How to Run a Fast 5K: 3 Key Workouts You Need to Do 

Strong!

Can I ask did you lose any weight over the 8 weeks? I’m on week 2 hurt my knee already 😬

yur epic, your effort is harder and more inspiring, really great job

Don't worry about your time. Anything that makes you breathe harder than normal and pushes you harder than you would normally go is good, but make sure you are medically fit before you push yourself.

Got one on May 1st. I've been sober 8 months. 16 years of heavy drug use. Taking supplements, heavy diet, work out EVERYDAY now. I just wanna finish the 5k that's my goal and just keep getting better. Go out there and get it guys. The only thing in the way is yourself.

Great job! Love that you're already getting out there and racing!

Thanks, I am competitive, needed to get in shape as my business involves sitting a lot. Lost 2 stone and really enjoying the running, I hated it when I was at school, I guess at 53 your never too old to improve 👍 thanks for the comment.

@C II tbh 12 minute pace for 3 miles is pretty challenging for out of shape ppl I just ran 5 miles in 52 minutes a few days ago and was running sub 19 5k in high school

Andrew Giegerich running nerd forget how difficult it is to run what they consider good times when you haven’t been out their pounding the pavement for 3-15 years. Thankfully there seems to be at least 50% probably more of the running community that is just so happy you are moving and nice that it tends to drown out the little snarky types with something to prove.

God is good good

Good job, keep it up!

Good job! I ran my first 5 K race a few weeks ago. I hve run 10k’s but the 5 K was just as hard due to the speed it requires. Keep it up!

"Be comfortable being uncomfortable" this saying comes from special forces and definitely shows how we should treat ourselves

I did my first 5k in 37 minutes but I didn't do any training. I started the couch to 5k and managed 27:31 but felt nearly dead on a hot day. Some more training and I got exactly the same but was not pushing as hard. Then I did a 28 but was a minute late and managed to overtake 59 people on a narrow course. I'm doing some more training to see if I can beat 27 then hopefully 26 and so on

I've never had a good race when my body wanted to quit on me

That’s literally every race

I agree such a mental game!

It’s always my breathing that causes my problems. My body never feels uncomfortable it’s always that breathlessness first that causes a slow down. Legs could go on and on if only my cardiovascular and aerobic capacity was better. Diaphragmatic breathing helps but I find I forget during runs sometimes and catch myself chest breathing. 49yr old male running for 7 months.

How do you stifle that feeling?

THANK YOU!

Thank you

You are mvp mate

Thank you for this

Thanks!!

Wow!Killer pace man! Keep it up!

Im 22 and you’re kickin my ass. Nice job!

You’re amazing! 9:30 is my fast pace but working towards 8 min

Dave Miller you’re not 69. No old people can type on RU-vid

Good God . You are a freak. The good kind!

Bro how did you get 20 minutes on your first race? I had 36:40!

​@@zeppi9342 I was 26 at the time, not overweight, but no muscle either and did like 300km total running time before the first race. However going from 36:40 to sub 20:00 will be much more fun for you

Patience is a virtue :)

how did it go?

Im still consuming beer. Can i be like you?

That's a massive improvement! You're doing somehing right lol

no one cares

On the right in the hoodie?

😂😂😂dope dude!!!

The weather looks amazing!

🤣

The next Usain bolt!

Same with me. prefer consistent and long distance than running fast since im not into race competition... run and jog to burn fat and calories.. starting from 2km move up to 6km, now 10km every day on average 1.20mins... try to improve to 15km a day

Superheroe! Take care of you and enjoy the runner communities.

Wow congrats that’s awesome!

