Trained for four years and my best mile is only 6:05 :(

Sasha Pachev wrote:

My first reaction when I hear about sub-15 100 for 5'2 / 112 lb woman with 6:05 mile is that she is very talented distance runner that is untrained. If she were a true sprinter I would expect her to be heavier.

So one possibility is that your training is just not very effective - your body does not respond to what you are doing. I have a suspicion due to the specifics of your body it does not respond to running slower than 8:00, but at the same time it does not respond to short fast intervals either. It is perhaps just unusually picky about what it would respond to. It may take some time to find that optimal "picky eater menu". I would start by making your distance runs 8:00 pace - even if it means that you initially have to cut your mileage to 25 a week to handle it. For the intervals I would try something like 1000 meter repeats in 3:45 first a couple with long rest, then if the body responds and gets more fit, increase the number and then decrease the recovery.

Somebody said you could not be local elite with what you have got. This is not true. 19:00 5 K frequently wins $50 or so of prize money in local races, and if a 19:00 5 K woman is able to achieve an endurance breakthrough and starts running sub-3:00 marathon, that can pick up as much as $1000 per race if you choose your races right. A woman even with rather average talent that has won the battle against the negative feminine-style emotions and is able to train sensibly and consistently calmly believing that she can achieve without getting too emotional or overanalyzing her results overtime becomes at least a formidable local contender.

In any case, there is a reason you have the desire to achieve. It may be because you sense some untapped strength in the body that really wants to come out, but is tricky to unleash. It may be because you are supposed to learn something from your experiences so you can help others. I would keep trying. Even if for one reason or another you do not reach your dream goals, you will learn some very good life skills out of this.

2007 wrote:

Sasha Pachev wrote:

My first reaction when I hear about sub-15 100 for 5'2 / 112 lb woman with 6:05 mile is that she is very talented distance runner that is untrained. If she were a true sprinter I would expect her to be heavier.

So one possibility is that your training is just not very effective - your body does not respond to what you are doing. I have a suspicion due to the specifics of your body it does not respond to running slower than 8:00, but at the same time it does not respond to short fast intervals either. It is perhaps just unusually picky about what it would respond to. It may take some time to find that optimal "picky eater menu". I would start by making your distance runs 8:00 pace - even if it means that you initially have to cut your mileage to 25 a week to handle it. For the intervals I would try something like 1000 meter repeats in 3:45 first a couple with long rest, then if the body responds and gets more fit, increase the number and then decrease the recovery.

Somebody said you could not be local elite with what you have got. This is not true. 19:00 5 K frequently wins $50 or so of prize money in local races, and if a 19:00 5 K woman is able to achieve an endurance breakthrough and starts running sub-3:00 marathon, that can pick up as much as $1000 per race if you choose your races right. A woman even with rather average talent that has won the battle against the negative feminine-style emotions and is able to train sensibly and consistently calmly believing that she can achieve without getting too emotional or overanalyzing her results overtime becomes at least a formidable local contender.

In any case, there is a reason you have the desire to achieve. It may be because you sense some untapped strength in the body that really wants to come out, but is tricky to unleash. It may be because you are supposed to learn something from your experiences so you can help others. I would keep trying. Even if for one reason or another you do not reach your dream goals, you will learn some very good life skills out of this.

You make a great point about my body not responding to runs over say 8 minute pace. I have only ever focused on training for PRs in the mile and in the 5k over the last four years - my PRs for all other distances just kind of happen when they feel like it during training/time trials at 100% effort which I'm aware evry runner experiences in their first few years of running.

I am aware that this only works for so long before the body plateaus and PRs don't just happen spontaneously anymore and I have been tweaking my training for the last 8 months trying to make a break through to shatter my same old slow times. I had a huge fitness surge earlier on in the year where I PR'd in both the mile and 5k in the same month. (Old PR 6:30 new PR 6:05 / old PR 22:55 / new PR 22:30) but the only training I was doing prior to that was 3 runs a week at 8:00 pace. The reason I was training that way was because I couldn't run often because I had only just come back from an injury. So when I set those records I was doing no significant speedwork, no milage, just 10-12MPW at sub tempo pace. So I actually have no idea what I did to get in shape - it just happened.

