Hi
I need some training advice from going sub 18 minutes in 5km. I've been training consistently for about a month (running 3 and 4 times a week) and I've done two timed races. The times of these were 19:17 and 18:54. (Last two saturdays)
My training has been very unstructured, I haven't been following a training plan. I have only been doing about 30km per week.
Other Information
18 years
175cm
62 kg
Thanks.
The time you are shooting for is irrelevant. Only what your past training was like and what your body can handle. How long have you been running and how many km per week have you been averaging for the past 6 months?
Here's what you do. You run 6 days a week minimum, 6 miles each time for 1 month, three of those days you do a solid pace where you don't finish out of breath, and then you do 6*100m strides at a hard effort. The next two times you run you run at an easy pace, and then pick one day a week where out of your 6 mile run, two of your miles are at sub 18 race pace or 5:30 miles. You're 18 years old for Christ's sake, this should be dumb easy, regular training of a little so and a little endurance and you'll kill it. Run all out when you finally do race the 5k, and repeat the next month running a 15km long run each Saturday in place of your easy day.
Those are decent times considering your minimal/unstructured training. You are young, so you have time to improve. Follow people's advice and there is no reason why you won't get below 18 in a month or two and possibly well below that in the future if you keep at it. Good luck!