Sub 15 MINUTE 5k guys- your training?

5 or 6 x 60 mn a week including 12 x 400m, 7 x 1000m and 2x15mn tempo.

About 50 miles total.

Typical sub 15 minute training. Winter.

Monday - am 5 miles, pm 5 miles

Tuesday am 5 miles, pm, 5 - 6 times 1000 track in 3.10 down to 3.05, between 3 mins, down to 1.30 rest between intervals, working down as season progresses. Warmup and warmdown 20" + 15"

Wednesday - 8-10 miles steady run. Start 8 minute pace, work down to around 6.30 - 7.00 minute miles, or faster (but not faster than 6 minute pace) in last few miles. After run, do some strides, to maintain fast twitch muscle memory. This would be around 5 minutes.

Thursday - am 5 miles, pm - 8 - 12 times 400 starting in 78 seconds, working down to 72 seconds, one lap jog. Warmup and warmdown - 15" to 20"

Friday - 7 miles steady.

Saturday - Fartlek in nature, 60 minutes......

Sunday - long run - 10 - 15 miles.

Ghost in Saudi,

www.kfupm.edu.sa

,

I had only ran 16:14, then I trained for 90-100 miles per week in preparation for my fall marathon. A couple weeks after the marathon, I ran sub-15 for the first time

I wonder what I could do if I trained for a 5k?

Mon:

Recovery Run: 8 - 10 miles around 7:30 pace

Tue:

AM: 5-6 miles including 15-20 stride outs done as diagonals.

PM: Alternates between a 20 min and a 40 min tempo

Wed:

AM: 5-6 miles including 15-20 stride outs as diagonals

PM: track intervals: typically 3-4 miles worth of 800s, 1000s, or 1200s with short rest.

Th:

Recovery run: 8-10 miles at 7:30 pace

Fri:

AM 5-6 miles easy 7:00-7:30 pace

PM: 5-6 miles easy 7:00-7:30 pace

Sat:

Race or over-distance intervals: typically 5-6 miles of miles, 2ks, or 2 miles.

Sun:

13-15 miles easy

Bookmarked this thread. Thanks for the posts. My rival ran 16:20 at a Turkey Trot today. He will be demoralized next Thanksgiving.

It took a lot for me:

Base of 100-115 mpw

Other PR's were 1:59 800, 4:23 1600, 9:09 3200, 30:42 10k 1:08:low half

In season

Mo: AM 6 PM Track, longer reps (1000-1600) at 5k pace. Total 10-12 miles.

Tuesday: AM 5 PM 6 recovery

Wed: AM 6 moderate (5:35's) PM: 10

Thurs: AM 5 PM Track: Short reps (400-600) fast or hilly fartlek Total 9-10 miles

Fri: AM 6-8

Sat: 15 mile long run, hills, usually progressing and finishing at sub 6 pace

Sun: 5-8 slow

Total was about 85-90 miles most weeks.

Bump.... Curious to see some more replies

Nettie wrote:

I had only ran 16:14, then I trained for 90-100 miles per week in preparation for my fall marathon. A couple weeks after the marathon, I ran sub-15 for the first time

I wonder what I could do if I trained for a 5k?

Probably about 16:14 ...

Since the OP is asking about sub15, I'm assuming he means 14:5X. If I was returning to training after time off, my schedule would look like the following just as I got into sub 15 shape:

S: Off.

M: 1 mile warmup, 6x400m steep hill, 5 mile fartlek, 1 mile cooldown.

T: 10 easy

W: 10 mile fartlek w/2 mile warmup, 1 mile cooldown.

R: 10 miles easy

F: 10 miles easy.

S: 12 mile progression run (start easy, increase pace throughout)

~60mpw

There are no morning runs here because I don't feel that you need them unless you're trying to run more than 70mpw. Adding on 5-mile morning runs several days a week and not taking Sundays off would make this training schedule much stronger. (ie. closer to 14 flat for 5k).

Great replies.

I was going to model my training with a heavier focus on aerobic endurance incorporating long/short tempos of 20-25 minutes and 40-50 minutes along with longer intervals of 2000m+ (very similar to AC XC).

Seems like most do shorter intervals (~400m) which is something I've never really liked to focus on that much but will reconsider.

I'm a bit surprised by the easy run paces of a few guys. At sub 15k speed, I thought easy runs would be a bit faster than 7-7:30 minute pace. Is this just a 'natural easy' pace or are some of you actively trying to run slower than 7min pace?

Great insight here and thanks for sharing your training. Please continue to do so.

I used to have a thread bookmarked in which a poster called "shoe guy" answered a similar question. He ran low 14's off of 10 miles a day, one tempo, and a long run. Maybe he'll chime in and give you more details.

Ran 14:48. 70-100 miles per week, mostly on soft surfaces. Strides 2-3 times per week. 3 hard days per week, usually with 1 long run and 1 tempo run. Weights twice per week, core work 3-4 times per week. Some light plyometrics.

Monday: First third of the season: 13-15 mile run over very hilly ground, 6:00-6:30 pace. Rest of the season: progressively more difficult intervals sessions (6 x 1 mile in 5:05, 10 x 800 in 2:24, 6 x 1200 in 3:36, 7 x 1000 in 2:58, 8 x 800 in 2:20, 8 x 600 in 1:42, 5 x 1000 in 2:52, 10 x 400 in 63).

