Sub 20min 5km strategy

if you can't run it evenly you're not in good enough shape yet and you won't be able to do it at all.

go run more

I struggled for a while to break 20 mins, then I had a big breakthrough and lowered my PR from 2015 to 1845 in one race. I did a few things:

1. Lost weight. I was already "thin" by modern adult standards, but probably 15% body fat. I lost about 10 pounds and dropped my body fat to 10-11%. Suddenly I was way faster without even trying.

2. In parallel, I upped my mileage from 12-15 mpw to 20 mpw, with one run of at least 6 miles and one workout of 6x800 at ~6 min/mi pace.

Cool thanks for the reply Slowdad. I'd like to lose weight. I have quite a lot of muscle as I used to play rugby and have dropped from 187 to 165, I'm only 5'8 though, so quite stocky. My weight has stabilised at 165 and I'm not really losing any more. I'm doing about 30 miles a week at the moment, but also swim and ride as I'm a triathlete.

Race strategy will never buy you the time if you are 45s out (that's a 3.75% gap you're looking to close). Maybe if you're hitting 20:12 each time then better pacing could sort you out.

It's all in the training. Intervals and tempos to improve your speed endurance. And losing weight will not do any harm (to a point).

larkimm wrote:

Race strategy will never buy you the time if you are 45s out (that's a 3.75% gap you're looking to close). Maybe if you're hitting 20:12 each time then better pacing could sort you out.

It's all in the training. Intervals and tempos to improve your speed endurance. And losing weight will not do any harm (to a point).

⬆this

When i broke 20 min i hit 20:04 then a week later 19:55. Granted I didn't race alot of 5ks prior but was doing "speedwork" to help get used to running faster. Most people can break 20 min easily just on volume and no speedwork. I have no talent and I'm an injury prone kind of guy, so i have the odds against me all the time. You are close to breaking it, you just need the right mental state, good weather, and a good course and you might be there in two weeks. Before i broke 20 i did run sub 21 in a non race setting. The "Speedwork" i did to get me there was 4/5 x1200m @ goal pace, 5/6 x 1000m @ goal pace, 3/4 x 1mile @ goal pace, sometimes 6/8 x800m @ goal pace. The recovery was always a 400m to 3min jog between reps. Hope this helps.

larkimm wrote:

Race strategy will never buy you the time if you are 45s out (that's a 3.75% gap you're looking to close). Maybe if you're hitting 20:12 each time then better pacing could sort you out.

It's all in the training. Intervals and tempos to improve your speed endurance. And losing weight will not do any harm (to a point).

5'8" / 165 is no were near to that point that losing weight hurts performance. OP you can either work hard to get fitter or lose 5 pounds. Either way will get you there. Doing both would jump-start you to a whole' nother league of performance.

You're looking at close to 4% improvement. Either run it harder as if each step is your last one or you may need to run more miles.

-Build up to 30-40mpw for 4 months (2 to 3 quality runs per week, build to a 10mile long run)

-In the process you'll drop 10-15lbs

-Run an even pace

Breaking 20mins will be very easy

I wish I knew the answer to this one, I think I was close [20:50] then got injured. A bunch heavier than OP [6'1/190], probably similar BF% [15]

and I'm old af [43]

after taking 6 months off to an injury I'm back to around 25 mpw, also doing a tri schedule.

Literally no idea how to get under 20:00 but I'm trying. It's my key goal for the year, really. Also re-qualifying for the 'A' standard in my swim event and AG nationals in tri [hobbyjogger level of success lol, basically means I podiumed my AG somewhere]

I seemed to make some improvements via upping mileage, 4x1 mile repeat workouts around 5k pace, and actual 5K TT's

Being injured was the biggest downer, I think I would have hit it by now

Zed wrote:

Hi, just after some tips for running a sub 20min 5km. I'm around the 20.45 mark at the moment. Most people seem to recommend running your 1kms, failry evenly i.e 5 x 1km @ 3.59/4. Problem is I can't manage that. Perhaps for 2, maybe 3km, not 5. So I was after some ideas for a different approach. I did a triathlon a few weeks ago and last 1km was 3.40 pace, which got me thinking, perhaps I should do the first 4km 4.05, 4.10 pace and then try and come home hard, 3.30, 3.40 pace? Thoughts?

