Can i be a sub 16 5k with only 45-50mpw

The short answer is yes. I ran my 5k PR, which is a 16:02, while running through a 95 mile week. I was not prepared or anything. This was the first time I had been at this mileage and I was dead from running so many miles, but I still ran a PR (it was one of those breast cancer races that my Mom signed me up for, and I obliged). My point is, if I had run less miles at more quality, I am sure that I would have done MUCH better; I had no speed.

Now, high mileage does help, although that is my 5k PR, I ran my 10k PR a couple months later, and I attribute that to the higher mileage.

JrXC712 wrote:

Can I get down under a 16 minute 5k with only doing 45 to 50 miles a week or must I be in the higher mileage?

It depends. Where are you now in terms of mileage and times? I ran 15:54 on lower mileage. A few miles more (55-60) and I was running mid-15's. If you are running 40 miles a week and hitting 16:40, it'll be hard.

Depends on your talent level.

At 45 miles/week, I ran 18:21. So for me, the obvious answer is no. I'm about to race a 5 k for the first time in about 10 months though coming up, so I'll see if moving to 55 mile s a week has helped any.

Really depends on the individual dude

Fellows like me won't see sub-16 for about five more years of high mileage -- keep in mind I suck

there are guys out there that can run a 3:30 1500 off of 50mpw.

my point, if this isn't a trolling attempt, we'd need to know more about you.

I ran a 3:58 1500 and a 14:52 5k, and 9:19 steeple off of 45-50mpw my junior year of college. The prior year I had been up around 60mpw, but junior year I had some minor injury problems that kept my mileage down for the entire season.

I had a teammate go 4:15/15:55 off 20 mpw. Had another go 4:52/17:50 off 75 mpw.

It depends on the person and the quality of those 45-50 miles. I would say yes,depending on talent, that you could do it pretty easily. I ran 15:35 and consistently broke 16 averaging 45-50 miles a week.

No it requires at least 200 mpw

I'd probably need 80-90mpw to go sub16. i am mid 16s now off about 65-70mpw.

I went 16 flat in HS off of three months of 20 miles per week.

I ran a 4 flat 1500 off of about the same. My ten km pr though is 33:30 mins. And I never really got any faster than HS even when I increased milage for two years to 50 miles a week. So I became a jogger and eat a lot of pizza.

Yes you can. I'm not gunna BS this post. I'm a junior and I ran 60 miles at my peak the last week of summer practice, then ever since the season started I've been doing 40s. I just went 15:58 today. It is possible. The key is quality, but people sometimes think quality=fast all the time. This is not the case. We run one VO2 max workout (interval workout), one threshold workout, and the rest are easy hour runs. For the VO2 max workouts, they are based solely on recent prs. If your coach tells you to do a workout, and you feel it is too easy, then enjoy that and just do what he says. Adaptations need to occur, and going out and killing yourself everyday is not the best approach for the general high school runner. The day before a race, we do a rather short workout of about 4 miles with some striders afterwards to get the legs moving. What is important is that you do not rush anything, and wait for the workouts to do their jog and you will see improvement. The key is being able to recover inbetween workouts, which in my opinion is not focused enough in some programs. Sometimes, you will hear about a kid that does 80 miles a week, and goes blasting out 400 repeats in 65s and they say about how they don't have the natural talent so they've got to work hard to improve. These guys are the guys running in the 17s and wish they could be in the 15s. This is complete BS to me. All they are doing is overtraining, which is very, very bad. What you need to do is listen to your coach and train smart. Certainly you can break 16 off of 40 miles a week, in fact that is the ideal season number in my opinion. Of course, in the off season it is important to get in more easy miles to build up your base so that you can train easier during the season and see steady improvements throughout the season all the way up to the state meet.

These are just my ideas, take them or leave them. Letsrun guys, feel free to bash everything that I have said, or maybe agree with my (Probably about 5% will). I'm not trying to troll, I'm trying to help a kid who thinks that what he is doing is not enough. Good luck with your season and God speed.

I know someone that runs 15:15 in xc on 30mpw. So that means you should be shooting for sub 15:00. Good luck, bitch

lot of it depends on your talent and base.

right now i am running 20 mpw and can break 16. but, i have years of 60+ miles behind me.

Yes you can. I'm not gunna BS this post. I'm a junior and I ran 60 miles at my peak the last week of summer practice, then ever since the season started I've been doing 40s. I just went 15:58 today. It is possible. The key is quality, but people sometimes think quality=fast all the time. This is not the case. We run one VO2 max workout (interval workout), one threshold workout, and the rest are easy hour runs. For the VO2 max workouts, they are based solely on recent prs. If your coach tells you to do a workout, and you feel it is too easy, then enjoy that and just do what he says. Adaptations need to occur, and going out and killing yourself everyday is not the best approach for the general high school runner. The day before a race, we do a rather short workout of about 4 miles with some striders afterwards to get the legs moving. What is important is that you do not rush anything, and wait for the workouts to do their jog and you will see improvement. The key is being able to recover inbetween workouts, which in my opinion is not focused enough in some programs. Sometimes, you will hear about a kid that does 80 miles a week, and goes blasting out 400 repeats in 65s and they say about how they don't have the natural talent so they've got to work hard to improve. These guys are the guys running in the 17s and wish they could be in the 15s. This is complete BS to me. All they are doing is overtraining, which is very, very bad. What you need to do is listen to your coach and train smart. Certainly you can break 16 off of 40 miles a week, in fact that is the ideal season number in my opinion. Of course, in the off season it is important to get in more easy miles to build up your base so that you can train easier during the season and see steady improvements throughout the season all the way up to the state meet.

These are just my ideas, take them or leave them. Letsrun guys, feel free to bash everything that I have said, or maybe agree with my (Probably about 5% will). I'm not trying to troll, I'm trying to help a kid who thinks that what he is doing is not enough. Good luck with your season and God speed.

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There's some really good advice here. I worry about doing VO2 workouts at the beginning of September though.

But, I really like your advice of LISTENING TO YOUR COACH. I'd say most of us know what we're talking about.

For me, it worked like this:

35mpw (Age 14) = ~16:40

45mpw (Age 15) = ~16:10

50mpw (Age 18) = 15:50

55mpw (Age 19) = ~15:40

65mpw (Age 20) = ~15:10

75mpw (Age 21)= ~14:40

75mpw (Age 22)on 6 days/week = ~14:10 (The intensity of 75mpw on 6 days, per day, is roughly like what "85mpw" feels like, per day, on 7 days)

The linear relation is quite odd. The only way I can explain it is that I did the higher mileage as I got older, trained smarter, took more recovery, and ran more quality workouts. I'm trying to get to 85mpw on a consistent basis this year. Hopefully the trend continues.

I ran a three mile race in 14:30 on 50mpw. I was over 40 years old you can do it!!

Coach'7 wrote:

I ran a three mile race in 14:30 on 50mpw. I was over 40 years old you can do it!!

nice!

sample week please

Sorry I don't have free samples, but I could help you out!! What is your e-mail?