Improving 5km Times

whodafunk

Hi,

I'm looking to try improve my 5km times. Unfortunately with my current circumstances I'm only free at the moment to run 1 evening per week.

I do Parkrun most weeks and my best time has been 21m 56secs (normally I'm in around the 22min 30sec mark but it varies).

How reasonable would it be for me to aim to get in under 21mins in the future? With my weekday runs am I better off doing short fast runs or long good paced runs? At the moment I just feel I'm at the same level and not improving at all.

Any advice appreciated. Cheers

Tombo2001

Are you saying you are running twice a week, and one of those is a 5k race?

In that case I'd say your scope to improve is limited.

Doing an interval session of 5 x 800 meters, trying to do each one in say 3 mins 10 secs or so would get you down below the 21 minute mark, but you may need to balance that with a recovery run the following day.

whodafunk

Tombo2001 wrote: »

Are you saying you are running twice a week, and one of those is a 5k race?

In that case I'd say your scope to improve is limited.

Doing an interval session of 5 x 800 meters, trying to do each one in say 3 mins 10 secs or so would get you down below the 21 minute mark, but you may need to balance that with a recovery run the following day.

Thanks for the reply. Yes - one run midweek and then Parkrun on a Saturday which is a 5km.
I'm in college 2 nights during the week so it's just hard to get the time to get out while trying to work full-time, etc.

Thanks - I might give that a try with the 5 X 800 meters. What would the recovery run invole? I could see if I could squeeze that in another night during the week.

menoscemo

whodafunk wrote: »

Thanks for the reply. Yes - one run midweek and then Parkrun on a Saturday which is a 5km.
I'm in college 2 nights during the week so it's just hard to get the time to get out while trying to work full-time, etc.

The reason you are not improving is because you are running only two nights a week. An interval run won't really help on it's own.
Out of interest what does you other weekly run consist of?

whodafunk

menoscemo wrote: »

The reason you are not improving is because you are running only two nights a week. An interval run won't really help on it's own.
Out of interest what does you other weekly run consist of?

The other run consists of anything from a 5km to an 8km.

menoscemo

whodafunk wrote: »

The other run consists of anything from a 5km to an 8km.

You'd probably get most bang for your buck by lengthening your midweek run (that would mean slowing it down) considering your only other run of the week is a 'race', at least then you would be improving endurance. However in order to really improve you just need to run more.

whodafunk

menoscemo wrote: »

You'd probably get most bang for your buck by lengthening your midweek run (that would mean slowing it down) considering your only other run of the week is a 'race', at least then you would be improving endurance. However in order to really improve you just need to run more.

Thanks for the advice. I'll try up the distance of the midweek run at a slower pace. By May I'll be able to get out a lot more so hoping to improve my times considerably by then.

Tombo2001

My number one piece of advice would be, join a running club.

menoscemo

whodafunk wrote: »

Thanks for the advice. I'll try up the distance of the midweek run at a slower pace. By May I'll be able to get out a lot more so hoping to improve my times considerably by then.

Good stuff. for what it's worth 22 minutes for 5k is pretty good for someone who just runs 10-13km per week. With some commitment and more running I'd imagine you have a lot of potential ...

Colostomy Bag

Tombo2001 wrote: »

My number one piece of advice would be, join a running club.

I have been thinking about joining a running club for some time, I've been running for about 3 years now - I am intrigued as to how it works in terms of being better than training on your own - what exactly is different about club running? Is it the competitions as well? Donore Harriers is my closest club and I see them out running every Tuesday and Thursday evening beside the park while I'm doing my own runs. I've improved my times every year, (5k, 10k, marathon) but not drastically. From your comment this sounds like the best advice for improving times?

RayCun

A club is good for motivation - to get you out on a run, and to get you to do the faster sessions regularly. You'll get to run regularly with people who are a bit faster than you, which is the best way to improve. It's good for competitions too, whether it's the ones you can only enter as part of a club, or just going to a race with other people from the club, all wearing the singlet and having that extra bit of motivation in the race...

ecoli

+1 on alot of what Ray said. There have been times where I have been struggling in races where there was a temptation to drop out before you get to the realisation that you are a scoring member of a team and this sort of thing can make the difference when digging in in a race.

Aside from this you are kept honest in you interval sessions (and can actually make hitting faster paces a little easier) as well as the social aspect and the introduction to people who have a wealth of knowledge that you can tap into.

There is a no obligation to attend every session either as some people fear. I know myself most of my running is on my own or with club members outside of training times (work commitments as well as coaching commitments when I am actually able to make it down to the club sessions) yet still yield great benefits from the club association.

It can also expose you to training methods you would not have though of before (or avoided due to a tendency to stick to stuff that comes easier to you). I know myself over the last year I have jumped in with hurdle drill work that the sprinters in the club do and has benefited my form greatly (just an example of what I am talking about)

whodafunk

Thanks to all for the replies and encouragement. Apologies for the late reply.

Tombo2001

ecoli wrote: »

+1

There is a no obligation to attend every session either as some people fear. I know myself most of my running is on my own or with club members outside of training times (work commitments as well as coaching commitments when I am actually able to make it down to the club sessions) yet still yield great benefits from the club association.

It can also expose you to training methods you would not have though of before (or avoided due to a tendency to stick to stuff that comes easier to you). I know myself over the last year I have jumped in with hurdle drill work that the sprinters in the club do and has benefited my form greatly (just an example of what I am talking about)

Thats interesting ecoli.......what distance do you normally run, in races?

ecoli

Tombo2001 wrote: »

Thats interesting ecoli.......what distance do you normally run, in races?

Training for marathon at the moment. I did alot of that type of work when I was younger growing up in the club but I am now reintroducing for injury prevention as well as overall musculature endurance

Caveat: this is just one element which I have included over the last year, Strength and conditioning has also played a role

Kylie Fan

Hi, I am in a similar situation, started running once/twice a week(3-5k) before Christmas as i am too old for GAA now (38!).Am trying to get to sub 20 mins for 5k and ~42-44 mins for 10k. Currently at 21.20 for 5k, haven't ran a 10k in a long time, but probably ~49 mins. If I upped the training to 3 nights running, interval, 5k + 8/9K, do ye think its a realistic goal to get the times by may/June? Will continue also with gym/core once a week. Thanks for any advice

dwayneshintzy

I'm in no way anything approaching an expert on this, but only seriously took up running in the past 18 months. First race I ever did was a 5k in April of last year, and did that in 23:10. Training for the DCM last year, I managed to get a 5k time down to 18:43. So it'd be very doable, though you might need to be out more than 3 nights a week and get some long runs in (i.e. more than 10k). I would have been running 5 times about 40-50 miles a week, and think you'd need that for the stamina, especially if you're planning on shaving 5 minutes off a 10k time.