I’m 18 and I ran 17:55 I ma kill my self

@@briansun9326 thast gud I doubht he got a 16:45 , I know cross country 1's who get that time at like 18

@@baz5329 my teammate was a freshman and ran a time like that in 2017 so I mean🤷‍♂️. I'm also a freshman and could run a sub 18 minute if the weather is good

fellow poolee here, and I’m currently at 25:51. trying to hit sub-23 before I ship (aug 31)

Hey that's pretty good. I'm training for basic as well. Make sure you listen to your body because an injury will take you much longer to get over than you think. I dont think they highlighted uphill running enough. I shave off time by running long and uphill. I do intervals for my anaerobic on flat surface. I like trail running when it's super hot outside. Shaded in trees, free foot work and uphill running. Only downside is my upper body is losing muscle mass, but I had to shed weight quick. Been at running for 20 days and hitting 3 5k runs a week on varied surface. Adding 10-15% milage a week. Race on July 18th. Good luck my dude

24:33, I have a competition in 2weeks where I intend to run inside 20 minutes!

👏👏👏

🔥 Old Boy I’m Calling You Out On This One… Nobody In 1949 ( You Would Be 20 ) Ever Ran a 15 min 5k 🤔 Just Say’in🔥

That's awesome Michael 👏👏👏🍀🍀🍀💪🏻💪🏻💪🏻💪🏻

@@michaelcarmean4906 i know somebody who runs a 16:30 5k , professionals would easily get sub 15

@@ksodinero4762 Hello… Not In The 1950’s

@@michaelcarmean4906 well because back then they were built different. Only logical explanation if you ask me.

Race Pace Masters Swimming swimming the 200 and 400 is the worst

Rowing 2000m for time easily the hardest one

Abhi Patel Navy has sailors, not soldiers

@@jerryg1692 well. He just got caught for lieing Never lie on the internet😂😂

@@mariyamjaaiza4514 he isnt lying cuz you still have to go through tough training in the Navy and that's what helped his body get used to the pain and stuff

Thank you for your service. Stay strong.

@@jerryg1692 You still have to do tough training to get into it and when your in it you still you have to do even more training

You can do it!!

How old did you say you was??

@@BIIIIIGMAN it’s right there 🤦‍♂️

@@jb6912 I wanna know if its a typo or not

Running 33 at age 85 is an elite athlete.

That's awesome- congratulations! :)

Good man. I will take heed of this community's posts. Thank you.

you got it! keep working hard and you'll definitely get there!

You can definitely do it. I started my 2nd season at 32:46 and ended it with 24 flat. Just keep practicing and pushing yourself

sounds more like a 10k time ;)

@@konstruktivismuskonstru9360 inane

go ahead bro.... you can do it!

nice work! we're glad to have gotten to help you!

wow that's great progress!

Ryan Wolfe been running for a year (I’m 41) and my PB is 26:20.. Summer has kicked in and I’ve chose a new route with a lot more elevation and I’m down under 30min again .. I’m looking for 20min run over the coming winter .. thanks for the info bud!

What the heck? That is some improvement!

@@godnnat similar age to you and been running about 6month. I'm at 23.31min for the 5k. Would love to hit the magic 20min mark but it's going to take some doing. Keep up the good work and let us know how your doing. Hopefully we will get there. Good luck

John Metcalfe will do bud :)

That is super fast for a 5K. Congrats!

Actually i am hitting to break the world record 12.30 min something thats why i have to stabilize 11:50 min per attempt then develop more stamina to ensure a finishing blow at any official race i may join in order to make my record official and after that, 10k will be the next target.

@@leisthatmorgan2861 You might want to add some max velocity work in then

iGhost Mystique wow well done I’ve been doing park runs on and off for a year and I haven’t broke the 30 minutes yet. Well done 👍 and keep up your great attitude

How’s it going??

¬¬

What's the time right now?

@@dilhanperera4362 can anyone really get to 21min on a 5k at 66years old? Is it possible? I'm 40 and barely hitting 28min. I started two years ago when I had to sit on the sidewalk in a 1km walk, painful shin splints, but 20min @66yo? Isn't he trolling???

Daniel Villarreal world record for a 70 year old is 18:21, I suppose it’s possible

Yeah right.....

@@nobogiedr well I ran track just never did long distance always was a sprinter ya know

@@ThatOneGuy-ll9vu so I guess you started running ? When ?

@@nobogiedr 2 years ago in middle school for my school

@@nobogiedr i also did a time trial at my local 3 mile course and got 18:57 which is pretty good with a little bit of training

DailyLifewithAricella love this attitude!! Get after it!!

