Sub 20 minute 5k (Page 2)

I got a 19:45 in a 5k this morning- my first time breaking the 20-minute barrier. I went out a little fast (6:07 for the 1st mile), then settled into a more reasonable pace. I've been building up mileage, currently up to 20-25 mpw, with some tempo runs and hills here and there (no more than 1x per week). Just thought I'd brag share.

While it's true that a lucky minority will be able to so sub-20 and even sub-18 on <25 mpw or even <10 mpw, the prescription for success for most runners trying to push to the next level is - more miles + a good intermittent speedwork session.

Note that you generally should NOT be trying to run all your workouts as speedwork sessions. You'll increase your chance of injury and likely not improve all that much after the first early gains are made.

If you're still fairly new to running or speedwork, you'll gain a LOT in terms of VO2/lactate in the first few months of running. But after that, VO2/Lactate gains are small, and you start relying on largely endurance-based effects, which are trained best with long distance runs and more overall miles.  So if you've been running diligently with good speedwork for about 3-4 months, and are hitting a 'ceiling', odds are that doing a lot more speedwork will NOT significantly improve your performance. Running a lot more 'easier' miles will, though.

This happened to me - I plateaued at 20:10-20:30ish for nearly 10 years after running HS x-country at 35mpw max. I did 2, even 3 hard speed sessions per week trying to cram the "quality" in, but I clearly was maxxed at that level.

Changed focus completely 2-3 years ago, and trained specifically for the marathon, and ignored the 5k/10k. Overall mileage ramped up to 70-80 mpw, but speed sessions were kept constant at once per week, and only a slight increase in speedwork volume.

I crushed my 10-year old 5k PR in my first attempt after a tough 18 week marathon training cycle. Not only did I beat 20:00, I completely SKIPPED the 19:xx mark, and dropped to 18:50s. It was horrifyingly awesome to see how incredible my improvement was with the volume spike - I hard a hard time believing 19:xx was physically possible for myself after the 15 year plateau, and I had to race 2 more 5ks to verify that I was indeed running that fast.

This type of training effect is well documented, and not a surprised to most serious runners - it explains why high level 5k runners usually run 70ish+ miles per week. Actually, 70mpw is considered on the low end for MILERS - and those guys are predominantly speed guys. Clearly, volume is considered a critical component for performance at the 5k distance. 

I could be interested in this challenge. My standalone 5k PR is a 23:31 and my sprint tri 5k is a 24:01. So yeah, I need some improvement for sure.

As a 5K lover I just have to jump in.

Yesterday I ran a 23:20 5K that is actually rumored to be a little long with running less than 10 miles a week most of the summer.  (Trust me, I was shocked - was expecting more like 25:00 since I haven't been training.)  I hope to be able to run under 20 someday but am just not sure if it's possible, especially being 32 as of today.  It's only my second year of running, so I haven't really found out what I'm capable of yet.

For me, the most important workouts for 5K training are 3-4 mile hard tempos.  I can do speedwork at the track no problem and long slow runs no problem.  It's the running hard for a length of time that's tough for me.

Hey, I think you'll find that you'll have a faster 5k time after the long distance building.