I just finished my 8th track grade season, and I am currently on my break week. My mileage over track ranged from 35-45 miles per week, and I did not train last summer.
I plan on starting off with a large amount of base mileage and some tempo runs.
Does anyone have any advice as to what I should do to be able to run a fast 5k?
PR 5k in 8th grade was a 17:47, but I only did it once, rest of the time was freshman races and middle school meets.
mile Pr = 4:55, 2m = 10:45, 800 = 2:13
My mile PR is better than yours and I ran 13 miles a week I ran 4:49 for the mile
Good for you, that really impressive based on that mileage. Good luck in your high school season when you can up the mileage and hopefully see some large improvement.
35-45 is high for an 8th grader, especially during track. I would talk to your high school coach to see what their summer program is. See what mileage he recommends for incoming freshman. Stick to his recommendations and just get used to consistent mileage.
Congrats on a really good 8th grade track season. Even bigger congrats on being excited about the future and the process of putting in the work to get faster - hold onto it, the biggest gains to be had are in the long term and require consistent work. If you make sure you're enjoying the process, you'll keep putting in the work and reap the rewards.
As for this summer:
1. Run "a lot" - Don't stress about particular numbers, but make sure that your total training feels appropriately challenging yet sustainable. Try to avoid big jumps, but make incremental increases, like adding 5 minutes to a few of your runs in a week, then doing the same things a few weeks later.
2. If I were you, I would try to do 2 "workouts" per week, but keep these different in nature from what you would do in-season. Keep the intensity lower. You will have a full XC season of racing and workouts that are in the neighborhood of race-pace. Use the offseason to touch on paces and effort levels that benefit your fitness, but you are less likely to hit during the season. Tempo runs/reps are great. So are progression runs or fartleks where the offs aren't particularly slow.
3. Work on your neuro-muscular strength/activation/speed/mechanics. Find a routine of drills that you like, and do them a couple times per week. Find a core/resistance routine that you like, and do it once or twice per week. Do some very short, all-out, alactic (no lactic acid buildup) flat sprints like Flying 30's and steep 8-10 second hill sprints with full recovery. In fact, a set of 4-6 of each of those within every 2 week period would be great.
pizzaaparty34D wrote:
I just finished my 8th track grade season, and I am currently on my break week. My mileage over track ranged from 35-45 miles per week, and I did not train last summer.
I plan on starting off with a large amount of base mileage and some tempo runs.
Does anyone have any advice as to what I should do to be able to run a fast 5k?
PR 5k in 8th grade was a 17:47, but I only did it once, rest of the time was freshman races and middle school meets.
mile Pr = 4:55, 2m = 10:45, 800 = 2:13
Look up Gerry Lindgrens training. It gives you a pretty good idea of what you should do this summer.