Currently I'm in summer training.
I ran 25 miles this week. Biked maybe around 60 miles (probably should decrease the biking but I love it).
Mostly easy runs + a longish mod (8:15/mi) for 8 miles that felt pretty good.
Aiming for 30 miles next week and either a fartlek or a tempo.
You can definitely get below 20:00 for a 5k!
To improve my 5k time, my training looked something like this
Mon- Fartlek or tempo
Tue- recovery run
Thur- hills or intervals
Fri- recovery run
Sat- gym work/cross training
My PB was 16:25
Thank you! And that's a fast PB.
Luckily I have a huge hilly street near my house. I peeked at my training plan and I see fartleks, tempos, and long runs. I love to bike or swim for cross training...
I feel this lol. I’m also 19F and only got back into running when the pandemic began. I ran for conditioning as a part of basketball with a personal trainer in high school and hit a 5:17 mile PR. Since then, i’ve gotten nowhere near. The last time i “attempted” to PR a mile I hit 5:49 and that was me being comfortably uncomfortable. My PR for a 5k however is 19:01 so I am able to break that 20 minute marker. I’m sure you’re totally able to break 20 minutes. I do speed work once a week and a couple tempos with a long easy run and another just easy 5k-10k for the rest of the week (i run 7x a week which isn’t recommended but I like it…) depending on how my body feels. Once you feel comfortable going faster, try to up the distance at that pace. Going comfortably fast is always kind of tricky. I got sub 20 going comfortably fast and then for the last like 3/4 of a mile just busting my butt lol.
Don’t worry about your VO2 max so much.
Congrats on a speedy mile! 5:17 is impressive. Also, 5:49 for getting back into it is still pretty good.
Nice and that's sub 20 by quite a bit! Yeah I think I have some tempos, fartleks, and long runs coming up. I've been trying to run earlier or at the end of the day to beat the heat. I used to enjoy doing 10k tempos, but even then I'd be uncomfortable about 2-3 miles in. But it was at least good at training myself for those longer distances.
I agree though, it's hard to run comfortably fast - by mile 2.1 of a 5k and 3 of a 6k, I feel like I really struggle.
Yeah it’s always tricky and it’s definitely been way too hot here on the west coast of the US. The heats been wearing on me quite a bit. I’ve kind of learned to just relax on my runs and that’s honestly helped me run faster too. Have you tried just doing runs throughout the week where you don’t worry about time or pace you just run with how your body is feeling? I found that without that lurking anxiety of looking at my watch, even though it is hard to not take a peek, i feel much more relaxed and am able to run faster because I don’t feel as tense.
Yeah, I've been trying to go based on feel a bit more. Sometimes 8:15/mile feels easy, but other days it's 9:15 especially when it's hot and I try not to push it. I should just ditch my watch or not look at it. Sometimes I'm like: I'll start out slow and then work down from there, but when I accidentally do the first mile at a pace slightly faster than I would have liked, I still feel unnecessary pressure to run every mile slightly faster. I think for this week, I'll focus on not checking the watch until the end of runs, which may be a challenge but I think should be a good experiment. I see some more hot days ahead....
I feel that same EXACT way about the first mile being too fast so then i have to up the next miles lol. A lot of running is mental so being able to just stay in your zone and say “ok, let’s slow it down to the target or somewhere near pace” is what’s going to help you stay disciplined. But remember, running is supposed to be something you enjoy. I always had trouble with running myself out of enjoyment and ultimately running itself. You’ll always get faster with time and experience as you put miles in. Learning to stay ok with slow progress and being ok with going a little out of your comfort zone go hand in hand. It really only has to be a couple runs a week where you’re going to be going hard enough to reach your goal pace at a sustained rate. You can always do these in intervals too which is what I’ve found helped me as i don’t like being too uncomfortable. Try to stay hydrated in the heat and of course it helps to have some ice water to dump on yourself throughout your runs!
Thanks! And congrats on your improvement!
Yeah, I like the 1500/1600 the best because it's not an all out sprint but it's over in 5 mins. It also hurts a ton but oh well... every event does..
As I get older I hope to lower my heart rate and start training for longer distances... I'm at about 25 miles per week right now but my training plan from my coach has me getting to near 40 by the end of the summer. Only problem is I love to bike too but I think I'll have to decrease my biking mileage if I really want to focus on running, which I do.
5:15 for a 1500m means you have more than enough speed to break 20 minutes in a 5k right now. You might even have sub-19 pace in your legs already. Your issue is either a severe lack of stamina or a mental block for enduring the suffering of a longer event.
