So my goal for the upcoming cross country season is a 16:15 5k. The other night on a track, I ran 5 x 1000 meters at race pace with a 200 meter jog in between. My times for the 1000s were in order, 3:13, 3:15, 3:11, 3:14, 3:14. That adds up to about a 16:10 5k, so my question is this a good indicator of where I could be in three months or is there another workout that could give me more of an indication?
well running a 5k would seem like a good indicator or maybe 50x100m repeats would work too? Hey why not 25x200m too?
If you were serious you wouldnt be doing a track workout right now during your summer building session, speed comes after the base.
typical letsrun bullshit. Nothing over 5:00 pace is speed.
Okay thanks for the advice. I dont see why you would bother posting if your going to say that, but hey whatever.
I do one track workout a week to help with my speed the rest is summer building. I would also think that if one was serious about their training they would see where they are going into the season.
run a 5000 about 2 secs per lap slower than goal pace.
So for your 16:15-20 you should be able to run and evenly pace 16:40 without too much strain.This will count as a great tuneup type workout.It will also tell you where you are at.
btw
I ran the above type workout in 17:14 then raced a 16:45.Both were on a track.
btw+
Good Luck!
A month ago I ran 5 x 1000 in 3:20, 3:20, 3:20, 3:19, 3:16 with 90 seconds recovery. A couple weeks later I ran 16:39. It was a fairly good indicator for me. I think in three months you may be closer to 16 flat based on your current workout.
I also like a 2 mile time trial. Alone at a track I can crank out 2 miles and I find that on race day this is about the pace I can run the 5K.
Not a good workout this time of year. Your focus should be on threshold/tempos and fartleks. For maintaining speed, use shorter, faster reps with full recovery - not 5k race pace, but rather 1500 and 800 race pace.
If you want to keep in touch with 5k race pace, use shorter intervals like 400's. 1000's are probably too stressful right now and will leave you too tired to put in the maximum number of miles possible and you may bring some residual fatigue into your tempo run days.
I would say 16:48-17:00 are well within the realm of possibility based on that workout.
figure out what the pace is for a 5k in 16:15, then run a 2 mile time trial at that pace - no kicking. if you can run this solo, then you should be albe to do it in a race.
5 x 1000 meters during the summer ... i'd rather you be doing a 5 mile tempo run in 29:00 - 30:00 rather than repeats thousands.
If you can do that workout, then you should be able to run 16:10-16:15 in a race, right now.