So of course then I started looking up on the internet about how to break through because for the first time in my life, sub 6 and sub 20 seemed realistic. I found this website and there's a lot of talk about doing your easy milage easy and your hard workout hards... So I did just that and now I'm much slower than I was at the start of the year. I have been doing a lot of miles at 9 minute pace this year to build a base and all it seems to be doing is making me slower. I can't do my hard workouts hard anymore because all the slow miles seem to be seriously deminishing my top end speed and fitness and week by week I get slower in my workouts. In june I was doing 800 repeats at sub 3:30 and now I find it super super taxing to even hit 3:4X. I seem to thrive when ALL of my milage is between a 7:30-8:30 pace even though theoretically, that would mean I would be doing most of my runs at or near tempo pace.

Also, I have never really trained for the 100m and I rarely sprint so hopefully I have a genetic gift to unwrap when I start doing serious anaerobic work.

2007 wrote:

Sasha Pachev wrote:

My first reaction when I hear about sub-15 100 for 5'2 / 112 lb woman with 6:05 mile is that she is very talented distance runner that is untrained. If she were a true sprinter I would expect her to be heavier.

So one possibility is that your training is just not very effective - your body does not respond to what you are doing. I have a suspicion due to the specifics of your body it does not respond to running slower than 8:00, but at the same time it does not respond to short fast intervals either. It is perhaps just unusually picky about what it would respond to. It may take some time to find that optimal "picky eater menu". I would start by making your distance runs 8:00 pace - even if it means that you initially have to cut your mileage to 25 a week to handle it. For the intervals I would try something like 1000 meter repeats in 3:45 first a couple with long rest, then if the body responds and gets more fit, increase the number and then decrease the recovery.

Somebody said you could not be local elite with what you have got. This is not true. 19:00 5 K frequently wins $50 or so of prize money in local races, and if a 19:00 5 K woman is able to achieve an endurance breakthrough and starts running sub-3:00 marathon, that can pick up as much as $1000 per race if you choose your races right. A woman even with rather average talent that has won the battle against the negative feminine-style emotions and is able to train sensibly and consistently calmly believing that she can achieve without getting too emotional or overanalyzing her results overtime becomes at least a formidable local contender.

In any case, there is a reason you have the desire to achieve. It may be because you sense some untapped strength in the body that really wants to come out, but is tricky to unleash. It may be because you are supposed to learn something from your experiences so you can help others. I would keep trying. Even if for one reason or another you do not reach your dream goals, you will learn some very good life skills out of this.

You make a great point about my body not responding to runs over say 8 minute pace. I have only ever focused on training for PRs in the mile and in the 5k over the last four years - my PRs for all other distances just kind of happen when they feel like it during training/time trials at 100% effort which I'm aware evry runner experiences in their first few years of running.

I am aware that this only works for so long before the body plateaus and PRs don't just happen spontaneously anymore and I have been tweaking my training for the last 8 months trying to make a break through to shatter my same old slow times. I had a huge fitness surge earlier on in the year where I PR'd in both the mile and 5k in the same month. (Old PR 6:30 new PR 6:05 / old PR 22:55 / new PR 22:30) but the only training I was doing prior to that was 3 runs a week at 8:00 pace. The reason I was training that way was because I couldn't run often because I had only just come back from an injury. So when I set those records I was doing no significant speedwork, no milage, just 10-12MPW at sub tempo pace. So I actually have no idea what I did to get in shape - it just happened.

