Sub 5 Mile?

Question

I am 13 and my birthday is in August. My best mile time is 5:51. How many months until I run a sub 5 mile? I run anywhere from 24-28 miles a week and I run many 5ks with a PR of 20:46.

Answer 1

5:51 is pretty good at 13.  If you train it well, I think you could realistically get under 5 in about 6-10 months.  Maybe faster if you really work at it.  Don't forget to do a fair share of 800m runs at 2:20 or faster.

Answer 2

I'm about 10 months older than you and run a 4:50, so it is definitely possible for someone your age.  if you are only doing distance work, you wont break 5.  You need to do more speed work to get a sub-5, and along with that kick up your mileage.

Answer 3

not bad times for a 13 year old. just keep up the steady training, dont expect anything too soon. Last year when I started track I was a freshman and ran a 5:16 mile, and so far my sophmore i've run a 4:42. you can improve tremendously, but i'm not sure if you'll be able to break 5 this year. thats very tough for a 13 year old, you'll def do it next year

Answer 4

4 - 6 months of hard training. That is good mileage but you have to lower your 5k time. When i was 13 I had an 18:00 5k. Then about one month after I turned 14 I ran a 4:59 mile. I kept improving and reached 4:42. It is possible in a few months but you need proper training.

Answer 5

I'm not as optimistic as the last answerer.  There is a very big difference between running a 5:51 (which IS a very good time for somebody your age) and going sub-5, and there's no guarantee you'll be able to do it until your body continues to develop, if at all.  

That said, it's not impossible by any stretch of the imagination.  Not knowing your level of training and fitness when you ran your best time it's also difficult to say how long you'd have to train to improve by 52 seconds over that distance.  

Improving your mile time means training on two fronts:  endurance and speed.  In addition to running repeats of 200m, 400m and 800m, all faster than your goal pace, you will need to build your endurance by running 7-8 miles a couple of times a week, at 7:00 pace or better.  

Times that fast are not a lark and require a lot of work, but if you take the challenge seriously, you may be able to do it.  Good luck!

Answer 6

IT DEPENTS OF YOUR ADAPTETION TO THE TRAINING.TRY TO RUN FASTER 1,2,3KM THAN  SLOW 5KM.THE RYTHM OF RUNNING MUST BE THE SAME THAN YOUR GOAL.