Tuesday: 12-16 miles in 2 runs, a few strides afterwards.

Wednesday: Alway some sort of tempo run, ranging from 8-10 miles at 5:40 pace, 6-8 miles at 5:30 pace, 4-5 miles at 5:20 pace, 2 x 3 miles at 5:20 pace, 6 x 1 mile at 5:15 pace. Warm up and cool down were 1-3 miles each.

Thursday: 12-16 miles in 2 runs, a few strides afterwards.

Friday: 12-16 miles in 2 runs, a few strides afterwards.

Saturday: 13-20 miles, start at 7:00 pace, most of it at 6:15 pace, some of it as fast as 5:40-6:00 pace.

Sunday: 5-10 miles at 7:00-7:30 pace, took the day off about once per month.

~50/week base

Typical training week:

Monday: 7 miles easy, strides

Tuesday: Workout 6x1600 5:10 w/ 1m recovery, or 4x800 2:20 w/ 1m recovery, or 4x400 in 63 or better w/ 200m jog recovery, 4x200 in 28 or better w/200m jog recovery (9 miles or more total w/warm-up & cool-down

Wednesday: Cross train, 1m shake-out

Thursday: 9 miles

Friday: 7 miles, strides

Saturday: Race or secondary workout/tempo (6+ miles work)

Sunday: 13 miles

Any more?

Sooo Copier of Ideas. Based on responses so far what do you plan? Everything depends on where you are now (age/ability).

I'm always surprised at the number of guys who slog 100mpw to do 14:50, unless they have reason to expect 13.xx one day. I'd say 60mpw with a couple of O2/ATP sessions. Daily details don't matter. If that gets you significantly under 15, go for the serious stuff.

I couldn't agree with this post more. Doing that much mileage just to break 15 means something is wrong with the training. When choosing between increasing volume or quality, ALWAYS choose quality first. When that becomes too "easy" for you, then increase volume by a little bit (for me, about 5mpw increments). I feel that the people who run 100mpw are overtraining and taking their easy runs and workouts far too slow. The idea here is that you want to get as MUCH running at 3k-5k pace as you can (which coincides with your velocity at VO2 max). That means if you're doing 6xmile, you want to run right around 4:50 or under with minimal (<2:30) recovery. If you're running 800m repeats, you want to start knocking off 10-12 at 2:20-2:24 with 1:30 recovery.Last point: I think that all EASY runs should start at 2 minutes per mile slower than 5k pace and end about 1:15-30 slower. If you're having trouble breaking 7 minutes on easy days, try doing a morning shakeout and stretching/massaging before you start your primary run of the day.

BeanThere wrote:

Sooo Copier of Ideas. Based on responses so far what do you plan? Everything depends on where you are now (age/ability).

I'm always surprised at the number of guys who slog 100mpw to do 14:50, unless they have reason to expect 13.xx one day. I'd say 60mpw with a couple of O2/ATP sessions. Daily details don't matter. If that gets you significantly under 15, go for the serious stuff.

I never actually ran sub-15, but when I was at my best in cross country, I was beating sub-15 guys pretty regularly (injuries and other setbacks kept me from ever racing a track 5k when I was fit, but always figured I could have ran sub-15 given the right opportunity). I was unlike a lot of guys in this thread: I was NOT very talented, and ran a LOT of miles to make up for it. I didn't run sub-5 in the mile until I was a junior in HS.

Anyways, when I was the fittest, my base (~10 weeks) consisted of 90-120 miles a week on 12 or 13 runs, with a long tempo run (6-10mi), progression run, and two sessions of strides every week. Later I did long repeats at race pace (8k in my case) and a lot of anaerobic threshold intervals with short recovery and more long tempo runs. If I was racing a 5k I would swap out some of the longer stuff for short to medium repeats (say, 16-20 400s at 5k pace).

Anyways, maybe I "don't count" because I haven't broken 15, but if a guy like me can get close, I'm pretty sure a lot of people are capable of it.

Monday: track workout, longer inverals(600-1600s) followed by shorter intervals (200-400s)

Tuesday: recovery of 8-9 miles

Wenesday: AM 5, PM 7-8

Thurday: 35-45 min tempo

Friday: 9-11 miles

Saturday: 15-17 mile long run

Sunday: easy run, 6-7 miles

Weekly mileage: 80-85

I'm about six years off my 5k PR of 15:04 but I'm trying to break it this coming spring. My friend, who was also close in college, is training with me. Right now, we're doing around 70 mpw with workouts on T/R--usually a tempo level effort and something on the track given that the weather has been kind to us up to this point. We've been around 1:45 for long runs.

As for specific workouts, we're doing an experiment of sorts to keep things interesting. Essentially, anyone can submit a workout to us via our blog. We've been choosing what workouts to do among all of the submissions, videotaping them, and then posting them for people to see.

Since we're narcissists, I posted a thread already to get more traffic, but I'll share the link again:

sub15minutes.blogspot.com

Workout ideas are welcome.