In article said:In article <[email hidden]>,
[email hidden] wrote:
Quoted message said:Quoted message said:My only race so far is a half marathon in 1:42. My
immediate goal is to achieve a sub 20 5k in 6 weeks.
Quoted message said:That's quite a gap -- a 1:42 HM is as good as a 22 minute
5k. But the half marathon might not reflect your ability,
so it could still be doable.
Heh, you've got to have goals. They might not be
achievable, but...
Quoted message said:Six weeks isn't really long enough to do serious
preparation for a race. 3-6 months would be better. At
best, you'll be able to get in some sharpening work before
the race to boost your speed a little.
Let's hope so.
Quoted message said:Quoted message said:Given the above, does anyone have any advice about the
sort of training I should do, what my potential might be
and how I should go about achieving it?
Quoted message said:Not really. Your VO2 max is high, but that doesn't tell us
anything about how you'll respond to training. Your half
marathon time seems to indicate that a sub 20 goal in 6
weeks is near impossible, but then the half marathon may
not be a very good indicator of your ability, and if
you're relatively new to this, rapid progress may be
possible.
Quoted message said:A brief description of the training that you have been
doing over the last 6 months would be helpful.
Quoted message said:For example:
(1) What is your average milage over the last week ? last
month ? last 6 months ?
(2) What sort of speed work have you been doing, if any ?
How often ? For how long ?
Ok, this is my running career in a nutshell:
I'm 38. Been running on and off for years, but typically
only a couple of times a week for a few months of the year.
Never enterered or even though about any races, until: This
year, Jan 5, weight 76+kg, body fat 25% (sorry mcelroy), I
decided it was about time I got back into condition. Feb 29
10.9 mile multi-terrain race 1:39, 34th percentile, 66.7kg,
16%bf Apr 25, 1/2M 1:42, 28th percentile, 65.7kg, 14.5%bf
Although I do have every run logged, it's in so many
different places that it's not easily summarised. Typically
though, I've done 3-4 runs per week for 20-35 miles since
the beginning of the year, and I also play squash 2-3 times
per week. For the half marathon I did 4 speed interval
sessions of 4x800 or 3x1600 meters. Mileage for the last two
weeks is 37 and 22.
So I realise I need to do a lot of speed work and am
starting now. Today I did 6 x 400m at approx 90s/400m (GPS)
in a 10 mile run.
Paul