5km in less than 30 mins - any advice?

@AnnPerkins Yes the BUPA one, and I'm actually enjoying it!
Yes I joined at week 6, I felt like I'd already covered weeks 1-5 in my regular runs, and it's worked out fine.
I feel like I could run the HM now, but I want to be at my best so I'm sticking to the plan and hopefully that's helping my pace. I'd like to do it in under 2hr 15, preferably under 2hr 10.
The speed work is definitely helping. I keep shaving seconds off my 5k PB in the tempo run each week. Yesterday's was 27:51. A couple of months ago I was dreaming of a sub-30 minute!

I've done a 5k time target plan with Garmin - final run is tomorrow. I've got a choice of 2 traffic (and gate) free routes and will try to get out before they get busy.

Running alone is tough, my previous attempt at a sub 30 5k, in June was a total disaster as I missed my planned split by 3s on my 2nd km and gave up rather than keeping on going! I think I'd have done a better job at a parkrun because I'd have been less focussed on the watch and just trying to keep up with people.

The other problem I've found is that I don't find 30 minute pace easy to "find". All of my race pace repeats have been faster than 6min/km, my legs would prefer around a 27-28 minute pace but my cardio fitness does not agree... so going off too fast and wanting to stop/slow down is a real problem for me. Doesn't help that none of my routes are great for GPS signal and my watch doesn't settle into a pace for a while, making it hard to start at the pace so want to start with.

I agree that the biggest difference is stamina - my fastest 10k according to Strava was during my 2nd half marathon! To be fair Strava didn't actually agree that the UKA measured 10k courses were 10k but there's only about 30s quicker...

I found that one long (slow) run per week really improved my ability to run run shorter distances at a faster pace. This, in addition to occasional interval sessions was what I did when i was working on my 5k time. Once you're comfortable with running the full 5k a few times a week I'd slowly (max 10% increase each week) build up to 10k once a week, or even longer if you fancy it. Speed is really not the key objective in long runs, and i always have to consciously hold myself back the first few kilometres. It should feel fairly easy for at least the first third or half of the long run. Good luck with the training!

I've always been a 10 minute miler. Whatever the distance you could set your watch by me. My first week doing the training plan I did a 30 minute tempo averaging 9'29" miles. The interval run is still around 10' though because I'm so knackered at the end I've slowed to a crawl!

As a PP said, and Vassos Alexander quotes in his new marathon book, if you want to run faster, run faster.

Interesting about ParkRun averages. I looked up our local one which is run as several laps of a park I use as part of my regular run - gently undulating - and its average is 29.27 which seems just about in the achievable bracket! Plus the average for women must surely be lower, so that give me some encouragement that I won't be out of place there!

Thanks for the book recommendation @LaLaLanded . I wouldn't be that bothered but I feel self-consciously ploddy and have a couple of niggly injuries which I'd like to see off.

Well done OP on your achievements so far. I’ve got to the 30 min 5k and am trying to knock a couple of minutes off that so all the advice here is great. Currently, I’m upping the cycling miles as I try to look after my shins

The great thing about Parkrun is that average times have got slower over the years it has run. Meaning that there is a wider standard of runners taking part. Your current 3.5k run in 30 mins followed by a run/walk mix would be perfect at our local park run. Also - the marshalls will always work their magic and encourage you to keep running that extra few metres.

It may be a quick route - I’m half minded to suggest finding a Parkrun with a slower average, but that may well be hillier and harder!!

The best thing is though, you’re a runner and it really doesn’t matter how fast we are as long as we’re enjoying it! Good luck

I got my times down from over 30 to 23 mins for a 5 k by a mixture of:

• long and slow running (or cycling) to build stamina and aerobic fitness
• intervals to increase pace once a week.

Zombies Run podcast?
A long story form podcast but every so often during a run you get chased by zombies & have to pick up your speed till you escape...

I’m also a vote for increasing distance/stamina. My PB 5k time happened after training for a half marathon. I’m trying to get back to a sub 30 min 5km at the moment and The training plan I’m following has weekly long runs up to 80 minutes long.

I do 5k every other day. I do the same route each time and try to get faster each time. My fastest has been 23mins 46 seconds but average is about 26. I leave my watch at home now though, I got fed up of trying to beat my time, just going out for run is fine for me, I actually enjoy it more too.