Gucci Uni what did you get

My_brudaa oh I made the team!

Hey there! We have a number of videos about this on the channel- just search for "pacing" :) Here's one specifically on 5k race strategy --> ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Q5fslwNW66E.html

Light run medium run then hard run there isn’t any actually “workouts” so to say

Here's my take-away of the video 1st period: build an aerobic base with easy miles (conversational efforts) 2nd period: run "strong" = take up the pace on some sessions for 5-10 minutes where talking gets impossible or monosyllabic 3rd period: run "hard" = add in anaerobic sessions. Sprints, hill intervalls, etc

For me general running only helped with stamina, but not with speed. I could run longer quickly, also uphill and stuff, but I was always super slow. E.g. I "ran" uphill in walking speed.

Just run more is better advice the longer the distance. You can be a good marathoner by "just running more" at levels that aren't elite. You can't "just run more" at 5k distances bc you need speed + endurance. You only get speed from speed work

Be careful you get injured by running more examples of which are hamstrings or tendonitis

😂

Wow same for literally everything you said

sharinginfoz how’d ya go man?

Awesome- good luck!

SAMMEEE will be good to hit that milestone

what would a 10:06 3200 and 4:47 1600 equal in a 5k?

what training you doing to get 17 minute? share the tips?

marvin david a lot of long runs to build up aerobic base; then more speed (400m, 1k, and 1mi repeats) closer to race time

😂😂

Yaaaassssss

xd la referencia me es conocida.

Good job dan! Consistency is key, try to run 3 times a week if you can and you’ll see your time get better and better. 👌

That's a great quote and just about sums up running a 5km race. I run a Parkrun as often as I can and I think this is exactly how it feels most of the time. I think this tries to put across that the mental side of running a 5k is just as important, sometimes more, than the running side, especially if the 5k race has a few uphill kickers or slogs. Training your mind to almost look forward to the hard times, I'd say pain but it's not really pain just a feeling of lack of energy at times, is the key I think. If it were easy it wouldn't be such a challenge and we wouldn't need videos like this to help us. I think the video could have done a better job highlighting the key points and workouts of the video, maybe put them in big bold lettering on screen would have been useful, but it's a great resource nonetheless. The key points I think are: 1. Go out hard, but not too hard. 2. Settle into a rhythm after this initial phase where you are running at the edge of it being uncomfortable. 3. Leave enough to be able to give a bit of a kick at the end and sprint through the line (this wasn't said, but I think it works for me).

then what are you doing? run again!

I like your style!

is my math off or is that 60km/h? that's so impressive. you are my an hero.

That's fake!

I just ran one literally a minute ago

check out hal higdons intermediate plan for 5k running. That should give you what you're looking for

ASAP_Hookgrip _ I look for these type of comments all the time. Thank u for your tribute to the world good sir

Ernesto Flores in the end, weight really helps your running. I am heavy for my height and I was in the same boat as you. I would bet if you drop 10 lbs, you would run faster at the same effort level. Mileage also helped with being faster. When I trained for a half, 5k eventually went to 30 mins without too much effort. My body was used to running 10+ miles. Do you do long runs in your training?

@@duweydang Great insight! I was at 240 just before the holidays and my time got close to the 30min. Now after holidays, I'm about 1-1.5min slower. Gonna give it another go to lose the weight. This year, I set a goal to run 750 miles. I was slowly upping my mileage to a consistent 5-6mi when I started experiencing hip pain. Everything I read stated it was due to overuse. I'm back now, and have run about four 5k's in the last week and a half. I'm easing back into and will have gone on a 4 mile run (my long run for the week) by the time you read this. I did sign up for a half at the end of May and am training for it. However, there is so much literature out there on how to train for it, I'm really more so just doing my thing. My wife keeps telling me to run according to my heartbeat, which I'm at about 11bpm over at peak. I'm a dude...should I listen and try that? Thanks for caring and taking the time to read all this. It's much appreciated!

