Breaking5-HighSchool Project

Bruh bruh don’t sweat it, just consistently train if your training has been going well

I was so over analytical my soph year when I started taking it seriously that I overthought everything, it took me two bad seasons where I ruined my competitiveness by psyching myself out to realize that you just need to put the work in and throw yourself into the races.

You can break 5 and you will, just train well, do your strength training, sleep well, try to be mindful of the type of food you’re eating (no McDonald’s after every big workout), and most importantly let yourself know you can push through the perceived pain

Thank you for the advice, all of the questions I asked I tried to make them more general, specifically so that wouldn't happen.

ElGuerroujFan wrote:

After this, in sophmore(this) year, I actually got faster every time, finishing League Finals in 19:53! What I did was get a lot of sleep, eat pretty much lots of substantial foods, and didn´t run the day before. I recently found out that by not running the day before a race allows your blood to surge and recover fully.

I was looking at other threads and it seems like you know what you’re doing too, cool to see you try and help others as well. Keep it up!

Thank you!

Any more advice anyone, I need some help?

400 repeats help a lot, my freshman year I ran aa 5:46 and easily went sub 5 my junior year. You don't really need any talent, just a bit of hard work. I think leg speed helps a lot in the mile despite what some may say. As long as you have good training and want it, it will come.

So far I've got hard work and 400m repeats, eat good foods, strength training and get a decent amount of sleep, all very helpful.

What pace should the 400m repeats be run at before you can tell if you are ready?(What was your last workout before breaking 5?)

My last two workouts before breaking 5 for the first time my Junior year (ended up running 4:48 at districts, for my first time).

2.5 weeks out : 3x(4x400) @ 75.5 avg w/ 1 min rest between reps and 3 min between sets

1.5 week out : 2x(4x300) cutdown @ 53 - 50.5 - 50.5 - 47.5 avg

1 week out : 5k Impromptu Tempo @ 5:55

The first track workout was balls to the wall, the second wasn't that hard until the last rep of both sets. The Tempo wasn't planned, I had been doing 3x(4x300) all season and so 2 days later I guess I had a lot of energy from not doing as many as usual.

I perfectly even split that 4:48, so I'm pretty sure that's all I had in me. I was also only hitting 30 mpw since I was injured most of the winter and at Districts I only ran 18 mpw, including the races.

PR's that season :

3200 - 11:26 (Ran this two days after the above 400 workout, not fresh at all, but probably couldn't have run too much faster)

1600 - 4:48

800 - 2:15 (Never ran much, technically split 2:13 early season in a DMR, but I didn't believe my coach later because I never got that close the rest of the season, but who knows)

400 - 55.5 (Ran this every meet I could and didn't break 57 until the day after my 1600 PR when I was completely fresh)

Only use this as a reference. I had that major PR at Districts (12 seconds and my only PR of the season from a 5:00.9 my sophomore year) when I said "Screw it, I'm racing these guys, I'm not going for time". Good Luck with your season! (Also, I improved a ton once I increased my mileage, the above training isn't necessarily the best or anything to copy). Moral of the story? Just race your competitors.

Congratulations man, that sounds awsome! A 12 second PR is amazing, especially so far into your performance, and at an important meet as well! That was extremely helpful, with my three key takeaways:

1. Increase in mileage helps, perhaps in the aerobic portion of the mile. I have read that the mile is 50% or more aerobic, so maybe that is why increase in mileage affected your time.

2. Race your competitors. Interestingly, I have read this a lot when it comes to breaking 5, so it is probably important so thank you for the emphasis.

3. Tapering. It seems to me that you tapered to smaller net volume with an increase in intensity, which also is something I have seen a lot, so I will add this to the list.

Thanks again NWARunner!

I managed to squeeze under 5 in the 1600 last year (then sophomore) at regionals on nothing but soccer games/practice and the occasional easy miles/easy workout. I hit 5:01 like halfway through the season, but couldn't drop it to the 4:59. I just kept plugging away until I hit 4:59 on my last chance of the season. My advice is just don't get frustrated if you can't hit the goal, just keep going at it, and eventually everything will fall into place and you can get under 5. (Sorry I don't have any actual training advice, I only started focusing on running not soccer this past summer.)

Thank you anyway soccerxc! That was honestly inspiring! Allow me to tell you a joke:

The magician got so mad he pulled his hare out. :)

Bump. Any additional advice?

.pmuB

I just found out there is no more training until Thanksgiving break(after)...

Anything else?

I think you should be able to complete a 40x400 at 75s, so that you know you can run a sub 5 even in horrible conditions, that way, if you get to a good or even decent race, you will for sure break 5.

Right now, since you are at 5:30, start at 40x400 at 81s, do that every week and bring your time down every week. Do the cooldown.

Rob, the most 400s I've done so far is 20x400 during xc, so Idk if I should be running 40x400s but I guess its worth a try.

40 400s is insanity. i went sub 5 my freshman year and almost never did repeats (though that would probably have helped). instead, i did a tempo run of 4-7 miles almost everyday.

now that im a year older and have ran more, i would prescribe this in a week:

- a long run up to 2.5 hrs (probably way less if youre starting out)

-two 10x400s workouts throughout the week at target race pace 60sec stand recovery

- a tempo run of 4-7mi

- and easy days of ~4-8mi in between

(you can add or subtract a few miles here and there, and add some brief speedwork after easy runs and tempos. you could add strength as well).

but you dont even need to follow this schedule at all. frank shorter once said something along the lines of, "keep it simple. do a long run, two speed workouts, and easy miles inbetween."

40x400 is no no. That is 10 miles at sub 5 pace. If you somehow managed to survive that workout you would burnout in a week. Dont do that.

Don't listen to this 40x400 or tempo every day BS, you don't need that to break 5. Consistency is probably the most important thing here along with eating correctly and getting enough sleep. Take off every other Sunday, workout Monday and Wednesday(depending on schedule). Try to get a long run in every week but tbh as the season goes on and if you're focusing on the mile it's less important so don't worry if it doesn't fit. Staple workouts for breaking 5: 8-10 400's with a minute rest in between averaging mile pace (start off at around 80's maybe faster and then gradually work down til the last few are mid to high 6X's. 3x(4x300) also is a good one. On the other workout day, more aerobic stuff like a 3-4 mile tempo run, threshold workouts (3mins on 1 min off). Just stay consistent. No doubt you will achieve this. Look forward to hearing more.