Taking inspiraton from XTRON who started “chart your workout” thread, this thread is intended for exchange of ideas to improve one’s personal best in running - distances from 800K, 1500M, 5000M, 10K, half marathon and marathon.
Runners of all skill levels are invited to provide input, share stories of success, and set goals near and long term for a specific distance.
My goal - run a 5K in under 20 min within a year. How to get there - looking for ideas. I will share my thoughts a bit later.
Re: Improving your personal best in running
Was browising through Runner's World while wife was doing grocery shopping
They said for any distance, establish your baseline 5K time. You can do this by entering a 5K run, run hard and see what your time is. Let us assume it is 7 min per mile (~ 21 min 50 sec for 5K)
For interval training - you can do 1 mile repetitions at say 10 sec per mile more (so 7 min 10 sec per mile)
For easy runs, add 30-45 sec/mile - so do at 7 min 38 sec/mile
For 10K race, add 10 to 20 sec/mile - so do it in say 7 min 15 sec/mile
For half marathon, add 45 sec to 1 min per mile - so do half marathon at 8 min/mile
For full marathon, add 15-20 min to your marathon times
Re: Improving your personal best in running
beginners try this for 20 mins.
stage 1 - run for 1min walk for 4mins - repeat for 5 days a week
stage 2 - run for 2mins walk for 3mins - repeat for 5 days a week
stage 3 - run for 3mins walk for 2mins- repeat for 5 days a week
stage 4 - run for 4 and walk for 1min - repeat for 5 days a week
stage 5 run for whole 20 mins, now you are officially a runner....increase distance and speed after every week adding on 1 mile or so and enjoy!!!
Re: Improving your personal best in running
southie, if you don't mind me ask, what is your current 5k PR?
Re: Improving your personal best in running
queer - many decades ago, my best was 16 min 47 sec.Never could do another sub 17 - could consistenty fo 17 min 5sec - 10sec.
My favorite distance was 1500m - PR 4 min 19 sec
What is your favorite distance and time?
Re: Improving your personal best in running
woah.. i missed this. those are some seriously awesome numbers, southie. 
much respeck!
i used to be a sprinter for my high school atheletic team, running 100m, 200m and the 4x100m. i’ve moved onto longer distances since then just to stay lean, but i have zero talent for long distance running - just your average middle of the pack runner. my 5K PR is 22:17 from a couple of years ago. i’m training for a full marathon this spring, so i guess my running goals for the year would be:
Re: Improving your personal best in running
Yukh !!!
I have impulse muscles my stamina muscles are dozy … At school I was good at sprint and I only won some long distance races because I ran fast for the first two laps to get a head start … now anymore than 400m I’m panting … really unfit …
I can’t even do the sprint anymore 
Re: Improving your personal best in running
are u talking about miles or km ? please be specific.
Re: Improving your personal best in running
@queer - sub 4 hours for marathon would be awesome. Transition from sprint to long distance is certainly not easy!
@psyah - as a runner, you know that this getting tired after 400m is only temporary. With your experiences as a runner, you should be able to slowly increase your mileage I am sure.
@jhoom, when we say 100m, 200m, 800m, 1500m, we mean meters. !0K means 10 km or 10000 meters.
Pick whatever distance you want - be it a mile, 5 km or anything above or in between.
Re: Improving your personal best in running
@ queer - a sub-22min 5K is something I will be happy with now. Last year, my best was 23 min 30 sec. So I am psyched this year to make some significant improvement. May run a tune-up 5K just to get back into the fee of things. Look forward to your posting your training schedule/race results etc.
Re: Improving your personal best in running
sounds good. this week wasnt too great. having some calf-strain issues. spent most days of the week on the elliptical and the bike, with a 4 mile tempo run and a 3 mile easy run. ended the week with a 12 miler today morning. crisp winter air, nice and sunny. right calf complained for the first 3 miles, then decided to shut up and play nice.
plan for next week - tempo run on tue or wed, 12 miler on sat. easy runs on any other days as long as calf gets to recover. elliptical as backup.
Re: Improving your personal best in running
Today i ran for half and hour straight!. I guess i ended up running 7k or so. I was all sweaty and all. Good thread Southie!
Re: Improving your personal best in running
xtron how can you run in bloody cold weather? sooo coldd heree. And are you making it up mr; 
Re: Improving your personal best in running
@queer - wish I had the discipline nowadays to log those miles. 12 mile runs should get you ready for the sub-4 hour marathon. Dont kknow what an elliptical is - have seen it being mentione din threads here - but with the 20 miles/week run, elliptical and bike, that is some serious workout each week.
Your calf seems to act up at the beginning of your runs. Last 2 years, whenener I would go to the ta=rack to time my 5K, I would pull my calf muscle aftert 10 rounds. Phys therapist said my hamstrings were weak - so gave me some exercises. You being an ex-sprinter, that may not be an issue for you.
Xtron - awesome on the 7K run. Agree with bot of you - going out on the cold can be energizing (as long as it is not extreme).
aao PQ
Re: Improving your personal best in running
Well well Queeny! It wasn’t THAAAT cold yo.
True..it wasn’t extremely cold here in Toronto so it’s all good. And my sister thinks i am crazy though.
Re: Improving your personal best in running
finally ran my first marathon today - 3:55:01. :is: training was less than ideal, suffered the last 2-3 miles pretty bad. but happy overall.
Re: Improving your personal best in running
if you just play the football, the time and distance will come. just you trust me basheereya
Re: Improving your personal best in running
Congratulations! Sub-4 by 5 minutes. That is superb. Well done!!
Re: Improving your personal best in running
I wanna start running :( I've been going to the gym for a little over a week now, my cardio routine is eh, but I just love the feeling I get when I run/sprint. Too bad I can't keep it up for more than a minute.
Re: Improving your personal best in running
You used run/sprint in the context of not being able to keep it up for more than a minute. Sprinting cannot be done for more than a minute. It is anaerobic. Jogging, on the other hand, can be done for 30 min even for beginners.
You don't want to start any run too fast. Use first five minutes to gently warm up with a gentle jog. Then you can get to a comfortable pace that you can maintain for say 20 min. Then 5 min warm down jog.
Baby steps. Soon you will be running for an hour continuis in 3 months.