My goal of Sub 15:00 5k

Prefontaine91 wrote:

Hallo. Just out of curiosity...

How do you count these cross-training velocity ? Seems that you take average 5 k pace and just follow 60% of that pace ?

How fast should run a person with 17:30 goal pace ? Roughly 7:50/mile ?

Thanks

A very good guess Prefontaine 91 , roughly 7:45/ mile. ))

3/4

7 mile tempo @ 5:45 avg

11 miles total

3/5

10 miles @ 7:10 pace

3/6

40 minutes easy

3/7

16x400 alternating pace

90,90,75,90,75,90,75,90,75,90,75,90,75,90,75,65

This workout was continuous. No rest in between sets. Felt surprisingly easy. 8 miles total.

3/8

5 miles

3/9

14 miles

Last 4 miles @ 6:00 avg

3/10

OFF

Total: 54 miles

Also, I am racing the 1500 tomorrow (3/15). Should be interesting to see how I handle the shorter quicker distance. Maybe sub 4:10? I will post an update.

Nice training, hope it has still been going well. Is your race this weekend? Good luck, you have a great base behind your legs.

That Tempo seems insane, awesome job man. Also, thanks, it has been going pretty good. I did a CV workout on Monday and went from a 3:45 1k down to 3:33 for 5x1k, 5 min off 200m jog + spike up, 4x200 @33,33,33,31 everything with 200m jog for rest. I felt great and it was the warmest day in weeks/months (above freezing). I've been taking the rest of the week easy though because I ran that workout starting to get sick and I guess it pushed me over and I just have a stomach issue now, but it went through my family in about 2 days, so hoping I can be done with it soon (only runner at the moment and I think that workout took out my immune system at the worst time possible).

Also, the race was cancelled, but we're doing a 3200 time trial now and if I'm not sick by then, the goal is for sure sub 11, but hopefully more like sub 10:40.

Your training is going great, keep it up!

3/11

5xmile

5:14/5:09/5:12/5:15/5:05

These were done on hilly roads.

3/12

9 miles easy @ 7:15 avg

3/13

3(4x200)

2 mile WU

4@34

4@32

4@30

2mile CD

Not really a fan of this workout. Legs were super trashed afterward, I am definitely not used to the quicker paces. Not sure if this was a beneficial workout for a 5k guy. Any thoughts?

3/14

6 miles

3/15 RACE

1500: 4:12

I just went with the pack and went out in 62 seconds. This was probably the fastest 400 I have run in months. I definitely believe I could crack sub 4:10 with better pacing.

3000: 9:00.24

Nothing special about this race. Just ran hard. Felt pretty gassed from the 1500.

As you can see there is nothing too spectacular about these races. It was a solid double, and a good workout nonetheless.

3/16

6 miles easy

3/17

OFF

I will not lie, this was a rough week of training. We had spring break this week, so I was thrown off my usual routine. Plus we traveled about 9 hours to the track meet, which wears you out almost as much as a workout. I am excited to get this next week off to a good start though!

That was an impressive workout! Based on that run I would say you should certainly be under 10:40 shape. Did you have the time trial already?

Unfortunately, running takes a massive toll on the immune systems. Hopefully, your body can take advantage of this extra rest and rebound better than you were before1

Yeah that's a tough 4 days. Feel like those 200s would help sharper you for a later 800/1500, but dubious on aiding you in your pursuit of 5K goal. Having run the 1500 the the hard way as you did, know that if you lead with a 65-66 you can definitely go faster (as you guessed).

THOUGHTSLEADER wrote:

Yeah that's a tough 4 days. Feel like those 200s would help sharper you for a later 800/1500, but dubious on aiding you in your pursuit of 5K goal. Having run the 1500 the the hard way as you did, know that if you lead with a 65-66 you can definitely go faster (as you guessed).

Agreed, although it's not bad before a race since it doesn't take too much out of you, its not enough volume imo.

I broke 15 for the first time this year and a similar speed workout I did 3 weeks out was 3x4x400 at 5k/3k/1500 pace, rest 30/60/90 seconds.

here's Bekele's structure

which would work great if scaled down for a 5k/10k runner

long intervals at 10K pace

shorter intervals at 3K pace

1 or 2 day's sprints in spikes (10x100,10x60...)

long tempo (15 miles for Bekele apparently)

also 30 miles in the forest at 5:40 pace.

Also stop asking for advice if you aren't gonna take any

he also does 70min in the morning and 40min in the evening close to M pace, Lots of dynamic stretching

Congrats on breaking 15! I do agree that it was not necessarily a bad workout, it just lacked some volume. That 400 workout sounds great! I am quickly learning that volume and taking easy days easy are going to be critical to breaking 15, and remaining consistent of course!

Honestly, that week makes me think you're even closer to breaking 15 than the previous week. You said your legs were thrashed after the Wednesday workout, and you raced only two days later, and you ran 15 min pace for 3/5 of the race distance after already running a gutsy 1500, so I think you just need a couple easy days before your next real attempt and you could get really close!

