Many of the fastest runners you will compete against in regional races will be in the mid-30's to late-40's age brackets.

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27 isn't exactly old. Most people really don't start slowing down much until 35, and you can certainly continue to improve way beyond that age as long as your training continues to improve. Marla Runyan didn't start distance running until she was your age, and she has done just fine.

So how do you get to a 20-21 minute 5K from where you are now? Most people would start by recommending more mileage, but I see your mileage as pretty good compared to your training pace. I would go as far as to say as you would benefit from temporarily drop your mileage a bit so you can speed up your training paces.

Lets face it, 9:30-10:00 miles are a very different activity than 6:40 miles. You have developed endurance, but you have also developed the wrong running motion and to some extent the wrong muscles.

If you take a non-runner and ask them just to run, odds are they will run at 8:00 mile pace or even faster with a full running stride, but obviously only sustain this for a short period of time. Most people who take up running then learn the somewhat unnatural skill of shuffling along at 10-12 minute miles so that they can sustain it for a relatively long period of time. At the same time, they either unlearn the ability to run normally, or at the very least fail to develop it. This isn't a problem (and in fact is a good thing) for runners who want to finish races, or run for fitness. However, it becomes a liability if the runner later decides they now want to race fast.

So, intervals like you recently started doing are a good start. I also recommend once or twice a week just running a faster training run. If you might have normally run 5 miles, cut it to 3 miles and push the pace. Or do something as simple as running the last mile or two of a run at a moderate to hard pace. As I mentioned above, cutting your overall mileage to allow you to train at faster paces would be a good tradeoff at this point.

I wouldn't worry about the 6:40 miles just yet. Concentrate on getting to the point where 8:00 pace starts to feel comfortable. That is fast enough that you will have a full running motion, and it shouldn't be to imposing as you have already raced 5K's and have done a little bit of intervals around that pace.

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What are your physical stats: height, weight?

I am looking at the amount of time you spend working out and it is enormous. With that effort you should be at sub 21
1650 at least and six minute for the mile.

My advice: cut the weights completely and invest the time in running and swimming.

http://This message has been edited by sedentiary (edited Jul-09-2005).

quote:<HR>Originally posted by luckymj:
Last year, I did a 1-mile time trial at 8:30 and this year (2 months ago), it was 7:45.<HR>

How did you run your mile time trials? Were they negative splits, controlled types or just ran them as hard as you could.
Also would like more information about your tempo runs. How hard do you do them? Are they under control with the second half faster than the first half or simply hard the entire way? Megapronator is correct when he states that 9:30 to 10 minute mile pace really doesn't get you ready to race and faster training is important to achieve race goals. I've always felt that as your ability to run an aerobic mile improves, so does your ability to run further distances at a pace that would make you more competitve. Determining how you improve your aerobic mile and subsequently aerobic 2 mile, etc requires some insight into your type of talent. Should you do repeat 800s, 400s, etc. or tempo runs or both. How often do you do repeats versus tempo runs. Keep posting.

quote:<HR>Originally posted by luckymj:
http://B]The 1-mile time trials were done as hard as I could, not controlled.B<HR>

When you do something "as hard as I could", then it becomes highly anaerobc. This fine if you are 4 to 6 weeks away from a peak. But, it you are trying to improve your aerobic state, then the workouts should be under control. You also learn alot about your fitness while doing them which enables you to improve your times. Whenever I've run with a heart monitor, it was for informational only. I always do my runs by "feel".

There have been a lot of good suggestions on workouts. Notice, that nobody said to do them as fast as you can.

Right now, I am in the same position as you. I didn't run this winter, but rowed instead as an experiment. I started runnng in April and on my 4th run, the muscles in my upper body cramped and I lost 3 weeks of training. When I started again, I could only run 10:58 for the mile. Over the last 2 months, I gradually dropped my mile time by altenating controlled a mile run with a 2 mile run (different days) in addition to daily runs. I could tell by my lap times in the 2 mile runs (too slow) that I needed a set of aerobic 800s if I wanted to run under 7:00. So, I ran 4x800 meters with the last one the fastest. My next mile run was a controlled 6:58. Last Saturday, I ran a 5K race in 23:32. The first mile was extremely easy. It had to be. Then I picked up the effort and was strong at the end with a decent kick. Now I will run controlled 3 mile runs instead of 2 mile runs as I am getting faster. I have a long way to go to get back to where I was last summer, but I am very patient. Hopefully, by October, my mile time will be around 6:00-6:10. This will enable me to go through the mile under 6:30 in 5K races and do more mileage.

Hope that this helps.