I wanna run 5km

[00Snitch]

I work with a bunch of 40+ years olds, one dude over 50, I'm 23. Alot of them are runners, they can all (including one lady mid 40s and the over 50 guy) do 5km in around 25 mins (ranges from 25-27). So today, I thought "eff this! If old dudes can do that shizzle, so can I!".

So for possibly the first time in my life I ran 5km today. It took me about 32min 44sec.

My thoughts are:
-I plan on doing a 2km/5km/2km/5km on mon/tue/wed/thu and probably not on the weekends, although i play some social sport on the weekends. (touch football, indoor soccer and cricket)
-How long should it take me to get my time down to around 25mins, considering I am:
-Male, 23, 182cm, 78kg
-My gf has an electronic scale at home that tells me I am ~23% fat and ~57% water something
- I smoke on the weekends, about a pack of 20 over the weekend
- I drink a fair bit on the weekends. mostly beer. in a standard night, i might go through ten 375ml full strength (~5%) beers.

My eventual goal is 20 minutes. Doable?

Any other advice?

I never even knew there was a 2p2 gym forum til about 10 minutes ago, awsome

[Reef]

asfjasldjfasljfal ... just say 3.125 miles.

--
I was playing tennis in high school 3-5x a week for and running 2-3x a week (4-5 miles) to be able to do a 20min 3 mile. Doable? well ya.. but you're going to have to run everyday for a period of months and probably cut down on smoking.

[Queensgrad]

I did a similar thing last summer. Obviously, Quit smoking. I ran it like an interval, since I was used to playing sports which are more exertion with periods of rest than a straight long exertion. I would run medium-hard for 4 min, walk 1 min, rinse and repeat. I tried to run 5km 2x / week until i made my goal time, then i tried to do a 9/1 run/walk to start, then 4/1 the rest of the way. After 2 months I ran it in 22 min with 2 x1 min walks in there. (My starting point was 4km in 35 min, and near death).

[nyc999]

Getting down to 25 minutes is very doable with training. 25-->20 minutes will be difficult as this is where natural ability starts to come into play.

I wouldn't run Monday-Thursday and take off weekends. You're better off running 2-3 days on, 1 off. At this point, work on endurance. Build up to 5-6 miles (8K-10K) and it's possible to reach your goal within a few months. However, this isn't taking into account drinking/smoking, that could make it harder.

To get from 25->20, you'll need to take things much more serious, including speed workouts and probably quitting smoking.

OOT has a running group through the Nike website, you should check it out.

[BreakfastBurrito]

23% body fat seems really high for someone of your height and weight. Those electronic sensors can be relatively inaccurate. I think you should be fine to get to 25 minutes in 3 months. 25 minutes is a good goal that a moderately fit person your age should be able to achieve. You haven't ran before, so you should experience quick improvement. I'd really recommend some rest in between your training days though. It's very easy to get injured as a beginner if you try to put 4 straight days in. As you start to get stronger, add some distance to your training runs.

If you're exerting yourself strongly in football and soccer, you probably don't have to worry about speed work. If those sports are really laid back though, you might want to add some interval speed work into your training once or twice a week.

You can definitely get to 20 minutes if you want it. You'll have to adopt a real training program at some point (for now just getting out and running should suffice). If you're dedicated you could probably get there inside 6 months. If you just stick with running and gradually improve on your condition and intensity of training, it's probably more like 18-24 months.

[Luke]

[ QUOTE ]
At this point, work on endurance. Build up to 5-6 miles (8K-10K) and it's possible to reach your goal within a few months.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm somewhat surprised to hear you say this. Obviously endurance is important, but in a relatively short run like a 5k, I would be concentrating a lot of my training on improving my running speed.

For example, I might go to a 1/4 mile track and interval laps between an all-out sprint and speed-walk. Doing this for a few miles can really help build running speed which you're going to need to do a 5k under 20 minutes.

[Spellmen]

[ QUOTE ]
As you start to get stronger, add some distance to your training runs.



[/ QUOTE ]

I think this is very good advice that alot of beginners don't get. If most people want to be able to run 1 or 3 miles, they practice running 1 and 3 miles. Going longer once a week will help really build your stamina, and if nothing else help you mentally get the 5k done

[BreakfastBurrito]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm somewhat surprised to hear you say this. Obviously endurance is important, but in a relatively short run like a 5k, I would be concentrating a lot of my training on improving my running speed.

[/ QUOTE ]

The 5k is an endurance event. See the breakdown for aerobic vs anaerobic component. Improving strength, form, and speed from interval workouts can definitely help, but improving aerobic capacity is by far the most important factor. There are 3 guys in my track club 41, 46, and 52 years of age who ran 18:54, 18:58 and 18:13 respectively at their last 5k race a few weeks ago, and these guys have no speed at all. They do it all on lots of moderate to mid level intensity miles.


Anaerobic % vs Aerobic %
Marathon - 1 99
10k - 3 97
5k - 6 94
3k - 12 88
1500m - 23 77
800m - 40 60
400m - 57 43

[Genesis]

[ QUOTE ]
-How long should it take me to get my time down to around 25mins

[/ QUOTE ]
Like another poster said, getting down to 25 minutes should be fairly easy. If you haven't run in a long time/ever but aren't very out of shape, I think this is very doable in 3-4 weeks, probably less. At this point it's really just about acclimating your body and mind to running for an extended period of time. Dropping from 25 to 20 minutes is when you would need to start training more seriously.

If I had a 25 minute 5k goal, I'd train every other day something like this to guarantee success:
Our goal is 3 consecutive 8 min miles basically.

Day 1 Run 2-3 miles easy
Day 2 off
Day 3 Run 1/2 mile in 3:40-3:50, walk 1-2 min, repeat 4 times.
Day 4 off
Day 5 Run 2-3 miles easy
Day 6 off
Day 7 Run 1/2 mile in 3:40-3:50, walk 1-2 min, repeat 4 times.

Repeat this cycle each week, adding 1/2 mile to the easy run and one more 1/2 mile repeat to the intervals each week. In the third week you will be running 6x1/2 mile intervals at 3:40-3:50, essentially race distance at slightly faster than goal pace. If you can do that workout the 25 min goal should be easy.

[einbert]

[ QUOTE ]
Anaerobic % vs Aerobic %
Marathon - 1 99
10k - 3 97
5k - 6 94
3k - 12 88
1500m - 23 77
800m - 40 60
400m - 57 43

[/ QUOTE ]

Very interesting and enlightening. But what is the scientific/mathematical basis behind these numbers?