Hi everybody,
I just finished xc season with a time of 18:20 (poor conditions). Anyways, I was running around 35 mpw to achieve this. I'm tired of being mediocre, so I want to have a breakout track season in the one and two mile. If I safely built up to between 60 and a peak of 65 mpw, what times do you think are possible? I'm planning on taking the summer of Malmo approach. Btw, I'm a junior in high school, and overall just want to set myself up for a great senior year. Thanks!
Try 45-50 this winter and if that goes well then 60 for next cross season.
What times would you say are realistic ?
It all depends on how you respond to the training
Tell us more about what you did with your 35 mpw.
When did you start running 35 mpw?
How often did you run?
How fast?
List a few of your workouts and how often you ran them.
How often/how many races did you run?
What did your week before the 18:20 look like?
List your track PRs.
Do you have track in the winter?
There is nothing wrong with getting to 65 mpw but your goal has to be to improve not just to do lots of work.
I plan to run indoor track this year as well.
Last year, I ran 18:50 in the 5k and got injured over the winter (bball) so I couldn't run at all over the winter. As a result, I only ran like a 5:18 mile and 11:20 2 mile. Ideally I would be breaking 5 in the mile during this winter, and maybe a 10 flat 3k. I feel like the two mile will be my main event come outdoor, so ultimately I want to break ten this year. It's crazy, but I'm dead set on this goal. Also, I've done 4 mile tempos in 6 flat. And I've done 4x8 in 2:40 with a 1 minute rest. Hope this helps a little.
Bump
Well that answers a couple questions but not
When did you start running 35 mpw?
How often did you run?
How fast?
How often/how many races did you run?
What did your week before the 18:20 look like?
Right now it seems like you ran 18:50 last year. Then didn't run a step over the winter. You managed a 5:18 in the spring but didn't train over the summer. You started running 35 mpw and workouts way too hard in mid-August.
You need to run 13 out of every 14 days for the next year. Some of those 13 days might only be 3 miles with strides but not more than once a week. You don't want a sharp peak to 65 mpw, you want a slow increase from now until next August. 3 weeks during that time should be 20 miles the rest should be 30 slowly increasing to just over 60. Except for the 3 weeks where you only do 20 miles, the rest of the weeks should have at least the 2 Malmo workouts unless you have two meets in one week. I'm sure track will have a few weeks with 3 hard days but try to not ever do 4.
I ran 35 mpw all summer before this season. The week before my 18:20, I did a 3 mile cutdown in 18:10 (2 days before race). I really feel like I could've broke 18 this yet tho. The winner was a 15:40 guy, and he ran 16:50 on that day due to the horrendous mud and hail. I already have an at least moderately consistent running background from the past two years
18:20 still isn't that solid bro...
Based on your tempo workout I think you can go on 17 in the 5k. I ran a 23:55 4 mile tempo in the beginning of xc season when I was around 16:45. I just had my last meet on monday in muddy conditions and still ran 15:54.