(done, not dones)
Sorry, I was interrupted before I finished the post.
Is running a 5k and placing in my age division realistic...for a non-runner. I've also never competed in an individual sport and I've never won anything in my life.
I haven't ran a step (until this morning) since I was in the military, and I've been out for over two decades. Just out of the blue, I decided I would enter a 5k race this fall. I want to wait at least 6 months so that I have time to train, and I also want the weather to be a little on the cool side. I'm thinking late October or maybe even Nov or Dec. I also want to pick a race where they give awards for the top three in each division, which also has a lot of divisions (like age 50-55 M) so that I actually have a shot at placing in my division.
I looked at past results for a bunch of races within a half day drive of where I live, and for a mid size race, maybe at least 100 competitors (I don't want it to be a total "giveme") but not more than 500. At fun run type races that size, I'm seeing just 10-25 competitors in my division, with times ranging just over 20 minutes to upwards of an hour. I'm assuming that people who are doing it in over 35 or 40 minutes must be walking most of the way. I think that if I pick the right race, I could probably be top three with a time around 24 minutes (so about three consecutive 8 minute miles or maybe a tad bit faster).
This morning, on a treadmill with 0 degree elevation, it took me 44.5 minutes to run/walk 3.1 miles, and even at that slow pace, I was hurting when I got off. I was really dissapointed in how long it took me, when I was in the Army I could run 2 miles in less than 15 minutes.
I also did some research comparing real running to the treadmill and found several articles that claim that just a 1 or 2 degree elevation on the treadmill would make it comparable to outdoor running (making up for wind drag and the belt assisting). I'm assuming that I will probably also need to do a true outdoor run at least twice a week, in addition to any treadmill running. Currently, I do some sort of exercise at least once a day every day, and frequently twice a day (fasted cardio in the morning, and weight training at night), so I'm sorta already headed in the direction of serious training.
Doing the math, I have to cut roughly 45 seconds off my run each week to get down to the mid to low 20 minute range, in a hope for a top 3 placement. Is this type of improvement realistic? Or should I just be happy to finish a race, or maybe to not come in dead last? I have roughly six months to train, maybe a few weeks longer than that.