Improving 5k time

M

midwestchick

Cathlete
Hello fellow runners!

So, I'm hooked on these 5ks! Have run several the past 2 months and have improved my time from about 27 mins to 23:58 which I'm very pleased with. I've been placing 1st and 2nd in my age group which helps maintain the addiction, lol.

Here's my question. My last two races I came in at 23:58. I'm looking to better my time by about 30 seconds. Does anyone have any experience improving their time? Sprints/speed work? Hills?

Also, I'm considering changing my pre-race strategy by warming up/jogging a little first. I've been resistant to this but see many doing it and think it may help to have the muscles/blood flow all warmed. I also don't start out too fast but think I might try to start out a little faster. I find that once I'm a certain place in the pack that it's hard to pull ahead once I'm in the 2 mile marker.

Any advice on training/race day strategy would be great - thanks!

Heidi
 
Hi Heidi, to get faster you have to run faster...:)...I don't know how many days a week you run but try adding 1 or 2 speed work sessions to your week. This could be hill repeats, intervals or tempo runs...I think warming up and jogging first before a 5K could very well help...:)
 
I agree with Carole. I am not fast like you but I love running and am working on my speed. I do alot of interval or sprint work outs and find that they are helping. What I've also found is that increasing my running ENDURANCE has helped with my speed. If you are at all interested in running longer distances you might want to give it a shot. I found that once I increased the distance I could run, it naturally gave my speed a boost.

HTH!
 
There are some really good articles on Runners World for a variety of speed and tempo workouts to help you run faster.
HTH,
dragonf1y
 
To improve your 5k you need to improve your VO2 max, your oxygen intake/utilization, as opposed to longer races -- like 10k and up -- when you need to work on your lactic treshold. To improve your VO2 max the best thing is to do 400/800 repeats with short rest. The track is a great place to do that. The warm up is crucial before the 5k as it was said before. Good luck!
 
How did you drop your time down so fsst? I have been trying to get faster the past two yrs and havent seen much change. please share how you have dropped your time down so fast by that much time.
 
Sprint work is the best thing you can do to improve your time in a short race. (Sprinting is TOUGH, but totally worth it!) You only need to do it once or twice a week to see great results. Good luck!
 
You got some great advice. Speedwork & intervals is the way to go! Also, I would recommend one slower long run a week (5-6 miles).

My best times have been when I did a warm-up run of 1/2- 1 mile, then gently stretched. Gets the blood flowing so you're really ready to go when it's time to run!

I can't wait to get back to 5K's!!
 
Hey Jess...Do you ever think you'll do another marathon? I just did my 2nd HM last Sunday and will be training for an 18 miler soon! Next year is my goal to do my first full mary!}(
 
Oh, I missed your HM!!!!!!!!!! Great job, girl!!!!!

Nope, I honestly don't think I'll ever do another full. It was just too hard on my body and too much training. I am planning on at least one half this fall though!! :) I think you're really smart to keep up the longer distances in your training.

I'm getting excited about my sprint tri next month though!! :) Just hoping my broken toe heals up, it's been a month and it STILL hurts!! I'm sticking to the elliptical, bike, and swimming so I'm still getting in the cardio but it's not quite the same.... :eek:
 
Good luck on your sprint tri! I can't wait to hear about it! Sorry that toe isn't healed up yet. How long does it usually take?

Yeah, I am sure the full is gonna be TOUGH and perhaps I'll never want to do another one but I gotta atleast do one or I know I'll regret it!:)
 
I have done intervals and sprints and havent had much luck improving my times. I recently started itread workouts and am hoping these will help me get faster. some people on here has said that these wrokouts have helped them get faster so I am hoping to see some results but I am only doing itread workouts once a week right now ,hopefully will be able to increase them to 2x week. they are tough workouts especially #19,kicks my butt everytime.
 
Thanks, Wendy! It has been a month and the Dr. said it usually takes 6 weeks. The bruising is finally almost gone and the swelling has gone down a lot. Who knew a pinky toe could get so swollen?? :eek:

I'm glad that I did a full marathon, but wish I had given myself a longer training period. You'll do great if you're planning on half marathons this year and a full next year... plenty of time to work on your mileage!!!
 
Thanks for the advice, everyone! Looks like I've got some sprinting ahead of me. I wish I could get to our local track more. It's closed most of the time to the public other than when school is in session.

Laura - the improvement I've seen to date is more of me just putting more into it, my knee/it band issues are better so I can give it more my "all". I was really surprised and pleased to get to 23:58...now if I could only catch those 40 year olds that get the elusive first place. They are usually only 30 seconds or so ahead of me but I just can't catch them, lol:eek:

I have been doing some itreads and also another interval workout that goes from 30 second to 2 min. intervals and then back down. I've increased my speed on those intervals, and I think that's helping too.

Thanks everyone!
Heidi
 
heidi- what itread workouts are you doing? what other interval workouts are you doing and how many times a week are you doing these? you've got me curious because your time increase is awesome and I want to get there myself so any tips I can get I will take. thanks!
 
Laura,

I'm not sure how much my treadmill workouts have helped my time improvement to date - as I said in a previous post, I really went slow on my first few races due to fear of recurring knee problems, but since they've abated (for now -thanks to my beloved foam roller!) I've been running with more wild abandon:eek: and hence the faster times!

That being said, I do have some treadmill workouts that I do listen to and I do feel help (even though it's so damn boring on the tm) I actually haven't done itread in a while - I do have some but none with any true speed/sprint work. I do have an itriTrain that I love and that absolutely kicks my butt (run, elliptical, bike, then run more!) I do that one when I really want to shock my body - and boy does it!!

The one treadmill workout that I do have is one that we actually got with my dh's new nike air kit - you know, the chip you put in certain Nike's and it synchs with your ipod for mileage, pace,etc? Well, I got him that for his birthday and in it was a "bonus" treadmill workout that I thought was going to be totally bogus. It's narrated and the music is provided by a groupd called OkGo! and it's actually pretty good. It's 30 minutes of warm up and then a "ladder" type of sprint lengths. What I've done is slowly increase not only my "rest" speed (from 6 to 7 mph) but also increased my speed increments (from 7 to 8!) It about killed me, people stared at me, lol, but I do feel this has helped my speed.

I'm looking for a good itread for the outdoors that include sprints. It looks like there are a couple ones on there (13 and 19). I may give one of those a whirl....

Good luck!
Heidi
 
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