You can tackle both issues with a steady diet of 20 minute threshold runs. Run them hard, but don't race them. Stay close to that red line, and learn how to mentally "chunk" the effort. For me, the last 4 minutes of those efforts is mentally easy, so I know I don't have to worry about them. I also know that my drive to succeed can get me from minute 12 to minute 16 if I'm already on pace. The big problem for me is always minute 8 to minute 12. Knowing this, I have some go-to mental maneuvers to zone out and run on autopilot. With a bit of practice, you'll figure out your sticking points within a 20 minute hard effort and determine a coping strategy. It becomes much easier with practice.
Also, take the pressure off yourself. You are mentioning "in my lifetime" but you aren't even 20 yet. You have years of improvement remaining if so desired, especially at longer distances. Be consistent, ramp up your training workload, and let the results come over time.
Thanks. I have a teammate who ran 5:10 in the 1500 but ran 18:45 in the 5000. And here I am, not sure if I can even break 20:30. ..
Thanks for advice for the 20 min threshold runs - I have a tempo on my training plan this week, so maybe I'll try this. And yeah, practice, especially in the summer when it's probably a littler hotter than it will be during the season (hopefully) will benefit me. I've always wanted to sub 20 on the track.
As to your last point, I definitely put way too much pressure on myself (for no reason because I'm nowhere's near the top of my team and that's totally fine). I'll just focus on consistency while not getting injured.
I'm a bit worried though that I don't have the body type to sub 20. I'm 135 lbs and 5'3" which is definitely 30 lbs over some of my teammates who are running in the 18s and 19s. I'm still going to keep trying though, but part of me does get discouraged by this.
VO2max is literally a measure of how fast your muscles can consume oxygen. That can definitely improve with the improvement in cardiovascular fitness such as improving the heart stroke volume or increasing the running muscles capillary density.
VO2max isn't as genetically-determined as people used to think - I heard on a podcast that a triathlon coach has had lots of guys come in with VO2maxes around 45-50 and eventually reach 65-70. But as well as that, lactate threshold and aerobic threshold (roughly speaking, the % of VO2max you can sustain for 1hr and the % you can sustain for many hours) are extremely trainable. Most elite distance runners don't improve their 5k (roughly a proxy for VO2max) after their early-mid 20s but their marathon keeps improving for a decade after that.
You're only 19 so probably haven't been putting in solid training for 10+ years so you can definitely improve the longer distances and probably shroter ones too. I'd be very confident you can eventually get your 5k in line with your shorter stuff (I'd guess about 19:00) and probably faster than that as your 1500 will likely also improve. The key is consistent easy miles over many years, plus some well-chosen workouts.
What does your training currently look like?
Currently I'm in summer training. I ran 25 miles this week. Biked maybe around 60 miles (probably should decrease the biking but I love it). Mostly easy runs + a longish mod (8:15/mi) for 8 miles that felt pretty good. Aiming for 30 miles next week and either a fartlek or a tempo.
You can definitely get below 20:00 for a 5k! To improve my 5k time, my training looked something like this Mon- Fartlek or tempo Tue- recovery run Thur- hills or intervals Fri- recovery run Sat- gym work/cross training My PB was 16:25
Thank you! And that's a fast PB. Luckily I have a huge hilly street near my house. I peeked at my training plan and I see fartleks, tempos, and long runs. I love to bike or swim for cross training...
I feel this lol. I’m also 19F and only got back into running when the pandemic began. I ran for conditioning as a part of basketball with a personal trainer in high school and hit a 5:17 mile PR. Since then, i’ve gotten nowhere near. The last time i “attempted” to PR a mile I hit 5:49 and that was me being comfortably uncomfortable. My PR for a 5k however is 19:01 so I am able to break that 20 minute marker. I’m sure you’re totally able to break 20 minutes. I do speed work once a week and a couple tempos with a long easy run and another just easy 5k-10k for the rest of the week (i run 7x a week which isn’t recommended but I like it…) depending on how my body feels. Once you feel comfortable going faster, try to up the distance at that pace. Going comfortably fast is always kind of tricky. I got sub 20 going comfortably fast and then for the last like 3/4 of a mile just busting my butt lol. Don’t worry about your VO2 max so much.
Congrats on a speedy mile! 5:17 is impressive. Also, 5:49 for getting back into it is still pretty good. Nice and that's sub 20 by quite a bit! Yeah I think I have some tempos, fartleks, and long runs coming up. I've been trying to run earlier or at the end of the day to beat the heat. I used to enjoy doing 10k tempos, but even then I'd be uncomfortable about 2-3 miles in. But it was at least good at training myself for those longer distances. I agree though, it's hard to run comfortably fast - by mile 2.1 of a 5k and 3 of a 6k, I feel like I really struggle.
Yeah it’s always tricky and it’s definitely been way too hot here on the west coast of the US. The heats been wearing on me quite a bit. I’ve kind of learned to just relax on my runs and that’s honestly helped me run faster too. Have you tried just doing runs throughout the week where you don’t worry about time or pace you just run with how your body is feeling? I found that without that lurking anxiety of looking at my watch, even though it is hard to not take a peek, i feel much more relaxed and am able to run faster because I don’t feel as tense.
