Winter training for a beginner with goals of sub 4 1500m and sub 15:30 5000 for next Summer.

My plan is to build up my mileage slowly to about 40-50 MPW over the course of the Winter.

I haven't ran a 5000m before so don't really know all that much about the training for it.

Examples of sessions that would be helpful would be much appreciated(cue someone copying and pasting Merga pre WC training!).

Also how I should incorporate these sessions into my plan and when during the year I should run them would be helpful.

Cheers!

I'm 31 and last year ran 1:54, 4:00, and 15:31. This is what I do.

In the fall I rotate 4 types of workouts, 2 per week.

1) 4-5 mile tempo run

2) 4 or 5 x 1600 at estimated 10k pace

3) 6x800 or 5x1000 at 5k pace

4) 3k paced workout (usually starts with 200's and progresses to 400's or 600's by the end of the fall)

I also do two longer aerobic runs a week where I push the pace a little but not so much that it is workout effort, just steady and comfortably hard. Plus strides, plus 3 recovery days a week.

I will race a few times over the fall, usually road races at 5k or 5 miles. Mileage usually 50-60 mpw.

Starting in December/January I change my training to give it a more middle distance feel. I still rotate 4 workouts, 2 per week, but now it is:

1) 4-5 mile tempo run

2) 6x800 or 5x1000 at 5k pace

3) Mile paced stuff (usually starts at 200's, then 300's, then 400's as winter progresses)

4) 800 paced stuff (usually starts with 150's, then 200's, then 300's)

Since last winter was so crappy with weather and I couldn't step on a track for 8 weeks because they were covered in snow, I raced a lot indoors, so that counted as my middle distance workout for the week. I had my best indoor season ever last year, so I would recommend all of the above.

Once spring hit last year, my biggest mistake was that I decided to really make a push with my speed. I was doing all-out 200's in 24, and some hard lactic acid type stuff, like repeat 300's at 1:50 pace. I dropped the tempo runs, and after about 8 weeks this training started to catch up with me and I felt fried. Next time I will hold on to the endurance work longer, and maybe only cut it out the last 3-4 weeks. But in general spring should be where you sharpen that anaerobic edge. I think this year I will try rotating:

1) Repeat miles at tempo pace

2) 400's at 5k

3) Hard mile workouts

4) Hard 800 paced workout

The mile and 800 stuff should be quite tough - stuff like 600's at 1500 pace and 400's at 800 pace. Because it is so challenging I will probably back off a little on the endurance workouts, make them easier than they have been for most of the year. But still keep them. And of course you gotta race, that's the best part. The last 3-4 weeks of the season I might try replacing the repeat miles at tempo pace with the all-out 200's just to really sharpen things up. Not sure, I'll have to give it a try and see what happens.

So in summary: 2 workouts a week, year round, you just change them up a bit as the year progresses. Two longer aerobic runs year round, one 50-60 minutes and one 70-80 minutes. Strides before every workout as part of the warmup, and maybe one or two other times a week. Races replace workouts. Get your mileage up to whatever you can handle while doing all of the above, still recovering, and remaining injury free.

Thanks for the input, good to hear from someone who's running the sort of times I'd like to hit. Was thinking about running a few races throughout the Winter/Spring to track what sort of shape I'm in. Also thinking of time trials every 6 weeks or so to see how I'm progressing.My longest ever run is 48 mins, so 80 mins looks a long way off! Usually hit about 7 min pace on my runs, what sort of pace do you hit?Cheers for the response!

My paces are all over the place. Let's pull out last year's log for example. Actually, after I wrote this I just realized that I don't do the two long aerobic runs I recommended. Oops. But I do think it would be useful :)

1/17/11 - AM: 4 miles at 8 min pace. PM: 4.5 miles at 8 min pace.

1/18/11 - 4.5 miles at 8:10 pace. Slippery roads from snow.

1/19/11 - AM: 2 miles at 8:30. Very icy. PM: 9.5 miles total. 3 mi warmup at 7:30 pace plus 4x100 strides plus 6x0.5 miles on the roads in 2:29 avg. 2 mi cooldown at 7:30 pace.

1/20/11 - AM: 4.5 miles at 6:42 pace. PM: 3 miles at 7:30 pace plus 8x100 strides/sprints plus 1.5 mile cooldown.

1/21/11 - off

1/22/11 - 4 miles at 8 min pace plus 4x100 strides.

1/23/11 - AM: 7.5 miles total. 20 min warmup plus strides, plus 1 mile race in 4:21.78. Tough race - 2:08/2:13 splits. PM: 4.5 miles at 6:30 pace.

