How can I drop my times in cross-country?

Question

Current P.R. is 16:30 for 5K race. Right now I run around 20 miles a week and lift weights for maybe half an hour on most days. Also trying to build muscle and/or tone it (6', 160 lbs right now). Any ideas (diet, specialized excercises, etc.)?

P.S. - Yes, I can afford to gain muscle--this last year or so I've put on muscle and still dropped my P.R.--over a minute.

Answer 1

First off 16:30 is pretty darn good. I know what you mean about wanting to improve your times. I've been working on getting sub-20 in the 5K (gotten close a few times).

You may want to bump up your mileage a bit. 20 miles, to me, seems a little light. It's a good maintaince amount, but it's not a lot. I am doing about 30 - 35 these days. In the winter, I turn it down to about 20...

Make sure you do some speed work. I've found doing 400 meters of intervals work has brought my 5K times down a lot. You may benefit by doing 800 meter to 1 mile repeats. Do some hill repeats or fartleks (speed play).

Building some muscle isn't too bad, but realize the more weight you put on, the more you'll slow up. I know what you mean, though, by wanting to put on some muscle... the runner's build isn't exactly chic.

You may want to look at plyometric exercises. They improve your speed but up your chance of injury. You can best decide if they are right for you.

Get a subscription to Runner's World or Running Times. The running times magazine is heavily geared for competitive runners. I've found it has some invaluable advice. See if you can score a bunch of back issues on ebay...

Also, check out this book:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0140469907/sr=8-1/qid=1155646401/ref=sr_1_1/102-5357621-3482505?ie=UTF8

It contains a wealth of information on racing and improving your times. I've read it and consider it fantastic.

Good luck at the races.

Answer 2

It's a 3 part process; the first part is to get your individual mile times ,1st mile 2nd mile and so on, find out the slowest mile time. Where the slowest time is, is where you need to start working for example if the 3rd mile is the slowest then run on the track or road for 2 miles, with out taking a break switch to hills, off the track. This will build endurance for the slowest mile.
Your diet should contain a lot of pasta because of the carbs, that is the secret to helping you handle the long physical strain. You also want to remember that it is 90%mental and only 10% physical. Another thing you can do is start by running up hills, and walking down repeat this for 15-20 min then go do a couple miles.
The middle mile should be tha fastest because the first couple of miles you just get warmed up dont wear yourself up, the middle mile is where you want to gain up in numbers(passing others), the last mile you will just maintain your place and move up when you can. The last should be alittle faster than the first mile

Answer 3

dont try to put on muscle. it will slow you down. just add a 25% mile and try to keep it under your best time. when you get that down add another so on and so fourth.

Answer 4

one thing i can tell you from personal experiance is never look back because supposedly it add 1 second to your time