Why can’t I break 5 minutes in the mile???

No offense, but it's because your speed sucks. You won't be running sub 5 with PRs of 67/2:23.

Drop that to a 64/2:17 and the sub 5 mile will come.

Could you please give me some advice on how to improve my speed? I mean obviously more strides and speed work but my coach pretty much controls my training Monday-Friday. We only do strides before our weekly track workout and before meets. Anything else that will help? I’m willing to do what it takes and will get there by any means necessary.

Hi.

Very slow 400 and 800 meters...

You should work on your speed and specific endurance for mile race.

For 1 mile I would recommend something like 2 sets of 5 x 300 or 2-3 sets of 4 x 400 m (goal pace).

Seems that your aerobic base is good enough.

How fast do you run 10 k ?

Also you do not need 5-6 times core workouts, 1-2 times is enough.

Write down please 2-3 weeks of your training.

Alright, I’m in high school so I cannot add my own track workouts, I must do as my coach says. He usually has do track workouts on mondays. We do 8x600, 6x800, 3xmile, or 12x400. I usually average around 2:40 for the 800s and average 75 for the 400s.

Last week we didn’t do any workouts because my coach wanted us to taper for indoor conference. I only ran about 40 miles last week in all easy runs, the 1600m race, and my 12 mile LR on Saturday.

The week before went like this:

Monday: 10x400m @ indoor track (average 74 sec per 400), total mileage = 6 mi

Tuesday: 5 mi recovery @ 7:02 pace

Wednesday: 5.7 mi easy run + 3 mi morning shakeout

Thursday: pre meet + strides, total mileage = 3.3

Friday: meet day, 1600m race, total mileage = 3.5

Saturday: 12 mile long run @ 7:02 pace (Miles 5-10 were pickup to sub 7)

Sunday: 4 miles recovery @ 7:42 pace

Total mileage = 43.5 miles

Week of 2/25-3/3:

Monday: 8 mile fartlek, pickups to 6:00 pace, averaged 6:28/mi

Tuesday: 5.3 mile recovery @ 7:13 pace

Wednesday: 3 mi pre meet+ strides + 3.3 mile morning shakeout

Thursday: meet day, 3200m race (ran 10:41) total mileage= 4.8 mi

Friday: 6.2 mi recovery @ 7:13 pace

Saturday: 12.1 mile long run @ 7:08 pace

Sunday: 4.3 mi recovery @ 7:38/mi

Total mileage: 47.1 miles

Your recovery run definitely cannot be 7:00-7:15 per mile.

I am in a better shape than you and my easy runs mostly at 8 min pace and sometimes slower.

No matter at what pace you do your easy and recovery runs. It might be in range of 65-70% of maxHR.

How fast do you run 10 k, 15 k or HM?

How long recovery between 400 m repetitions ? Between 800 m ?

3 x mile ... Pace and recovery ?

800s is equivalent recovery and 400s is 2 min recovery

12 x 400 at 75 with 2 min recovery is a strange session.

You should do something like 2 - 3 sets of 4 x 400 with 1 min rest to run sub 5

When I was able to run sub 4:50 I did 10 x 400 with 1 min rest at 71-72 and that was very demanding

6 x 800 at 2:40 with 2:40 of rest - too much of rest, in my opinion, you have to try to hold 2 mins between, at first that will be

tough, but you will teach your body to run faster

Anyway, you follow your coach's program.

Also check out these videos, that should help you

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dn1307VkGn8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=veAQ73OJdwY

Train smart and good luck to crack 5 min barrier !

I'd suggest adding some muscle to your frame. 5'8.5 should be closer to 130 ibs. This should help your top end speed too. Also, focus on the 10k for a season, than come back to the mile after building up your strength.

One thing I’d advise for speed is maybe once a week in the morning of maybe an easy day, warmup, and do something like 5 ~60m sprints (full out) with long(>3m) recovery. This shouldn’t at all be metabolically taxing, and the short distance and long rest is to keep it from being lactic. You should be fresh when doing this, otherwise there’s not much of a point

also weights, very heavy and very low reps, I don’t like to do weights the day before a workout

You gotta get faster, not gonna happen until you get in the gym and build muscle weight and explosive power for speed, what ypu need is 13low 100m speed at the very least. What can you run for 100/200m?

Any skinny weak runner who pavement pounds and does intervals can get a mile in the 5s on just good stamina but getting into the 4s by a good amount requires both STRENGTH and stamina. Plus, even if you can dip just slightly under 5 on good cardio alone... if you arent physically strong then it is only a matter of time before you get injured racing sub 5 miles.

Stop pacing yourself like butt and you'll get it. Run a 73 for the first 400 and you'll break 5.

If your 400 pr is a 67 and you go out in a 70, you will die. Go out in a 73-75 and stay at that pace then kick on the last lap. Your speed is lacking to say the least so you have to focus on even splits and steady effort during races.

Bro, wtf? I’m in high school, our longest event is only 2 miles. I wish I was running a 10k.

Today we did 8x600m on the track and it was rough and windy. Took a day off yesterday (which I don’t normally do) and I guess I lost some of my rhythm that I had going for a month. It was very inconsistent pacing. First 2 were 1:56, 3rd was 2:02 because I went out too slow and got boxed in, then I averaged 1:56-1:59 for the rest. The rest was 2 minutes with double rest after the 4th rep. Some guys who are slower than me were running faster than me in this workout, and although I was tired after the last one. My legs felt fine in the cooldown, and I actually ran the cooldown at like 6:50 pace, which was faster than I ran the warmup! It’s like my legs feel great at running slower longer distances but at faster paces they just die. Oh, also for building strength like you guys have been mentioning, should I lower my mileage down and cut out my morning doubles which I do twice a week? Or is that not necessary as long as I go hard on the weights?

As others have said, running 70 for the first lap when your PR is 67 is suicide. So pacing is problem #1. Speed is problem #2. You are probably capable of sub-5 right now but with your speed you have no margin for error. If you go out with faster guys the first lap you are going to underperform time-wise.

Better question would be how someone with such low talent for running got on a male D3 team. D3 is not bad, people run consistently around 30 min for 10k which is VERY good. You should be running for the club.