going from 21 minute 5k to sub 15 in one year

Man I heard that if you smoke crack you will improve your time by 12 minutes

0/10

doing what it takes requires adopting a new lifestyle....it requires sacrifice, and it requires a great deal of patience. You'll have ups and downs (mostly downs) on your way but consistent effort over a long time will yield results. This will take years, not months son.

by the way, 1/10. You could have made it 21:08 - sub 17 to make it more believable.

I promise I am not a troll. I actually want to get better and would appreciate it if you didn't assume that I am not serious.

Roadrunner is Smarter wrote:

doing what it takes requires adopting a new lifestyle....it requires sacrifice, and it requires a great deal of patience. You'll have ups and downs (mostly downs) on your way but consistent effort over a long time will yield results. This will take years, not months son.

by the way, 1/10. You could have made it 21:08 - sub 17 to make it more believable.

Are you saying that it is not believable for people to have big goals?

Im going to be realistic and blunt here. If you train to go sub 15 in just 1 year, youll most likely injure yourself. And frankly, most people would agree with me that your goal is delusional.

Put it this way, why do you think sub 15 runners in the running community in general are so rare?

People who run 16 min 3 milers have trouble dropping to 15 min the following year, and many people who run sub 15 are college people are high school seniors. If a person ws talented he might go 17 to 15 min 5k in 1 year, but 21 to 15?

Please, be more realistic.

Do you have four billion dollars? I know some guys willing to get you to sub 15 in less than half the time...

high_skool_noob wrote:

I'm a junior and just started doing cross country. I really want to be good at it and am willing to do whatever it takes. Does anyone have any training suggestions that will help me drop my time from 21:08 (current PR) to sub 15 by next season?

Good news: you have VERY little running experience.

Bad news: You are already 16 or 17 and probably done growing. It's not like you are a 12 or 13 year old kid that is going to grow a lot. Between Junior and Senior year I think I grew two inches and dropped from 11:30 to 10:30 for my 3200. Both suck, but I only ran 25-30mpw.

Sub 15 is very, very fast in High School. In our above-average state it wins the D1 Cross Country state meet some years. My year I believe the winner was 14:55 and got a full ride at a major, major D1 college in the Big 10.

So you are asking if you can go from a crappy, crappy JV time to the best in the state for most states.

That is why people are very skeptical.

Sorry, between Sophomore and Junior year.

Rediculous-start with shooting to break 20:00...

Your problem is one of lack of ambition.

why settle for 14:59 when you can shoot for 12 minutes 37.34 seconds for the all time world record?

Get a picture of Kenenisa Bekele on your wall and stare at it angrily for at least 10 minutes per day.

Here is your training schedule:

Monday: 7 miles @4:45

Tu: 16 X 800 @ 135s

Wed: 10 miles @ 4:55

Th: 24 X 400 @ 57s

Fri: 8 miles easy. 30 minutes meditation

Sat: 6 miles hills. Kill a small animal in the wilderness.

Sun: 30 X 200 @ 27s

No junk food.

No sex

No masturbation.

No school work.

Eat. Sleep. Run. Repeat

You were destined for greatness.

Funniest post ever. I was laughing so hard

I really hope you're joking kid..

I don't know how fast you could get just focus on the training and not the time. Increase your mileage 10% every week for 3 weeks then drop down for a bit. Do a mix of everything, long runs, hills, speed workouts, easy runs, tempos, fartlegs.

I went from 22:12 to 19:20 in about 6 months of about 20-30 mpw

calabra wrote:

Your problem is one of lack of ambition.

why settle for 14:59 when you can shoot for 12 minutes 37.34 seconds for the all time world record?

Get a picture of Kenenisa Bekele on your wall and stare at it angrily for at least 10 minutes per day.

Here is your training schedule:

Monday: 7 miles @4:45

Tu: 16 X 800 @ 135s

Wed: 10 miles @ 4:55

Th: 24 X 400 @ 57s

Fri: 8 miles easy. 30 minutes meditation

Sat: 6 miles hills. Kill a small animal in the wilderness.

Sun: 30 X 200 @ 27s

No junk food.

