Hello,
Hoping to get some sage ST advice. I’ve run a couple of 5k’s over the last couple of months and am developing an itch to go sub 20 minutes.
So, my times from the last 5 years being:
2006: ~31:00
2008: ~24:00
Dec 2010: 21:59
Feb 2011: 21:50
My question is, what would be a reasonable amount of time (assumming optimal training) be for basically losing 2 minutes and dropping to 19:59? We talking a couple of months of 5k specific hard training, or a year’s worth, or maybe several years? Seems like the less slow I get, my margin of improvement becomes increasingly small but I just don’t have any reference point for hedging my expections.
it’s inevitable that once you’ve picked the low-hanging fruit, the gains are smaller and harder to come by. a great start would be to head to the track and run a 4-minute 1000. you’ve got to start with the building blocks. you’ve obviously got the motor to cover 5km, so start putting together the speedwork, and learn to really nail your 4-minute pace. another thing - when i was trying to knock on the door of the 4-minute km, one thing i noticed was that i started putting down better times without getting fitter by just plain getting more experienced (pacing, clothing, diet, strategy), and by learning to tolerate more pain.
Kudos for you for focusing on the 5k for a bit in the first place. This will pay-off for you big-time down the road, believe me. Why? 5k running fitness is the building block to all successful running beyond that. Build up and train up to a great 5K time and then the world is your oyster.
Seems like the less slow I get, my margin of improvement becomes increasingly small but I just don’t have any reference point for hedging my expections.
Yep… that’s definitely how it goes. When I ran XC in high school, taking a few SECONDS off of an old PR was something to celebrate. But like you said, it means you’re getting “less slow” … which is the right direction!
Keep up your hard work. Maybe throw in some new workouts, hit a track, etc. It’s definitely doable!
Hit the track or work some pickups/speed intervals into your regular runs. Proper pacing during the race itself is also key since it is a hard effort throughout, you can easily kill your race by taking the first mile too hard and have nothing left for the last one.
EXACTLY ditto what fleck said. you can’t run a 40-minute 10k without a 20-minute fiver, first. and on and on. too many people get caught up in doing a marathon or something, but there’s something great about aiming to be faster at the shorter stuff. plus i’m sure you’ve noticed that the training’s more pleasant. 20 minutes of speedwork beats the hell out of a 20-mile long run any day of the week, and it doesn’t cut your sunday in half either. . .
it would depend in part on your training so far. If you have never done any kind of threshold training, you could be there in a few months, perhaps 2. Don’t lose the long runs, add some hills (6-8- x2-3 min hill), and some threshold stuff (eg, 6x800 at 5k pace with 2 min rests). And enjoy. the 5k is a blast. Long enough to really hurt, but short enough to not hurt for very long.
Not sure about the shots about your weight. Unless the OP know things that are not in your post.
In a year I went from 22:53 to 18:36. Albeit I did the 22:53 off little/no running.
Consistency (run 4+ times a week, every week).
Do some (not too many just yet as you will probably risk injury) speedwork, do it at goal pace like 800m/1k intervals teach your body what its like to run at sub 4min pace.
Lose weight (I am and always have been light, but had to do some running in a 4kg backpack, the difference is epic!).
Enter quite a lot of 5k’s, you can recover from them quickly, they give you motivation to train and it gives you a chance to break your PB.
Good luck! In my first season in Triathlons I thought that it would be impossible for me to run a sub 20min 5k.
I was in your 21/22 range forever. Then at one race (I was probably 34 then) my GF at the time bet me $100 I couldn’t go sub-20. My first mile was 5:15 and it was everything not to black out for the rest of the race. I hit 19:44. Took her out to dinner that night on her $100!! From then on, breaking 20 wasn’t that difficult, but I wanted to break 19 after a few years of stagnation at 19:xx. In 2003 at 47 yo, I signed up for a 5k and that morning I was pissed that I couldn’t find a parking spot and I was late… just fuming. I decided, I was going to run this as fast as I could and if my legs fell out from under me, so be it. I didn’t care. I ended up getting 3rd and did an 18:12. I’ve done a couple more sub 19’s, but now my back is such a mess I can’t push it like that anymore. I’m back in the 21 range these days (unless I get really pissed.)
All I’m saying is you probably already have it in you, you just need the right 'tude to get through the threshold.
According to Daniels, moving 5 values would put you at 30 weeks. I guess this all depends on how much training you’re doing currently and your training plan. As always I assume the results will vary.
Enter quite a lot of 5k’s, you can recover from them quickly, they give you motivation to train and it gives you a chance to break your PB.
It seems like each time I run a 5k, my easy training pace seems to get faster.
you’ve gotten some good advice so far… so here’s my 2 cents.
Run fast at least once a week, preferably twice. This dosen’t have to be all out killer track sessions, I do 10 X 90sec repeats w/ 90 recovery @ 5k pace or faster one day, recovery run or bike/swim the next day, then a tempo run on the third.
Keep the long runs.
Consistency is everything. Don’t go more than 2 days without running.
These three basic rules have gotten me to 18:30. It may take time, but be patient, it is worth it to be one of the “fast guys” in a race.
I didn’t know what I was doing - ‘just go fast’ was in my head! But yeah it was an out-and-back with about a mile of downhill to start which means… you got it!
In your 3 & 4 mi tempo runs, spend about .25 of every one of those miles at 30sec under your race pace (should hurt) and then slow it down to 30sec over your race pace (should hurt less) for the rest of the mile. TM is preferable. Don’t do this more than once or twice a week.
Hello,
Hoping to get some sage ST advice. I’ve run a couple of 5k’s over the last couple of months and am developing an itch to go sub 20 minutes.
So, my times from the last 5 years being:
2006: ~31:00
2008: ~24:00
Dec 2010: 21:59
Feb 2011: 21:50
My question is, what would be a reasonable amount of time (assumming optimal training) be for basically losing 2 minutes and dropping to 19:59? We talking a couple of months of 5k specific hard training, or a year’s worth, or maybe several years? Seems like the less slow I get, my margin of improvement becomes increasingly small but I just don’t have any reference point for hedging my expections.
thanks,
eric
We need more background.
What sort of mileage/week have you put in over the last couple of years?
How many days per week are you running?
What do your “quality” workout look like? Duration? Intensity?
I was on 20:50-21:10 for a 5k for a long time.
How I did it was by focusing on my target phase: sub 4:00´min/km
I run 3-4 times a week:
8-12km @ 4:30
20-30km @ 4:45-4:50
and intervals/Fartleg:
4-6km + some warm up and cool down
I hit 19:30 in just a couple of months. Maybe I allready had the stamina to achive sub 20, and it was more of a “Mindset” thing to get my body used to the faster phase, I dont know.
My best marathon time is still 3h45min (2009), but I aim to go below 3h:30min in a couple of months.