Ernesto Flores I’m not an expert by any means. For my particular training for the half, I focused on mileage. I focused on doing my long runs gradually to 12 miles. A few weeks before the half. The 2 weeks before I began tapering off. This really helped me recover for the big day. I also used energy gels for the run since I’m not a seasoned runner. I’m also not a natural runner. Short legs, smoked for 18 years, and poor cardiovascular health just made me a very poor runner. All I see are lighter faster runners out there and it’s almost depressing. I see your goals and it’s similar to mine. Striving for it is better than doing nothing. I looked into it too much in depth and found a few key points that helped me immensely. 1. Form - this includes foot strike, stride, and upper body movements. Just going a slightly longer stride dropped my time 30 seconds without much fuss. No heel strike! That caused horrible ankle, knee, and hip pain when I started running. Then I focused on swinging my arm according to the effort I’m pushing out at my legs. 2. Breathing - I had horrible breathing patterns initially. Having a rhythm helped control my consistency 3. Fuel - I found through running longer distances that I will break down at the 9-10 mile mark. Once I used gels and water/sports drink along the way, it helped me finish without much fuss. This is for my current body condition. As for the heart rate, I’ve never really been too scientific. It seemed for me I was comfortable about 10-15 bpm under my max. Once I pushed that threshold, it seemed my form, speed, and focus broke down(probably from poor cardiovascular health). But mileage always helped. Fast, slow, tempo, it worked just pushing more mileage. I hope it helps somewhat. I’m not a professional by any means. You will do it sooner or later. Just don’t get hurt.

@@duweydang again...thank you for taking the time to reply and invest in a fellow runner. I'll look into all of the advice and implement it. Happy Running!

I would take a very different stance here. Weight gets blown up a lot b/c of the popular and publicized "runner" and I don't entirely subscribe to that when it comes to running FASTER. Being fast requires strength and power, and just going out and collecting miles does not necessarily make you stronger or more powerful. Strength training, and interval work will increase your ability to handle work... and thus running faster. Think about the "PROCESS" v/s just getting to a certain weight. I guarantee you that if you get strong, more powerful, and can take on some very HARD runs... then your BODY COMP (which is really all that matters, way more than weight) will improve as a result. Focus on that and you willl experience good results. Don't get tied to the weight...

junyevo18 allinoB I’m at 22 atm, just keenworking hard. I hope to get sub 20 aswell

@@laurencesdaddy6392 yeah man I run about 26:56last weekend. Hope still improvement

junyevo18 allinoB the more running you do , that time will come down quickly imo

@@laurencesdaddy6392 I started running 25th July first week getting 30 mins, 29m. I am doing 5k every other day, pacing it and pushing that last mile. On my days off , I run to the gym - it is 1.5 miles away - I run 1 mile as fast as I possibly can to make it fun. You will be in pain, and hate the process for first few sessions, but now its weirdly addictive - make sure it never gets 'easier'. Last night I ran 26m, shaved off 4 mins in 2 weeks! Very motivating. Crucially, last night was just as hard as the first day, it was only when i checked my time I saw the improvement. TLDR: Consistency is key, get that routine down. Make it a habit, a ritual. Results come fast initially, but think long term. I will be so happy if i hit sub 25m! I am 23, but don't think age matters that much

I’m 62 and I consistently run 22 minute 5kms.

Did you get it? Covid-19 has stopped our UK Park Runs, I'm desperately training so when they restart I won't embarrass myself.

Wow that's so impressive! How???

Teach me ur ways howww

lizeth miramontes I did my first one a month ago in 28:16, have only done 9 5ks since but now am down to 22 minutes; if you do one and leave it a few days then try another one (with basic exercise like walking in between) you’ll improve hugely - I ran 4 days in a row and got my time down from 27 mins to 24 mins. Just keep trying :)

Spafhetti Shhsna did you do speed or other strength workouts?

Spafhetti Shhsna i Run 4-5x a week and mine doesn’t Improve that much wow that’s impressive tho

Keep up! Don't get discouraged

🎣

just pick a pair that's comfortable for you. What looks "nice to use" on someone else might be s*it for you.