Sub 20 minute 5km training

endurojcb

Hi,

I'm after peoples thoughts on how I can get sub 20 minutes for a 5km run.

I'm 34, 5ft 8" and 78kg (and built more like a scrumhalf than Mo Farah (muscley rather than stick insect)).

At the moment I can do 5km in 22.32 so I need to drop my time by 30 seconds per km to hit the magic 20 minute mark.

I am currently running 4 times a week, which involves interval training on a treadmill twice a week for 15 minutes (2 minutes warm up followed by 1 minute sprint (16 kmph) then 1 minute jog (10kmph) for a total of 6 sprints and 7 recovery jogs. I also do two outdoors 5.4km runs a week, with the last 400m being a warmdown jog.

What do you guys/girls think i should be doing to reduce my time? Is 30 seconds per km a tall order or fairly realistic?

Thanks

slindborg

From a totally un scientific stance.
I'm fairly unfit but did a long ride to London a few weeks back and now my shorter rides are markedly faster.... Might be worth doing a 10k once a week or something, so when you want to do the short stuff fast its no big deal.

_Obelix_

Firstly, get off the treadmill and onto the road/sidewalk/trail, treadmill running does not work muscles in the same way as proper running and is a fair bit easier.

As far as weekly training programme goes:

1 long endurance run (10-15k at slower pace).
1 tempo run (race distance at race pace).
2 interval sessions, preferably on a track.

Might be worth joining a running club, as the above sessions will be pre-organised, and it's easier to get access to running tracks and someone to coordinate the session, but it's almost as easy to do it all yourself.

You may just want to start with 3 sessions a week (minus one of the interval sessions) for the first month or two, as the training load of the anaerobic components may lead to overtraining effect.

ralph_ie

As others have mentioned, increasing your overall mileage will really help you increase your pace over shorter distances.

Also go find some hills and push yourself up them and relax on the downhill's. I was amazed at how quickly my pace uphill improved and how this then translated to my running overall. I won't lie, the psychology of hunting out hills to run up doesn't always make for a happy run! I was training for the Black Death Run so had little choice about it.

Ultimately it all comes down to pushing yourself outside of your comfort zone which it is very easy to fall into when running.

DCR00

_Obelix_ wrote:

1 tempo run (race distance at race pace).

This

You have clearly reached a plateau. To break through it you need to do something new. Since you don't mention a tempo or pace run, this will help.

IMO increasing distance wont make much difference. You need to run faster, not further.

thelonegroover

I'd agree with DCR00, you need to increase your basic speed. Run faster and work harder. Running a slow 10-15k is never going to make you run 5k faster. Also four time a week? up this to 6 days with a rest day.

Maro

Find a freind who can run a bit quicker than you and ask if they mind you joning them. I did this with a mate and it helped us both.