Can you guys help me run an 8:40 for the 3000m? Right now my PR is 8:55 when I was a Junior. From my Sophomore to Junior year I only improved 4 seconds. Right now im doing 60 miles a week, two workouts, and a long run. Can someone please suggest something.
What was your improvement from freshman to sophomore year?
More hills! You are in college?
K5 wrote:
More hills! You are in college?
High School.
You are in HS? Your weekly mileage is high enough. Work on getting under 2 for 800 and I predict your 1500 and 3k times will drop.
I think it will take more like 70-90 miles per week over the course of several weeks to get you to 8:40 territory. This was the case in my own experience. It took more mileage to get that 3k time down.
I'm not sure if I'd recommend he go up to 70-90 at this time of year, since he'd have to drop the quality on his workouts a bit for a while and his year probably ends in June.
Maybe a 3rd workout per week?
adsfasdf wrote:
I think it will take more like 70-90 miles per week over the course of several weeks to get you to 8:40 territory. This was the case in my own experience. It took more mileage to get that 3k time down.
I went out for track as a sophomore. My 3k progression was 9:43, 8:51, 8:29. My 800 progression was 2:04, 2:01, 1:56. As a sophomore I averaged 35 mi/week. As a senior I occasionally reached 60 mi/week.
For me the key to improvement was deciding to run a decent 800 my junior and senior years in HS. It teaches you how to run fast efficiently, an important skill for weak distance runners! I hated running the 800 at first in HS, but as I approached sub-2 minutes my 1500 and 3000 times plummeted.
Run as many miles as you can without getting hurt (I don't believe in "burn out"). But don't forget to work on your running efficiency at a fast pace. Racing 800s is great for that. Many kids decide they are 3000/3200 specialists and don't want to drop down in distance, but that only hurts their development. If you want to be an elite 1500/3000 runner you need to get under 2.
I think, webfoot and adsfasdf are both right. A 8:40/3k is a real challenge, and in most cases there´s a need of decent mileage in the 60+ range.
But the most limiting factor for distance runners is the ability to run smooth and fast. The majority struggles while running fast (i.e. limited 800m-performance), everybody can see that. There are way more reserves for a sub 2/800m-performer to maintain a good pace in a 3k.
Do you have a coach? If you have - talk to him, he knows you.
If you don't:
Bump your weekly volume. You should basically get to a point where you run 60 minutes or longer almost every day. Add doubles. Don't kill yourself with hard track workouts. Just get the miles in, sometimes medium paced, some times tempoish. Many easy ones. Run not every track workout as fast as possible. Run fast & relaxed. You will improve.
Everybody knows it's March right? You mileage people are foolish. 60 is plenty right now. You want to run 70 this summer go right ahead, but it's time to start ripping stuff on the track. I like the 800 idea I would ask your coach to do like 800, 400, 4x800 or something at the dual meets. As for training you should be running 5-7X800s or 1ks at 2:25 and 3:00-3:05 with 2:30 rest. Do your 400 reps at 66-67 with 90 sec rest. Mondays are one of the best days of the week to do 150s as well, something like 4-6 times at 25 to 22
I did it at your age. Nothing fancy at all - 40 minutes brisk run most nights. Raced a lot over a rage of distances. That year also ran 1.57 800m and 4.02 1500m. Dont overthink things!