No sex

No masturbation.

No school work.

Eat. Sleep. Run. Repeat

You were destined for greatness.

The award of the best post of the year goes to you, kind sir.

FlaveAve wrote:

I don't know how fast you could get just focus on the training and not the time. Increase your mileage 10% every week for 3 weeks then drop down for a bit. Do a mix of everything, long runs, hills, speed workouts, easy runs, tempos, fartlegs.

I went from 22:12 to 19:20 in about 6 months of about 20-30 mpw

I really hate fartlegs. Nothing is nastier than the feeling of something warm and wet running down your leg.

Don't listen to anyone who thinks it isn't possible to do this at ALL. You have just began running so you will have big improvements. First off... let's be a little realistic;

Going from 7:12m to 4:57m per mile for 3.11 miles in one year is extremely unrealistic, if not nearly impossible for even very talented runners!

(Can you even run one mile in 4:55? You need to average that 3 TIMES)

I understand how you feel, even I had the same problem, I was running 22min for 5K and always dreamed of running in the 15s. Sadly, it doesn't work that way.

Some of the posts above me are skeptical, if not utterly ridiculous, please do NOT try the workout above if you want to keep your legs! Now stop worrying about your time so much. Really, don't worry about it, especially in cross country, for the fact that some courses are tough with hills, some are long, short, sandy, etc. they don't reveal your true 5k time.

Let me give you some helpful advice; run and enjoy it. Focus on moving up and passing people in front of you. Race. That's what you're there for. Before you know it, you'll be in the 19s. You could one day run 15s, but it can take 2-4 years if not more, depending on many factors.

Run the workouts that your coach gives you but do not race them! Where you finish in the workouts does not matter, that's what races are for. Eat a healthier diet, and go to bed earlier. If you do it right, you may even be in the 18s by the end of the season!

Set baby steps. Break 21, then 20, then sub 19...etc. your ultimate goal is run 15s. Don't stay fixated on that goal, heck don't stay fixated on those goals above either! Just run your race!

This one's a BIGGIE: Don't turn every run into a PR attempt! Setting that kind of pressure on yourself will mentally break you, trust me. You don't see Olympic runners turning every race into a world record attempt! If you feel particularly good one day, it will come. You will have a lot of PR's now since you're just beginning (noob effect) and you will have ups and downs as well, especially in XC.

When XC is over, take 1-2 weeks off and then start base training. Build up your mileage slowly, with no rush! If you start at say...20Mpw, build up to 50mpw over 3 months. Use track season to get your 1600m and 3200m times down, and your 5k will go down with it! Keep training year round and you might just start off senior XC with 16-17s. The rest will depend on your level of talent (as well as many other factors). Improve those times from there and then at the end, pat yourself in the back and keep running.

What is your mile time?

My PR's: (5k, 3200 and 1600m)

9th grade: 26:49, 12:45, 7:01

10th grade: 19:11, 11:23, 5:12

11th grade: 18:26, 11:11, 5:00 ( Note: was injured for this XC season!)

12th grade: 16:50, 11:07, 4:53 (note: I was injured for track this season)

I averaged around 20-30mpw all this time. I had iron deficiency up until senior XC season. I fixed it and got faster. It's possible to improve dramatically, but only time and training will tell.

Btw, have your doctor do a SERUM FERRITIN AND IRON test (must be specific!!) and have him show the numbers to you!

If serum ferritin is anywhere under 40, take 2 ferrous sulfate supplements a day for 1 month with orange juice! See doctor after one month and check it again.

If serum iron is anywhere under 60, same thing! For one month. This makes a huge difference in performance!

If you're not under any of those then you're fine.

(You can get the supplements at any pharmacy; 325 mg of ferrous sulphate with 64 mg of elemental iron. May cause diarrhea or constipation!)

Screw all the people that say it is not possible. It is rather unrealistic to go from 21's to 15's. Though I believe you could go 16's or 17's. Work your way up SLOWLY to 50-60 miles a week during the summer. With this mileage you should do three speed work sessions per week. Good luck and stay positive.

The sky is the limit here on LRC!