Is bringing down a 22:30 minute 5k down to 19:5X in 5 months possible?

yes it’s possible but upping your mileage and doing more quality speed training, will superbly help your effort

Thanks for posting

In my opinion you can see noticeable improvement from changes in your training - like serious increase in mileage or introducing more and better speed work - after a time frame of at least 3 month, so it might be possible to run sub 20 in 5 month. 2.5 min sounds like a lot, but it is not unheard of for a beginning runner to have this kind of progression in the first few years. We are just talking about 22 to 20 min, not 17 to 15, which would be much more difficult to gain within half a year.

However, it won't be easy, either. Just imagine that the easy running pace for a sub 20 5 k runner is more like 8 min miles instead of your 9:30-9:45. You should be able to run your current 5 k pace of 7:15/mile for a full marathon distance then, too.

Partridge wrote:

In my opinion you can see noticeable improvement from changes in your training - like serious increase in mileage or introducing more and better speed work - after a time frame of at least 3 month, so it might be possible to run sub 20 in 5 month. 2.5 min sounds like a lot, but it is not unheard of for a beginning runner to have this kind of progression in the first few years. We are just talking about 22 to 20 min, not 17 to 15, which would be much more difficult to gain within half a year.

However, it won't be easy, either. Just imagine that the easy running pace for a sub 20 5 k runner is more like 8 min miles instead of your 9:30-9:45. You should be able to run your current 5 k pace of 7:15/mile for a full marathon distance then, too.

Maintaining 7:15 for a full marathon sounds incredibly overwhelming, as does 8 min mile being my easy pace (which would be sub tempo for me right now - doubtful if I could hold that pace for more than 40-50 minutes without strain). It has taken me 6 years to even get my weight down and get to a point where exercising for an hour or two a day is comfortable. How many minutes should I be aiming to run each day? I just ran for 55 minutes @ 9:35 pace.

Unrelated question but what is the best way to stretch out tight hamstrings and calves?

I did basically that this year. I went from 22:29 (April 7) to 19:57 (August 18) in 4 months 11 days this year. I'm male, 40, and this is my first year running. I was training for my first marathon (June 3) since Feb and after the marathon I had a push to get under 20 mins. Training was mostly 40 miles/week with a few up at 60 m/w.

This has been novice gains mostly from losing weight and putting in some work. Best of luck.

Yes,

My first ever year of running cross country/long distance was my sophmore year. Before that year I had no running experience. I cut my 5k time from a 23 to a 19:23 in about 1 or 2 months

My first 5k was 43 minutes 5 years ago when i was 50lbs heavier. I don’t consider myself a newbie as I am not exactly new to “running” because I have actually been doing it for a few years (mostly high intesnity with no volume though - rarely over 20mpw) although I have done a lot of cycling over the years so I don’t think I am going to get any newbie gains at this point, it’s not as though I have NO aerobic base. I am 110lbs and have a resting heart of 45. Improvement at this point is going to be due to increased conditioning.

I'd mix up the training. Instead of 400s at mile pace, which is very tough, do them at current 5k pace with less rest. Do some tempo runs too. 20mpw is nothing. The 5k needs speed endurance, requires more miles.

Okay. I was planning to do 10 x 400 (with 1 minute rest) in 1:35 on sunday so instead I should do 15-20 x 400 in under 1:50 (with maybe 45 seconds of rest)? The whole reason I do the 400s at mile pace instead of an additional tempo run is because I do not want to lose mile speed or fitness.

Very small chance you break 20 in the next 5 months. You've been running for a while (so you won't get the big gains that beginners get), that's a drastic improvement, and sub-20 is level that relatively few women ever reach.

Reducing your 5K time from 22:30 to 20 in 5 months violates a fundamental law of physics. Sorry, not possible.

I fully believe I am capable of running quite a bit faster over distance than I do at the moment seeing as I can run 400m at 5 minute mile pace and 800m a little under 6 minute mile pace, however my mile is in the 6:20-6:30 range, to be honest I am a bit displeased by that as I have been hoping to break 6 for some years now but I always plateau when I reach the mid to low 6s. It would be quite sad to think I have maxed out my running speed ability. I just do not really know what sort of workouts I should be doing and how quickly it is appropriate to build up miles each week without risk of hurting myself. Over the last 8 months I have done a lot of track repeats around 5:00-7:00 minute mile pace and although the slower speeds (8:00-10:00 minute mile pace) seem to be feeling easier, the faster paces still feel just as hard. It would be easier if I could afford coaching but that isnt an option so for the most part I will have to either test things myself or ask other runners on the internet.

Sounds like you need to get faster. Strengthen your entire kinetic chain through strength training and sprints. Strength training also helps with injury prevention if you do it right, but most people do it wrong. Don't be one of those.

Doing it right:

Do around 3 core compounded strength training exercises: a triple extension (e.g., snatches or deadlifts), a squat variation, and an upper body lift. Ideally, you'll have alternatives for each that you'll cycle through every so many weeks.

Sprints. A lot of up hill running, or running in soft grassy fields.

*** I'd also recommend some loaded carries, going heavy sometimes, going light for instance other times. Some might poo poo this idea, saying that time under tension doing heavy loaded carries will put you over the edge on muscle growth. However, if you run a lot you'll have trouble adding much muscle (especially if you're a woman).

I'm also a proponent of running less by doing more cross training. I get injured at my age with much volume, so I do a lot of low impact cross training for most of my steady state stuff.

This kind of program won't make you elite, but it will make you faster, stronger, and more well-rounded. Your marathon time will suffer though. (I don't care, do you?)

Sounds like you're training correctly so keep doing what you’re doing adding in the easy miles because I think you can break 6:00/mile within the next few months but breaking 20:00/5k is harder and may take longer but I think you have potential to do it eventually if you have patience. After expanding your base with easy miles for a few months, build up to eing able to do quality workouts like 3-4 600m @ 6:00 or 2-3 2000m @ 6:30.

When you say “get faster and stronger” I assume you are referring to my top end speed and strength in the sprints. What sort of 100m/400m times are required to go sub 20?

Yes, definitely. I will say one thing though, mileage is not necessary for everyone for that time. I ran sub 20 (road) off 30mpw in high school, so you don't need 50mpw to do it. I wouldn't suddenly go from 10mpw to 50mpw or whatever. I'd gradually increase your mileage, run races regularly and assess it from there. It would be best to get the maximum decreases in race times from the minimum increases in mileage, as it gives you more potential to continue lowering your times.

The other thing I'd say if you do 5Ks regularly where you can judge where you are accurately, try to get your finishing place in the first few minutes and then just stick to it. E.g. if you're doing park run, often you know roughly where 25 min is, 22 min, 20 min etc by other people who often very consistently run those kind of times. Strategy plays a big part in 5Ks so if you go off way too fast, you will not run near your optimum time, same with if you start way too slow and save it for a sprint finish. I feel you conserve the most energy by not having to overtake people or being overtaken by people, rather get into the place you want to finish straight away, and simply maintain it. This only works in large fields where people run consistently such as park runs where they're run every single week with the same crowd though. Otherwise practice your pacing and try to run as evenly as possible, maybe a slight negative split.