Need help with 5K training. Sub 16:00

NorthCarolinaXC704 wrote:

Hello all,

I'm a 25 year old ex collegiate runner. I graduated in 2014 from a D1 school and basically quit running cold turkey. I have the itch to run fast again so I've been doing some light running for the past 3 weeks (15-30mins/day, 3-6days/wk).

My goal is to run a sub 16:00 5k by mid April 2017.

I recently ran a 5k in 19:10....was on 18:40 pace till the last mile (uphill). So basically I plan on following Jack Daniels' Running Formula for the next 5.5 months.

I was wondering on how I should split up the 4 phases? Should I build 3 months of base and have 1 month of Phase 2, 1 month of phase 3 and then the remainder spent sharpening?

My college PR's

800m: 1:56

1600m: 4:15

5k: 14:55

8k: 24:50

You should be able to run much faster very quickly. I was a bit faster than you but after a prolonged layoff, I could, in 3 weeks, break 16:00 fairly easily. I would the first week get my muscles used to running again doing some prolonged strides. The next 2 weeks I would do 3 minutes hard and 2 minutes off. If you were really that fast - you should be able to run sub-16 in 3 or 4 weeks.

It's funny that you mention this because one of my good friends also went on a prolonged break and he too was running low 16:00's after a month of training. The main thing im concerned about is not overtraining. I want to take a gradual approach to the training. Take it seriously and give it one last hoorah and see if I can break all my PR's before the inevitable father time catches up to me.

Im just kind lost as to how to partition each phase of training. Short term goal is to run as fast as possible in the 5k come April.

So, you've run sub-15, and you're asking us how to run sub-16? That makes sense.

Have you gained a lot of weight? It sounds like you are basically not training at all right now - just getting out and stretching your legs some and putting yourself in a position to start training.

Haven't gone back and checked his plans recently, but I am assuming Phase 1 emphasizes base, Phase 2 emphasizes running economy, Phase 3 is heavy on vo2max and Phase 4 is a peak phase.

If you are really interested in the longer term, I would focus heavily on base for 6-10 weeks, working in some strides and then some tempo efforts as you progress.

I would then keep Phase 2 relatively short - 3 weeks, 4 at the most.

I would try to make Phase 3 the longest phase - keep it going until 2-3 weeks out from your goal race in April.

Last 3 weeks would be time for Phase 4.

My thinking is that you are so far from your peak fitness right now that you need to re-establish strength in your connective tissue, but that you need to do that slowly to avoid injury. Easy distance will do that for you, and it will also allow for big jumps in fitness, especially once you start working in the tempo work once a week.

Phase 2 is less important for an experienced runner. You need just enough of it to bring you back to your old form, but it is kind of like riding a bike - it will come back quickly. You also get the benefit of making the pace of your vo2max work seem a little more manageable since you will have run faster than that pace before you jump back into Phase 3.

But Phase 3 is where you are going to go from having about 80%-85% of your fitness back to getting 95% of your fitness gains from the training cycle.

Phase 4 will just get your fresh. My thinking on keeping that limited is that you will simply be better served by putting in the heavy work of Phase 3 since you really will not have been at it for a very long time.

Thanks for the in depth response. That's what I was looking for! I gained some weight over the past 2 years. I was racing at around 138lbs im college now im 155lbs but the weight increase is mainly from weight lifting.

I would get up and start running again for 1 to 3 weeks at a time and then stop again and forget. This went off and on for last 2 years.

Just keep in mind that I could be a complete idiot. You are an experienced runner, you've spent time reading Daniels' book, and you know your body better than anyone; so exercise your own judgment and, most importantly, listen to your body.

As to weight, I would give some consideration to changing your lifting routine. As a practical matter, the cost of carrying 10 or 15 pounds of muscle weight, especially since I suspect a lot of it is in your upper body, easily outweighs the benefit (pun intended).

I weighed just about the same as you when I ran my PRs in college. I was able to race just fine in the low to mid 150s, but when I got down to the low to mid 140s with single digit body fat, my racing improved quite a bit. It would have been nice to be about 140, but I am in my mid 40s, and there is just some old man weight (most of it muscle, I think) that just isn't going to go away.

NorthCarolinaXC704 wrote:

I want to take a gradual approach to the training. Take it seriously and give it one last hoorah and see if I can break all my PR's before the inevitable father time catches up to me.

Oh. My. Heck. You are TWENTY FIVE years old. You have huge amounts of talent. You could have five or ten years of running at your peak still ahead of you. Why don't you do something with that opportunity?

Wait another 20 years. Then we can talk about one last hoorah.

Good luck with your training and your comeback race. Now that you're responsible for your own training, you might want to look at several books on running and training, including reading all of Daniels and a few more. That might give you more perspective on training and racing.

Its a good starting point nonetheless. It was easy in college. We just had to listen our coaches. I never trained myself.

Haha i went through a weightlifting phase and decided to try to get "big" but I could only pack on so much muscle. I've changed it a bit and started following this body weight regimen

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/teen-brent2.htm

So im sure ill be dropping some pounds as I run more!

I feel like im going through a mid life crisis sometimes haha. I want to be fast again so im trying to get back on it!

Thanks! Im doing a lot of learning on how to self train so I can maximize my improvements!