 to (2003) 16:01 in four years. I am stuck in the 16:10-16:30 range.

I've also run 2:33:50 (first marathon in 2003) down to 2:31 (fourth marathon) and all my workouts suggest a sub 2:30 this fall.

Granted, I've focused singularly on the marathon, thus probably don't have the leg speed for a sub16min 5k, but I can't tell you how annoying it is to have not run one yet. I'll be 40 in July.

eb

2 minutes.

It really does all depend.

I maxed out at around 15 flat before I got seriously injured. Took me, after having a previous solid background in running, about 6 months of serious training to get from 20 pounds overweight and winded walking up stairs to 15 flat.

I feel like I could get back to those times in maybe 10 weeks right now, but that's because I've run them before.

If it's your first time in a new time territory, it really could be anywhere from a couple months to never. Some people have a ceiling.

Depends on how bad you want it and how hard you train, while training smart. I went from 18:42 to 15:46 in one season and then dropped to 15:09 the next year. Of course it was my first season ever running and a lot come from inexperience to maturing as a runner. Doing all of the small things that runners typically overlook helped too (i.e. drills, hurdle work, running recovery days easy, adequate long run). Good luck

dotato,

Would you mind sharing a brief description on how you train? I'm in a similar situation.

Thanks

Hi everyone, great responses, helpful and making me feel positive.

firstly, i AM dedicated, want it enough and willing to put in the hard work, definitely.

ive done 1.30ish halfmarathons, 31min 5miles but got back spasams and shin splints in the past on little training but i did overtrain at one period doing 3half marathons in 2months and a marathon (very slow whilst injured). point is, i didnt let my body recover from that period before going onto the 20/25mpw training period.

from wats been said here and talking to other runner friends, it seems that with hard work, 18 to 16ish mins in about a year and a half is doable. however, going sub 16 is going to take longer (obviously).

my goal is a 25min 5mile. im 21 this year, plenty of time!

any thoughts/comments on running normally to running competitively transitions?

owling wrote:

dotato,

Would you mind sharing a brief description on how you train? I'm in a similar situation.

Thanks

I generally run between 60-70mpw year-round, but bump that up to 80-90 for marathon prep. My marathon prep is 12-weeks total, with three 3-week blocks and a three week taper. A 3 week block consists of one session of 8x800@5k pace, one session of 6x1mile at 5k pace, one run of 10-15k at marathon pace, and one run of 20-30k of marathon pace. Everything in between is 10-12 miles moderate (~6:30 pace) or 4-6 miles easy (~7:20 pace). I use the 5k pace I've recently run instead of a pace that is chart (i.e. daniels or mcmillian) generated to correspond with a 2:30 marathon.

So, I'll do a couple of 10-12 mile days, then repeats on the roads or track, then another few 10-12 mile days, then a marathon pace run, then a day or two easy, something long, followed by an easy day, a few days at 10-12, then the long MP run, repeated thrice.

I follow Kevin Beck's plan generally with a few tweaks of my own thrown in.

it took me a year, between my sophomore year and junior year of high school.

i just went up to about 80mpw

dotato wrote:

A 3 week block consists of one session of 8x800@5k pace, one session of 6x1mile at 5k pace, one run of 10-15k at marathon pace, and one run of 20-30k of marathon pace. Everything in between is 10-12 miles moderate (~6:30 pace) or 4-6 miles easy (~7:20 pace).

Sorry, i forgot to include one long run in that rotation, anywhere from 22-28 miles. Generally middle of second week and generally run as a progression (start at 7:30, end at 5:30).

I hate to be the only pessimist rsponding but everyone assumes just because he trains harder he can run sub 16 5k. That is not the case people. Natural talent comes in to play here and if don't have certain natural atrributes I don't care how hard you train you may never see a sub 16 5k. You guys make it sound like any joe blow can run that fast with hard work. That isn't the case everyone.

you're damn right. i suppose dats my worry!

put it this way, i can run a 5min mile, 4.40ish for 1500m, 10.30ish for 3000m on crap mileage with injury niggles. im willing to work hard and put a strength plan together (beck), so i dont run into injury hell again.

my half-marathon/long distance history shows i have a bit of endurance/stamina/fitness (albeit not a competitive one). so i feel i have a bit of hope to reach that goal.

disagree? love to hear ur thoughts, cheers.

It depends I ran 17.17 off about 3 months of 10-15 miles a week and everyone thought I was going to hit the big time cos I was beating clubmates who had been doing 40mpw+ for years however when I stepped my training up to their sort of mileage I just kept getting injured all the frickin time and 3 years on 17.17 remains my PB. I reckon im finally in shape to go sub 17 and to be fair my 5 mile and 10k PBs are probably better than my 5k slightly but for me it all depends on whether your body can handle the volume of training needed to get your times down. Theres a guy at our club who was freakishly talented and just rocked up without gear and no structured training and ran sub 15 mins but he hasnt improved that much now hes running 13 times a week.

lmao.. that dude above me is like dejavu. every time i try train hard, injur injur. doom. still i did manage to run a few okay times off of about a month of training each time, (one month is about how long my body can handle any sort of mileage).

avoiding them injuries really is crucial yea.

has anyone any experience of being an injury-prone fool, to and injury-proofed (not that that fully exists) runner?

strength/conditioning, balance etc................