Definitely possible, especially if your 20'43" was somewhat recent. My wife went sub-20 last year (she's in her early-30s) and doesn't come from a running background. She ran 23'13" for 5K in 2011. For her, it was mostly a matter of more mileage. She doesn't do much tempo or speed work.

Yeah 20:43 was two years ago, but I had a pregnancy and a baby after and I am just getting back into things. When you say more mileage, what kind of weekly average are you talking about?

What did you do with your 20:43? Try adding 10

I'm female, and started running at age 33, running my first 5K in 23 minutes (my previous sport was horse-riding, so I was generally fit, but not aerobically trained). At age 35 I broke 20 for the first time. At age 38 I ran my current PR of 19:10. I've had some injuries since then that set me back for a while, but I ran 39:56 for a 10K PR at age 41 this spring, so I'm hoping that I still can get that 5K PR a little lower before age catches up.

You have plenty of time to achieve sub-20, if you have the ability to do it.

I had no sports background whatsoever until late 30's and ran a sub 20 5k in my late 40's and I think if you already less than a minute off it is absolutely doable, probably even if you just do a few more with no different training and get lucky with a fast flat course.

Others on ST are probably better suited to advise on structure but I'll share my non-traditional strategy: Make a sub 20 minute play list on your iPod and hit play when the gun goes off and finish before the last song is over. Make sure the last song is emotionally evocative. Go out too fast and then strap on the seatbelt and hang on.

Some will say its sacrelgious to use headphones but screw them, they're not trying to hit 19 and change.

Some will say don't go out too fast, save it for the end but I say screw them, you're gonna feel like crap for the last mile anyway, may as well have some time banked because you probably won't make it up.

Lastly get pissed off about something right before the race. Or imagine the person just ahead of you just sucker punched your toddler it worse channel your inner Liam Niesen "Taken" scenario where your child has been abducted and you have 19 minutes to go 3 miles or they....you know

---

“Bloom wherever you are planted"

how about someone double your age doing it?

http://www.nytimes.com/...gh-records.html?_r=0

There's only one way to find out and that's to train for it and see what happens. Go for it and report back and let us know!

Also just to calibrate, I have a friend who is in her 30s who recently ran a 5k in 16 minutes flat, and she hadn't really been training for running until about a year or two ago, and 5k isn't a distance she runs very often. While she is obviously exceptional, 20 is attainable by a fair number of people with some training, and no reason you can't do it in your 30s.

Considering that 16 flat would win almost any road 5K in the country, yeah, I'd say she's sort of exceptional.

To the OP, FYI, 19:45 is the USATF all-American standard for 30+ year old women. So, it's a pretty good goal to shoot for.

Definitely possible. My mom ran her first sub-20 5k in her late forties and ran at least one sub-20 in her early fifties. She was a hobby jogger for years, but didn't start racing until her forties.

Her training program consisted of about 4 runs, 2 swims and a few rides per week, although her focus was always running, not triathlon. Usually two runs were hard track workouts, one was a tempo and/or hills, and one was steady. Never more than 40 km per week and her longest run peaked at 12-15 km.

Good luck!

---

CodyBeals.com | Instagram | TikTok
ASICS | Ventum | Martin's | HED | VARLO | Shimano | 4iiii | Keystone Communications

Looks like you picked at least one of your parents well for their genetic contribution;)

---

Genetics load the gun, lifestyle pulls the trigger.

this seems soft. where did you get this from?

x2

Women's Masters 5K standard for 40-44 is 18:15. 45-49 is 19:05. It doesn't jump above 19:45 until 50-54 at 20:15

http://www.usatf.org/...rmanceguidelines.asp

---

"Just don’t abandon everything you’ve ever learned because of something someone said on the internet." - Eric McGinnis

Those are the performance guidelines, which make one eligible for national year end awards. The All-American standards are posted here:

http://www.nationalmastersnews.com/aas/AAS_TF_WOMEN.pdf

The road racing standards can be found here, but masters doesn't start for road racing until age 40:

http://www.nationalmastersnews.com/aas/AAS_RR_WOMEN.pdf

My wife does it regularly... never did before but does it now no problem. That's after 2 kids.

A 95 year old woman needs 2:13 5k to qualifier? What is that, 44 minutes per mile? Can you use a walker?