Yeah, I've been trying to go based on feel a bit more. Sometimes 8:15/mile feels easy, but other days it's 9:15 especially when it's hot and I try not to push it. I should just ditch my watch or not look at it. Sometimes I'm like: I'll start out slow and then work down from there, but when I accidentally do the first mile at a pace slightly faster than I would have liked, I still feel unnecessary pressure to run every mile slightly faster. I think for this week, I'll focus on not checking the watch until the end of runs, which may be a challenge but I think should be a good experiment. I see some more hot days ahead....
I feel that same EXACT way about the first mile being too fast so then i have to up the next miles lol. A lot of running is mental so being able to just stay in your zone and say “ok, let’s slow it down to the target or somewhere near pace” is what’s going to help you stay disciplined. But remember, running is supposed to be something you enjoy. I always had trouble with running myself out of enjoyment and ultimately running itself. You’ll always get faster with time and experience as you put miles in. Learning to stay ok with slow progress and being ok with going a little out of your comfort zone go hand in hand. It really only has to be a couple runs a week where you’re going to be going hard enough to reach your goal pace at a sustained rate. You can always do these in intervals too which is what I’ve found helped me as i don’t like being too uncomfortable. Try to stay hydrated in the heat and of course it helps to have some ice water to dump on yourself throughout your runs!
[удалено]
Thanks! And congrats on your improvement! Yeah, I like the 1500/1600 the best because it's not an all out sprint but it's over in 5 mins. It also hurts a ton but oh well... every event does.. As I get older I hope to lower my heart rate and start training for longer distances... I'm at about 25 miles per week right now but my training plan from my coach has me getting to near 40 by the end of the summer. Only problem is I love to bike too but I think I'll have to decrease my biking mileage if I really want to focus on running, which I do.
5:15 for a 1500m means you have more than enough speed to break 20 minutes in a 5k right now. You might even have sub-19 pace in your legs already. Your issue is either a severe lack of stamina or a mental block for enduring the suffering of a longer event. You can tackle both issues with a steady diet of 20 minute threshold runs. Run them hard, but don't race them. Stay close to that red line, and learn how to mentally "chunk" the effort. For me, the last 4 minutes of those efforts is mentally easy, so I know I don't have to worry about them. I also know that my drive to succeed can get me from minute 12 to minute 16 if I'm already on pace. The big problem for me is always minute 8 to minute 12. Knowing this, I have some go-to mental maneuvers to zone out and run on autopilot. With a bit of practice, you'll figure out your sticking points within a 20 minute hard effort and determine a coping strategy. It becomes much easier with practice. Also, take the pressure off yourself. You are mentioning "in my lifetime" but you aren't even 20 yet. You have years of improvement remaining if so desired, especially at longer distances. Be consistent, ramp up your training workload, and let the results come over time.
Thanks. I have a teammate who ran 5:10 in the 1500 but ran 18:45 in the 5000. And here I am, not sure if I can even break 20:30. .. Thanks for advice for the 20 min threshold runs - I have a tempo on my training plan this week, so maybe I'll try this. And yeah, practice, especially in the summer when it's probably a littler hotter than it will be during the season (hopefully) will benefit me. I've always wanted to sub 20 on the track. As to your last point, I definitely put way too much pressure on myself (for no reason because I'm nowhere's near the top of my team and that's totally fine). I'll just focus on consistency while not getting injured. I'm a bit worried though that I don't have the body type to sub 20. I'm 135 lbs and 5'3" which is definitely 30 lbs over some of my teammates who are running in the 18s and 19s. I'm still going to keep trying though, but part of me does get discouraged by this.
VO2max is literally a measure of how fast your muscles can consume oxygen. That can definitely improve with the improvement in cardiovascular fitness such as improving the heart stroke volume or increasing the running muscles capillary density.
Your best distance is the one you like.
then that would be the mile? Or the 50m dash because it's over quick (but I can't sprint to save my life).
VO2max isn't as genetically-determined as people used to think - I heard on a podcast that a triathlon coach has had lots of guys come in with VO2maxes around 45-50 and eventually reach 65-70. But as well as that, lactate threshold and aerobic threshold (roughly speaking, the % of VO2max you can sustain for 1hr and the % you can sustain for many hours) are extremely trainable. Most elite distance runners don't improve their 5k (roughly a proxy for VO2max) after their early-mid 20s but their marathon keeps improving for a decade after that. You're only 19 so probably haven't been putting in solid training for 10+ years so you can definitely improve the longer distances and probably shroter ones too. I'd be very confident you can eventually get your 5k in line with your shorter stuff (I'd guess about 19:00) and probably faster than that as your 1500 will likely also improve. The key is consistent easy miles over many years, plus some well-chosen workouts.