5km advice

[drfrank]

Hi

I've been doing regular 5km runs for a few months now and I actually have started enjoying them. My PB is 20:26 but I average around 22:30 if I'm not in the mood and just want to 'run'. I really want to get sub-20mins but not really sure how to get there, are there any strategies ?

I do the 5km on a treadmill btw and I know it will need to be a 17km/hr rate to get close as the treadmill takes about 30secs to get up to speed.

I'm 40 and weigh 93kg - am I being realistic ?

Thanks

[Fozziebear]

As realistic as your body can push to, just put the incline up for a few runs to make it harder. I'm 45 and 96kg on a big meal day and I'm sure I could do it on the trails

[johnwilliams77]

drfrank said:

Hi

I've been doing regular 5km runs for a few months now and I actually have started enjoying them. My PB is 20:26 but I average around 22:30 if I'm not in the mood and just want to 'run'. I really want to get sub-20mins but not really sure how to get there, are there any strategies ?

I do the 5km on a treadmill btw and I know it will need to be a 17km/hr rate to get close as the treadmill takes about 30secs to get up to speed.

I'm 40 and weigh 93kg - am I being realistic ?

Thanks

You need to work on various interval training workouts
There's a massive array of YouTube / sites with suggested examples
Good luck

[Willy Nilly]

1. forget the treadmill.

2. Join a club so you have others to run with

3. Do parkruns.

A good club will help you run faster, but essentially what you need to do is run faster than 4 minutes per kilometre. So practice 1km reps at 3:45 with a rest in between for a while. Do a longer run each week to build up your endurance then stitch 5 3:45 reps together at a parkrun and hey presto, a PB.

[johnwilliams77]

Willy Nilly said:

1. forget the treadmill.

2. Join a club so you have others to run with

3. Do parkruns.

A good club will help you run faster, but essentially what you need to do is run faster than 4 minutes per kilometre. So practice 1km reps at 3:45 with a rest in between for a while. Do a longer run each week to build up your endurance then stitch 5 3:45 reps together at a parkrun and hey presto, a PB.

Treadmill works well for many - I find it useful for speedwork to get the legs used to a certain pace. Long periods on treadmill are awful though.

Practice that pace or slightly slower then slowly reduce the interval period which you are taking I.e week one: 2min break, week 2: 30secs less break between sets.

[C0ffin D0dger]

I'd be well happy if I was running 5km in 22:30, I'll be happy the day I get under 27 mins!

Sounds like you're doing well to be honest. Maybe think about upping the distance rather than getting obsessed with pace?

[johnwilliams77]

C0ffin D0dger said:

I'd be well happy if I was running 5km in 22:30, I'll be happy the day I get under 27 mins!

Sounds like you're doing well to be honest. Maybe think about upping the distance rather than getting obsessed with pace?

Ideally both would be good but it totally depends on goals. You could get sub 5km with fewer miles than you would think (varies per person of course)

[Foliage]

johnwilliams77 said:

drfrank said:

Hi

I've been doing regular 5km runs for a few months now and I actually have started enjoying them. My PB is 20:26 but I average around 22:30 if I'm not in the mood and just want to 'run'. I really want to get sub-20mins but not really sure how to get there, are there any strategies ?

I do the 5km on a treadmill btw and I know it will need to be a 17km/hr rate to get close as the treadmill takes about 30secs to get up to speed.

I'm 40 and weigh 93kg - am I being realistic ?

Thanks

You need to work on various interval training workouts
There's a massive array of YouTube / sites with suggested examples
Good luck

This,

Im slow btw, im happy when I do a sub 30min 5km, but I do distance mainly when im not injured.

I do sprint training, which is one of the intervals mentioned about, what id start by doing is run 3km, in that 3km's, run your normal pace for a few minutes to warm up, then sprint at 80% for 1minute. then run at your normal pace for 1 minute, then sprint as hard as you can for 1 minute, then run at your normal pace for 1 minute, rinse. repeat until you have run 3km.Then warm down run for a couple of minutes. Your just getting your body used to running faster. You can run faster we all can.

[drfrank]

Thanks for the advice !