In workouts I can do 5x1k at a 6:35 pace and 3x1 mile at a 6:45 pace. Rest between about 2 min of slow jogging. But race day my 5ks hover around 21:30 (6:55 pace). What am I doing wrong? What will help me? Shorter rests between intervals? More LT work? More mileage? I run 40 mpw now. Have gone up to 50 in the past but found it didn’t help my times on anything shorter than half marathon.
How tired are you after? What does the rest of your week look like? I do 5x1000 with 1 minute jogging rest about a week out. I finish feeling tired, but could easily do another 1000, if not two more. I do a tempo and a long run during the week too. And surges throughout the week.
I usually run the race 3-5 seconds faster per mile than my 5x1000 workout. Ran a 19:00 a few weeks ago. About 40 miles per week.
I know folks that do this workout and almost puke. Their workout pace ends up being much faster than their race pace.
Do you have even pacing during the race?
5k at 5k pace is the only accurate predictor.
I finish the workout feeling pretty spent. Could maybe do one more repeat on pace. Not 2.
The rest of the week I do a tempo and long run, the rest easy mileage, and one day of leg and core strength train (usually after right after tempo on day before an easy day)
how long and how fast are your "tempo" runs?
I'd bet that you would benefit the most from slowing down those track workouts and extending the number of reps. do 8x1k or 5x1mi, but do them at 10k pace
Typical tempo would be 5 miles. One mile warmup, 3 miles at 7:15ish pace, one mile cooldown
I am afraid that is only three miles of actual "tempo", which is not a bad thing, just clarifying.
Everyone is different and it takes some trial and error to figure out the best predictor. They're more stressful as they get tougher, obviously. Sounds like you're able to cheat your way through the 1000m reps, and through 2 minute rests.
I would try this: 10 days out from the race, do 4x1200m off a 60 sec jog rest. I think that will give you a very accurate picture of where you're at for your 5k, assuming similar conditions.
Alternatively, your racing might be bad for any of these reasons: going out too hard/poor pacing, bad courses, bad conditions, poor race week prep, bad warmup, getting mentally week and gently slowing down around 2k/3k, etc.