Thoughts? Your tri course last kilometer was short.

If your new idea was solid you'd have done it already. Bottom line is that you're miles from sub 20 shape.

Good advice in here already. Run more (mostly easy, sometimes harder), lose a few pounds, and stay uninjured. If you do that, then you'll blow through 20:00.

I aim for ~165 lbs at 6'0", and I'm relatively stocky. So at 5'8" you should be able to shed some more. Lose 8 lbs and you should be about there. Run more, and you'll definitely be there.

Zed wrote:

Hi, just after some tips for running a sub 20min 5km. I'm around the 20.45 mark at the moment. Most people seem to recommend running your 1kms, failry evenly i.e 5 x 1km @ 3.59/4. Problem is I can't manage that. Perhaps for 2, maybe 3km, not 5. So I was after some ideas for a different approach. I did a triathlon a few weeks ago and last 1km was 3.40 pace, which got me thinking, perhaps I should do the first 4km 4.05, 4.10 pace and then try and come home hard, 3.30, 3.40 pace? Thoughts?

Try to do a 1K time trial on the track and then you will understand this isn't the best idea.

Your 5K PR predicts you can do 1K in 3:35, so there is no way you will run your last km of a 5K in 3:30.

As alluded to by previous comments...weight management will see you get there. Every pound of excess flab lost / gained is worth around 2-3 seconds to your minute mile pace. You lose 5lbs of flab, that's 10-15s per mile faster for the same effort.

Other things you could do to aid:

Add some strength work. From my experience many runners do little or no strength work. A targeted block of strength work could well see your performances improve.

Some shorter, faster speed work at a faster pace than your target pace. This'll get you familiar with the required pace so won't be a shock to your body / mind when you run that pace.

Run more....

Train the brain to push through the 'mental fatigue'

Just run 5 miles a day according to feel and race once or twice a month.

Enjoy

colinphillips wrote:

Good advice in here already. Run more (mostly easy, sometimes harder), lose a few pounds, and stay uninjured. If you do that, then you'll blow through 20:00.

I aim for ~165 lbs at 6'0", and I'm relatively stocky. So at 5'8" you should be able to shed some more. Lose 8 lbs and you should be about there. Run more, and you'll definitely be there.

Yeah thanks for all the advice, have been running lots, mostly easy with little speed work. Feeling ready to have a crack at sub 20 in the next week or so. Got to find somewhere nice and fast, where I live is very undulating... I did a 3km TT yesterday in 11.50 - 3.52, 4.01 (hill) 3.52. Felt hard, but manageable till I hit the hill then heart rate went up, last 1km I just kept it steady. I certainly didn't have that drowning/panicked feeling I get in a sprint triathlon when I'm so deprived of oxygen. I probably could have kept 3.50 pace up for another 1km, but not another 2km.

That first 1km felt horrible though. My instant pace was jumping around (as it normally does) saying I was doing 3.55 pace then 4.05 pace then 4.10 pace, it turns out I was running that first 700m, or so at 3.48 pace... I only use instant pace as a guide when training, but in a 3km TT you kind of need it.

Stop using instant pace, it's completely useless. I can run a half marathon and hit each mile within 3 seconds of one another, yet my instant pace will vary by 30 seconds. It doesn't mean anything.

Instead, switch your watch to a per KM pace where it resets after each KM (since that seems to be your units), and only look at your watch once you hit 0.5KM as it will not be accurate before then.

Inconsistent wrote:

Stop using instant pace, it's completely useless. I can run a half marathon and hit each mile within 3 seconds of one another, yet my instant pace will vary by 30 seconds. It doesn't mean anything.

Instead, switch your watch to a per KM pace where it resets after each KM (since that seems to be your units), and only look at your watch once you hit 0.5KM as it will not be accurate before then.

OK gotcha, cheers. So set it to 500m alerts so it gives your your average pace for 500m?

Chill the first 4600. Run'em at 6:41 pace. Kick hard those last 400 at 52.X. But be sure to be in first place before the last 400.