a sub 18 minute 5K....I'll do whatever you tell me

No problem. Like brakey said, you can set up a new email account if you're hesistant and we can do it that way?

Don't worry, I won't be asking for your address or anything of the sort, you would be totally in control of what you give me!

Don't get me wrong, the stuff the guys on here are saying is valid and will make you improve, but I'm sure I'll be backed up here on belief that it may be too much or too little. The training won't be a million miles off what's being said in here, but I'll give it a shot in making it as personalised for you as can be ie. use of correct energy system efficiently and so on.

That's if you still want any advice.

Regards.

Quack wrote:

Height, weight, how's your diet? Do you already do any supplementary training? (stretching lifting cross training)? Have you read and tried pfitzinger 55-70 and or a "hadd" style plan at about 50-60 mpw? What's your max heart rate? Do you own a HRM?

Or you could skip all that and just go for a run

I just read the Hadd pdf. Very informative. One question: he is very adamant about not doing any "hard" work while doing base work. Is that a hard and fast rule, or is it possible to build base AND so some hard work at the same time? For example, if you're doing track intervals and you do a long run at low HR, are you effectively working both systems in one training week?

Running Ahead wrote:

I just read the Hadd pdf. Very informative. One question: he is very adamant about not doing any "hard" work while doing base work. Is that a hard and fast rule, or is it possible to build base AND so some hard work at the same time? For example, if you're doing track intervals and you do a long run at low HR, are you effectively working both systems in one training week?

You're actually asking a question very similar to those that came up in the "Mr. Renato Canova" thread:

The basic answer is "yes" - but that your body has a finite capacity to handle stress and still get stronger, so you have to decide where you want to allocate that stress in order to improve. if you're running hard track intervals, you're not going to be able to run as much total volume -- so you have to figure out, given your current state of fitness and racing goals, whether the benefits from the track workout outweigh more volume of easy and LT.

The "endurance" (easy running, LSD, lactate) training takes longer to show benefits than VO2 type training, which is why years of running under the belt produces the fastest marathon runners. I think this is why Hadd emphasized no "hard" work - because it (has to) take away from the volume. But if you read between the lines, you'll note that his example person was occasionally doing a 200x200 workout that's giving some training to neuromuscular fitness without taking away much from the volume. It's possible that for some people, adding any "hard" work reduces the volume below the point where they're getting enough to improve the endurance systems. For them, the rule would be hard & fast, but I don't have a clue how often that's the case.

And now, brain fuzzy from a long run in 18 degree weather, I'll clarify what I was referring to by "some people" - I actually had in mind the triathlete Mark Allen, who insists that what finally launched him to the top was when he figured out that he needed about 3 months of base in which he never let his HR exceed (some value that matters to him - basically, LT pace). But all of our mileage will vary - keep in mind that his answer was coming from the perspective of someone who'd been already training hard for years.

Endurance coach - thanks, my email address is

run5000m@gmail.com

. Thanks again. I have pb's of 1.54 (800), 3.53 (1500), 14.56 (5000), 30.53 (10k), 50.49 (10 miles), 68.40 (half marathon)

i could just do with someone pointing me in the right direction.

To the guy that said that he has more weight to lose on the first page... 6'0" 160 definitely doesn't mean he has more weight to lose. I'm 6'0" and at my fitness peak last year, I was 162 with 4% body fat. Maybe he just has a little more muscle than you...

You need to become a FREQUENT racer. If you just do the training you are doing now and set up a schedule to race 6-8 weekends in a row, your times will improve dramatically.