So of course then I started looking up on the internet about how to break through because for the first time in my life, sub 6 and sub 20 seemed realistic. I found this website and there's a lot of talk about doing your easy milage easy and your hard workout hards... So I did just that and now I'm much slower than I was at the start of the year. I have been doing a lot of miles at 9 minute pace this year to build a base and all it seems to be doing is making me slower. I can't do my hard workouts hard anymore because all the slow miles seem to be seriously deminishing my top end speed and fitness and week by week I get slower in my workouts. In june I was doing 800 repeats at sub 3:30 and now I find it super super taxing to even hit 3:4X. I seem to thrive when ALL of my milage is between a 7:30-8:30 pace even though theoretically, that would mean I would be doing most of my runs at or near tempo pace.

Also, I have never really trained for the 100m and I rarely sprint so hopefully I have a genetic gift to unwrap when I start doing serious anaerobic work.

alabama runner wrote:

2007 wrote:

You make a great point about my body not responding to runs over say 8 minute pace. I have only ever focused on training for PRs in the mile and in the 5k over the last four years - my PRs for all other distances just kind of happen when they feel like it during training/time trials at 100% effort which I'm aware evry runner experiences in their first few years of running.

I am aware that this only works for so long before the body plateaus and PRs don't just happen spontaneously anymore and I have been tweaking my training for the last 8 months trying to make a break through to shatter my same old slow times. I had a huge fitness surge earlier on in the year where I PR'd in both the mile and 5k in the same month. (Old PR 6:30 new PR 6:05 / old PR 22:55 / new PR 22:30) but the only training I was doing prior to that was 3 runs a week at 8:00 pace. The reason I was training that way was because I couldn't run often because I had only just come back from an injury. So when I set those records I was doing no significant speedwork, no milage, just 10-12MPW at sub tempo pace. So I actually have no idea what I did to get in shape - it just happened.

So of course then I started looking up on the internet about how to break through because for the first time in my life, sub 6 and sub 20 seemed realistic. I found this website and there's a lot of talk about doing your easy milage easy and your hard workout hards... So I did just that and now I'm much slower than I was at the start of the year. I have been doing a lot of miles at 9 minute pace this year to build a base and all it seems to be doing is making me slower. I can't do my hard workouts hard anymore because all the slow miles seem to be seriously deminishing my top end speed and fitness and week by week I get slower in my workouts. In june I was doing 800 repeats at sub 3:30 and now I find it super super taxing to even hit 3:4X. I seem to thrive when ALL of my milage is between a 7:30-8:30 pace even though theoretically, that would mean I would be doing most of my runs at or near tempo pace.

Also, I have never really trained for the 100m and I rarely sprint so hopefully I have a genetic gift to unwrap when I start doing serious anaerobic work.

Like I said earlier, you need to do the long-fast aerobic runs.

50min race pace = Anaerobic Threshold (AnT)

1.08-1.10 * AnT = Aerobic Threshold (AeT)

50min aerobic run is at 1.02 * AeT

70min aerobic run is at 1.05 * AeT

25min threshold-tempo is at 1.02 * AnT

That is your formula for a successful base, and you do that for 2-3months.

Your comment about how most of your mileage seems to be at tempo pace is actually somewhat correct. In your situation, you are lacking high-end aerobic fitness, and long tempo runs are what gets you there. I can assure you that after doing those 3 bolded runs above for a few months then your endurance will improve drastically. You don't do those every day, but each one once a week should be good. Fill in with easy mileage on hills. The hills help with power and teaching your body to adapt to changes of pace, which is a good skill.

2007 wrote:

Sasha Pachev wrote:

My first reaction when I hear about sub-15 100 for 5'2 / 112 lb woman with 6:05 mile is that she is very talented distance runner that is untrained. If she were a true sprinter I would expect her to be heavier.

So one possibility is that your training is just not very effective - your body does not respond to what you are doing. ////

I had a huge fitness surge earlier on in the year where I PR'd in both the mile and 5k in the same month. (Old PR 6:30 new PR 6:05 / old PR 22:55 / new PR 22:30) but the only training I was doing prior to that was 3 runs a week at 8:00 pace. The reason I was training that way was because I couldn't run often because I had only just come back from an injury. So when I set those records I was doing no significant speedwork, no milage, just 10-12MPW at sub tempo pace. So I actually have no idea what I did to get in shape - it just happened.