TOTAL: 51 miles

1/24/11 - 5.5 miles at 7:25 pace. Very cold.

1/25/11 - 5 miles at 8 min pace.

1/26/11 - 9 miles total on treadmill. 2.5 miles easy then 4 x 1 mile in 5:22 average with 3 min jogging recovery. Plus cooldown. Treadmill sucks.

1/27/11 - off

1/28/11 - 4 miles at 8 min pace plus 4x100 strides.

1/29/11 - AM: 5.5 miles total. 20 min warmup plus strides, then 800 race in 1:56.66. Pretty annoyed, boxed most of the time, too much left at the end. 27/30/30/28 splits. PM: 4.5 miles at 6:07 pace, working out some frustration.

1/30/11 - 10 miles at 7:20 pace.

TOTAL: 45 miles

1/31/11 - AM: 3 miles at 8:20 pace. PM: 5.5 miles at 7:35 pace.

2/1/11 - 40 minutes slow on snow

2/2/11 - AM: 18:30 on snow - maybe 2 miles? PM: 9.5 miles on treadmill. Repeat miles at 5:27, 5:24, 5:18, 5:11.

2/3/11 - 3 miles at 7:30 pace plus 7x100 stride/sprints plus 2 mile cooldown.

2/4/11 - 5.5 miles at 8 min pace.

2/5/11 - AM: 3 miles at 8 min pace. PM: 8 miles total. 3 mile warmup at 7:40 pace plus strides plus 8x300 in 50-51 on roads. Cold rain, no idea if distance is accurate, it was an estimate.

2/6/11 - 9.5 miles at 6:20 pace.

TOTAL - 56 miles

2/7/11 - AM: 3 miles at 8 min pace. PM: 4.5 miles at 8 min pace. Tired.

2/8/11 - 5 miles at 8 min pace.

2/9/11 - AM: 3 miles at 8 min pace. PM: 9 miles total. Warmup, strides, 4 mile tempo at 5:27 pace. Fastest tempo run ever.

2/10/11 - off

2/11/11 - 4 miles easy plus strides.

2/12/11 - AM: 6.5 miles total. 20 min warmup, strides, 800 race in 1:55.37. Much happier with this. 56/59 splits. PM: 4.5 miles at 6:55 pace.

2/13/11 - 9.5 miles at 6:38 pace.

TOTAL - 50 miles

Just a few more question- how long are you running for and how long did it take you to build up to this level of training?

I've been running a while. At 18 my pr's were 1:55, 4:30, and 16:50. Then I took a few years off from serious running. Every once in a while I would get the running bug and put in 6 months of training but then get bored again, so it was start and stop. The good part was this allowed me to stay fit physically (ie, not become fat!), even if I wasn't fast.

I started up seriously again in 2006 at age 26. Progression is as follows, some of these progressions aren't linear due to injuries or other occasional setbacks:

- Spring 2006 - 53.9, 2:07, 4:23 for 1500

- Fall 2006 - 4 mile XC race in 24:31

- Spring 2007 - 54.01, 2:02, 4:16 for 1500

- Fall 2007 - put in a big fall of training - 16:24, then 15:42

- Spring 2008 - 4:38 mile, then injured

- Fall 2008 - 16:42, 16:11, 4:32 mile, 15:49

- Spring 2009 - 4:24 mile, 52.0, 1:58, 1:56, 3:57 for 1500, 1:54, 1:53, 26:50 for 5 miles

Then I haven't really improved since then except at 5k I did pr with my 15:31 last year, but otherwise I've been battling injuries periodically so every time I make some progress forward, I fall back and have to catch back up.

But it's all a process. You can see that in 2006 I ran a 4 mile RACE at 6:08 pace, then by last winter I've got a 9.5 miler on there at 6:20 pace. You just progress.

Middle Man's advice is good. Peter Coe would have approved. Go with it.

As for length of runs: I'd add one thing. In the first 3 months or so, getting the volume up is more important than the pace of the sessions. Run each of those key sessions so easily that you could do it all over again if you had to. Put some of your energy into lengthening the runs (not speeding them up!) and make sure you adapt well before Christmas.

If you have the discipline to run easily enough, you'll find you can probably add 10min to your long run every week. Also bear in mind that 80 minutes can be 10 miles easy, or a 12 mile burn-up. The former is what you are after.

I think I have the patience to run easy on the easy days, although back in the day every day training was pretty much balls to the wall! Have a lot more patience now that I've a bit more sense in the head!

Anyone else running/ aiming to run these times and want to share what they're doing?