What worked or me was mixing it up every run different
hills
speed (don't worry about distance)
distance (don't worry about speed)
intervals these a really long Quay near us and used lamppost as makers to pace 1 fast 3 slow ,2 fast 2slow, 3fast 1 slow and keep repeating it

My 5k runs were not getting any quicker than around 32 minutes until I started incorporating speed work into my runs (I started a half marathon programme).
So I've been doing 39 minute tempo runs and 40/50 minute interval running each week as part of the programme, and on my last two tempo runs I have done 5k in 28:13.
It does work

@RunningFromInsanity fair enough! I’m impressed with your 21-22 minute 5km and would quite like to bottle a bit of your talent - I have to be more regimented to get to the same speed.

I agree that parkrun or any race environment is where you are going to get a PB.
It’s much harder to motivate yourself and sprint when you are running alone with no incentive.

I've been running 7 years. I have a parkrun pb of 28:26. I never come close to replicating it on my own because of crossing roads, hills gates etc, plus there's the running in company element. My 5ks around home tend to be 40-45 mins because of the different environment. At parkrun, a confortable run is 31-32 mins. If I'm with the kids, slower.
Many people will do parkrun in 45+ mins either at a slow run/ walk or combination of. The tailwalker often comes back with the last participant towards an hour.

The C25k+ podcasts are great and I use them for the same reasons as OP. I'd mix it up a bit more though. Build up a longer run to lengthen time on legs, even if that involves walking, that will boost stamina. Do a more spontaneous fartlek session varying the pace. Maybe mix it all up over a 2 week cycle. Also strength work is good for general strength and power.

Well done on your running progress!

For me, weight loss was the thing that made faster splits possible. I went from a steady 10-11 min mile runner to a 7-8 min mile runner (25 mins 5k) without doing any particular speed training. My body was lighter, it just felt easier. This was some years ago now though and I’m definitely not there now

Good luck OP and above all, enjoy it

@JellyBabiesFan the 31:39 screenshot was me, not OP so your follow-up advice will be useful for me - thank you. For OP I think your original advice in the previous post was good but I would suggest for OP that starting with interval training that is just running for 20 seconds at an extra-fast pace with 3 minutes at normal pace would be step 1, working gradually up to eventually managing 1km reps at faster pace over a few weeks.

@LaLaLanded
I run 10k at a social pace once a week
I run 10-13miles at a slow pace once a week
I (use to) run 5k parkrun once a week at a racing pace

I’ve never done any interval training or measured my pace/heart rate etc.

I just run because I like it, I get to run with friends and I can eat cake afterwards

@RunningFromInsanity it might not be specific training to you but it sounds like... well... specific training? I’d guess you do a long run each week, a faster/interval session or to and maybe a slower recovery run, or some variation on that?
@MiddlesexGirl I always recommend the lost art of running, a great holistic book about form with some good practical tips. It helped me with running form but if you’re still in the earlier part of your running journey, don’t worry too much about form - the basics: good posture, etc, are all you need to worry about in my humble opinion.

This is really interesting OP thank you for starting this conversation. As a fellow couch to 5kmer who finished it last year but I am also looking for something to move on to. I managed my first 5km in week 8 by extending my runs to get there but my first 5km was 37 minutes and I haven’t been able to get it below 33 and a half minutes since. My aim is under 30 minutes like you

I’m interested to see the apps you mentioned, which would you recommend? What I have been doing is running 2 couch to 5 kilometre sessions back to back. So today I ran week five run three and followed it straight away with week six run one, skipping warm down in the middle, so today that was walk five, run twenty, walk five, run five, walk three, run eight, walk three, run five, walk five.

21 minute .... that's like Mo Farah!

I'm in a similar position to OP. Just cracked the 10 minute mile (5km in 33.3 mins) after about 6 months but still feel very ploddy.
Trying to use my arms more and drive my legs more. Trying to add distance (current max is about 6.5km).
Will keep doing that and add in some intervals.
Does anyone have any tips for good form? I'm not convinced that I'm biomechanically sound!

I’ll be honest, I’m a 21-22min 5k runner and I didn’t actually do any specific training to get there.

I think it’s more just running often, a variety of distances, and a variety of paces.

Fartlek/speed intervals are useful.