SUMMER TRAINING HELP From 19:20 to 16:30 CC 5k

[fatthermit]

I am currently a junior who has done absolutely nothing in terms of running. Realizing that the upcoming year is my last I am hoping to dramatically improve. The recent track season I PRed this month at 5:05 for the mile while running about 10 miles a week, sometimes going for 4 days without running at all. Last year, as a sophomore running even less than that (around 5 miles/week) I ran 5:10. Needless to say I wished I had done more and just wanted track to end. My 2-mile PR this year was 11:40.

(we basically have no coach)

Now I am very motivated but I am wondering how far actual training can take me. I plan to run 50-60mpw during the summer in addition to swimming/weights 3 times a week. Is it even possible to get down to the 16s in CC 5k on this plan? OH yeah my PR this CC season was 19:20.

[trojanrunna]

you'd be surprised how far actual training will take you. in 8th grade i had a PR of 22:30 or something like that. freshman year i started doing like 20-25 mpw and got down to 19:30. just stay motivated, build up slowly, and have fun with it. run with a friend if you can, that makes it a lot easier.

[cmartin2k5]

Yeah, go for it, you never know what's possible until you try. Just be careful with the mileage increases...you probably don't want to increase your mileage by more than about 10-15% in any given week, but if you keep increasing it each week at about that rate, you'd be surprised how high you can get it and still stay healthy. I trained about 15-20 mpw in high school...had a 1600 PR of 4:58 doing that. My freshman year in college, I was doing about 50 mpw and dropped it to 4:34, so anything is possible. Good luck!

[M_ER_CU_RY]

RUN AS MANY MILES AS YOU CAN FROM NOW TILL XC.

start at your current peak mileage, and build up by 10-15 percent per week. Run slow. As you become fit from the mileage you will want to start running fast but DO NOT. You will just injure yourself. Only start picking up speed when you have reached the maximum amount of mileage that you wish to run. Run twice a day once you get up towards 50 a week, it will take strain off of you rather than doing one longer run a day.

RUN ON WOODCHIP TRAILS/GRASS/DIRT/SOFT. this is is the most important thing in sparing yourself from injury.

Your goal is very realistic. Good luck. Just run slower if you get sore, do not take days off, only take time off if your pain is a real injury (localized, different from sore feeling)

[RavenPride05]

MANY MANY MILES! But build up slowly. Also try doing tempo runs, and may some 2 a day runs. Hills are always good, like 10x10second hills sprints. Good luck! Its not impossible

[The Architect]

RUN ON WOODCHIP TRAILS/GRASS/DIRT/SOFT. this is is the most important thing in sparing yourself from injury.


Good advice (kinda). I would avoid running on ONLY one sort of surface. Try to mix it up. Don't avoid the roads entirely; it's tough to run a lot of miles without venturing onto the road (at least here). If you can get ~33% of your running in on a soft surface, that should be good.

It's been said, but I think the most important thing is just getting miles in. Get some time on your legs. Even if you do most of your running at 8-8:30 pace, you'll be fine so long as you get some tougher runs in there somewhere. Consistency is key, make sure you're out doing some work daily.