And I ended up running 10:43 for the time trial, but it's better because of a couple factors (sorry, excuses, lol). I wasnt sick anymore, but we shoveled the track for 2.5 hours on Friday and so I only got to slog 15 min afterwards at 9 flat pace and the next morning I was a little sore, not too bad though, and split 5:06-5:37, slowing down every lap, lol. Lastly, it was 30 degrees and the sun wasn't all the way up yet, so I had a lot of layers on. Ithink I'm a lot closer to 10:30 shape right now than that TT shows, but I'm racing the 8/16/4x4 this weekend (my better events) so I'm hoping to run 2:10/4:45/56-57.

Awesome training, man!

3/18

14 miles. Last 6 miles were @ 6:10 pace

3/19

7 miles easy

3/20

10x800. All of them ranged between 2:28-2:30

3/21

Pool workout & 3 miles easy

3/22 Race

15:37 5k

35-75-71-71-70-71-72-75-79-77-79-80-75

Lol, crashed and burned on this one. Split a 4:43 mile at some point in there. I went into this race with a mindset that I was just going to hang onto whatever pace the leaders were going. It was a small meet (only 4 schools) so I honestly was just having fun with it. Feel free to roast the pacing though. I definitely blew up halfway through.

3/23

OFF

3/24

14.5 miles

Total: 54.5

Mid-Season reflections: I truly think the "piece" I am missing is mileage. It may be too late to build up my mileage and reap the benefits this season, but over the summer and next cross season I want to slowly build up to the 70 mpw range. I realize my current mileage is relatively low, but it is the most mileage I have done in my life. However, after talking to other runners and reading advice on here, it is clear that my mileage needs to go up.

Also, my last solid PR attempt will be in about 10 days. This is not the last race of the season, but this will be one of the last races where the weather is still nice (southerner) and before championship races. I could still PR at championship races of course, but it is less likely. Hopefully we can drop the time down a little more at this last race. Realistically, I think I am in 15:15 shape, maybe slightly faster. I will not be making the mistake of poor pacing at this race. I plan to go out in 15:15 pace and will see how it goes from there. I am NOT giving up on my dream of sub-15 though! Whether it happens next weeknd, or next decade it is going to happen!

10:43 is a great time for just a time trial! I hope you get to run in another 3200 soon, I'm curious to see how much you drop that time. With better pacing, legit racing, and no snow shoveling you will have a massive PR. How did the races go this past weekend?

Another good week! One thing though, you're not gonna be primed to race well 2 days after a tough workout, that 10x800 definitely took some out of you. I bet if you just run 3 days easy right before your race in 10 days and do 3 quick 200s 1-2 days out, you will improve big time! You gotta go into a race rested, especially if you're gonna break 15 in a 5k!

And thanks, I definitely feel like I can improve a lot off of that time trial. This weekend I ran the 1600 and 800 and PRd by 6 seconds in both going 4:42 (70-69-68-73) and 2:09 (60 high- 68 high). Those times definitely came as a surprise as I was just hoping to be sub 4:50, and at the very least sub 5 and I came.back for the 800 with dead legs doubting I could go sub 2:10, all this with 70 miles in 6 days!

I'm racing the 3200 this Friday and hope with all these 70 mile weeks I've done, I'll be close to sub 10, but even sub 10:15 would be amazing (My older brother's PR is 10:17, so that would be cool to beat).

Last thing! Increasing mileage now WILL help! Try adding doubles or just tacking on some extra miles in cool downs or whatever, the 5k is aerobic and as long as you don't add anymore hard mileage, increasing for a week and then cutting the days right before would help!

WOW !! Those are some excellent races. Your times are dropping like a rock this season. That 4:42 is excellent, and I think it certainly indicates that you were very close to sub-10. When I was in HS I ran a 4:39 and 10:08, however, I was not doing anywhere near the mileage you are. With your aerobic base, I would not be surprised at all if you hit sub-10!

Thanks! I had pretty dead legs yesterday for my meet because I did a really hard 12.5 mi long run over hills and in a bit of mud at 7:10 pace and then I had a workout two days later (and hit 40 miles in 3 days) and then two days later was my meet and I didn't really feel good any day this week because I pushed it too much, I guess. I ran 10:52 and split a 57 5-10 minutes later on the 4x4. I definitely consider myself a miler, but I know I'm in better shape than 10:52, I ran a solo 10:43 2 weeks ago, my legs were just dead yesterday. The 57 shows I'm getting some leg speed back though and I'm happy about that.

Next week is spring break, so no races, but then I have a league meet on Wednesday and an Invite on Saturday and I plan on doing the 16/8/4x4 at the league meet and the same thing at the Invite. I'll race the 3200 at the league meet after that and retest myself!

Here is the past weeks training:

3/25

30 minute bike.

3/26

2 mile WU

6 mile tempo @ 5:32 pace

2 mile CD

3/27

9 miles @ 7:15

3/28

AM: 20 minutes

PM: 7 miles @ 7:15

3/29

2 mile WU

4x1k- 3:03/3:03/3:02/3:02 with 90 second rest

4 minute rest

2x800- 2:25/2:25 with 90 second rest between.

4 minute rest

2x400- 68/58

20 minute CD

3/30

4 miles easy

3/31

13 miles @ 6:45 average

Total: 55 miles

A solid week of training. 3/29 was a pretty crazy workout. I certainly have some more confidence after that workout, and really did not feel like I pushed too hard. I will admit that I was pretty wiped the next day, but fortunately, we just had an easy 4 mile recovery run. Next week is likely one of the last chances I have to get into a competitive 5k race while the weather is still decent. I will keep everyone updated!