How can I get my 5K time down by the end of the season?

Question

I am a 15 year old female, and I will be a sophomore next year. I run cross country, and I would like to get my 5K time down to under 20 minutes. My best 5K time last year was 23:08. My best mile time for track this year was 6:17, and my best 800 meter time was 2:49. I have been running everyday this summer, but I was looking for some more tips to get my time down. Thank you :)

Answer 1

23 to sub 20 minutes is a big jump, but you're only 15 so you probably have a lot of potential for improvement.

Since it's summer you want to focus on building a good base. The best way to go about this is to ask yourself where you want to be at the end of the summer and figure out how to get there from where you are now.

Assuming you want to break 20 by the end of the season,  you should put yourself in position to be running around at worst 21:45 at the beginning of the season. (After that it's up to your coach to give you the right training to knock off another 1:45). So that's a race pace of 7:00 per mile or 4:21 per 1000m for 21:45.

If your target race pace is 7 minutes per mile for the beginning of the season then you should aim to be running your training mileage at 8 minutes per mile by the end of the summer. In my opinion this is the biggest piece of the puzzle. A lot of high school runners run their mileage too slow and simply sacrifice improvement.

Depending on what type of runner you are, try to set a good target mileage for yourself too. Given your race goals, and your age, I think you should aim for 35-40 miles per week by the end of  the summer. However pay attention to how your body responds to more or less total mileage and adjust accordingly. Also if you're starting from 0, try 15 miles or less the first week, and don't increase your weekly mileage by more than 10-15% from one week to the next.

You also need to start doing some light interval training / speed work. It's up to you to pick the best workouts, but one I found really useful for training for the 5k over the summer was 6x1000m at target race pace with 2:30 recoveries. In other words, warm up, run 1000m in 4:21, jog a lap and then go right into your next 1000m, etc until you have done 6 (then cool down, etc.). Try to stay on pace as long as you can. Right now you might only be able to do one or two of the 1000m's on pace, but you will see yourself improve and when you can hit all of them then you know you're in shape to run a 21:45.

Good luck!

Answer 2

woah so i am the same age have almost the same times!!

well im hopin to break 21 minutes this year

if you get some good tips email me!

good luck!

Answer 3

run some long hilly courses. or do some interval training where u run about 30 secs faster on your mile pace for say...3-4 minutes, then back down to your normal pace for a few minutes, and keep doing that.

Answer 4

Well, based on your time progression with distance, it seems you need to work on both speed and endurance (More on speed). With your current endurance, if you can improve your 800 to 2'25" or faster, then it is possible. So, do some speed trainings like drills, full speed sprint with flying start, one leg hopping, stride, skipping and pay attention to your running form, so you will be able to run faster. But even with all that, you need to be really motivated and dedicated to achieve that kind of improvement. But, you would be able to get more from speed improvement - although you can break 20 with your current speed, but that will requires amazing endurance/stamina, which is not typical for a 15 yr old girl.

Good luck though!

Answer 5

You will have to be extremely motivated to cut your time down 3 minutes...but I believe anyone can do anything if you honestly put your mind to it....but you have to want it more than anything in the world..

First off, write down "my goal is under 20 min" on a piece of paper, and stick it on the wall next to your bed...you'll see it every morning and night, and it should motivate you to get that goal..

Next, summer training is very important. Talk to your coach and see if there are xc team training runs over the summer..if not you'll need to run on your own, and he/she should write up a workout routine that you can follow

Stretch everyday! It decreases injury risk and helps with flexibilty...something most long distance runners really need to work on..

In most towns and cities, there are some kind of competitive runs that you should partiipate in, so you can compete competitively in. It will help with your times, and your motivation.

Good luck girlie going into your soph year....