Sub 35 10K and sub 17 5K in a year, possible?

I'm new to the forums but currently I can run a 39 minute 10K comfortably and an 18 minute 5K. Also a a mile in at least 5:30. I want to train for a sub 35 10K and sub 17 5K in a year (50 weeks)? I do about 30 miles a week at the moment already. Is it possible? What sort of training would be best? And are there any books/resources I can use? Thank you!

Hello

First of when you say  an 18 km and 39 10k you can do  how many seconds as there is a bit of difference etween an 18:00 5k and a 18:59 (sorry if that sounds rude)

Either way looks like your 5k is your best distance compared to the rest

Vdot

That is the one i use, it could be the current training you do.

How long have you been running? What does the 30 miles consist of ? and at what intensity

I can't advice of specific training maybe someone else will as you are much faster than me.

Still its still a lot to take of in a year but like your enthusiasm

Are you a member of a club that would be good as well

Quite possibly you will need some more miles esp for the 10km (and probably the 5km)

Thanks, a 18:23 5K and 39:10 10K. The 30 miles is usually a longer 12 mile once a week, two tempo runs at 4 miles each then two fast 5 mile runs. I train with a club and we do track sessions twice a week mostly speedwork. Thanks anyway

93M
You have set a challenging target.You will need to be able to do 800m intervals in around 2mins 40 seconds and mile intervals at 5.21. It might be better to set some 'milestone' targets along the way (38,37,36, and chalk them off as you go along. This will give you some much needed lift to keep motivation going. At some stage - depending upon your potential ability - the gains are going to become smaller with each training phase.

I found Brianmac website (10K taper) very helpful in improving my 10K time by 3 minutes. His site can give advice re 5K too. Hope this helps. And BOL

http://www.brianmac.co.uk/longdist/10ktaper.htm

93M why those targets and why that timescale? What are your long term intentions? You are currently talking about dropping a lot of time from your PBs. A sub 35 10k is in a whole different league to a 39 minute 10k. I think you’d be much better off setting some more achievable shorter term goals and seeing where that gets you. I’d be looking at cracking a sub 18 5k and sub 38 10k as a short to medium term goal, then reassessing once you reach that level. Your 5k time is currently better than your 10k which isn’t surprising given your current mileage levels. The easiest way for you to improve will be to incrementally increase your mileage. Very few runners achieve sub 35 level off 30mpw. I’d probably look to increase up to at least 45mpw by the end of the year (and then increase again by a similar amount next year if you are looking to train seriously). To answer your original question I think it’s highly unlikely you can hit those times by the end of the year. But then again why does it matter? If you train sensibly and gradually increase the amount you run you’ll certainly move in the right direction and improve your times. Your improvements will be what they will be and will unlikely correspond with any arbitrary targets you pluck out of the air. Good luck and enjoy.

hey im 15 and my 5k time is around the low 18s and i want to try to go sub 17. What should i do to improve my time?

In about the last 9 months my 5k went from 18:30 to 16:40 and 10k from 37:30 to 34:24 so i would say that its achievable. As suggested by JP above, set milestones for yourself along they way. From 39 to 35 is a massive aim to start with. Try to dwindle it down say 30 seconds at a time. I only run about 20km a week if even but I do a lot of swimming and cycling as well which i think helps a lot.

I start with shorter distances at a fast pace. For example working on my pace over 1k. If i want to run 5k in 17 minutes i'll need to able to comfortably run 1k in say 3 minutes so i'll work on that and filter it through longer distances.. say when i reach my 1k aim i'll start working on a slightly slower pace over 2k.. if you do enough training for speed i find stamina takes care of itself over shorter runs like 5k and 10k. i don't think its a training style used much in running but i picked it up from a swimming coach and it made sense for me.

Hi, I've been working on my 5k and been getting it down from over 19min, then 18.22, and more recently 18.00. I feel I could get under 18 now. It would be interesting hear how it worked out for k_Manchester. Are you close to hitting your goals and if so what training strategy did you use?