5km in less than 30 mins - any advice?

[Knowitall2112]

Hi,

I'd love to hear advice on how to crack 5km in 30mins. If you've any tips, training plans or apps that you would recommend, please do share 😊

I graduated from c25k in January and I've continued 3x runs per week, cycling through the c25k+ follow-on programs,
Stepping Stones, Speed and Stamina audiofuel podcasts each run.

These have all been great, I really wish the NHS produced more of them!

I can run comfortably for 30mins but according to my Stryd footpods I'm only achieving 3.5km in that time frame. I'm running in step to the audiofuel tracks as per Laura's cues, so I'm not sure where I'm going wrong. If I ran faster than the beats per minute of the track that would defeat the purpose of using the audiofuel podcasts. The tracks generally move from 150bpm up to 165bpm.

All and any advice much appreciated 😊

I am not at your target speed yet but I hope to be there one day.

How long are your legs? Remember that the standard idea of a reasonable distance to run in 30 minutes will have been conceived of by a male who considers that a "normal person" is going to be a man of average height. Sub-30-min 5km are certainly achievable for many shorter women but it's a more advanced goal. Don't feel bad if it takes a while to get there.

The podcasts you have used have worked on your stepping frequency (also called cadence) but the other aspects of speed are the length of each stride and how much muscular effort you put in it to each time you drive force downwards in order to push yourself forwards. You can't do anything to change the physical length of your leg but you can improve your stride length and muscular strength with HIIT and weights work to build up those muscles and get them used to stretching further.

There's also a psychological aspect - I find that if I am not focusing on putting in extra effort, but am just jogging along listening to my music, my pace drops down to something quite comfortable and slow which i am sure i could keep up for a long time but which doesn't cover the ground very fast. I need to be actively focusing on feeling like i am putting in all the effort I can.

I am not familiar with the technology of the brand you mention in your OP - do you have sight of your current pace as you run? I have a smartwatch which tells me my current speed at a glance

Sorry I didn't mean to press post, I hadn't quite finished!

... at a glance and can be set to buzz on my wrist if my pace drops too low, to remind me to focus.

Putting all this into practice is a long term project but I am getting closer. Fastest effort so far achieved yesterday!

I'd join a running club ready for track seasons starting again hopefully in April, really helped me get quicker (both the sessions and doing them with other people).

I did three sessions a week when training properly. First one longer and slower (an hour or so). Second track session (fartleks and similar, different session each week). Third, shorter, faster run.

This is a useful link: www.runnersworld.com/uk/training/a761676/rws-training-pace-calculator/

@Knowitall2112 good luck with your plan! I don't have any specific techniques to share, but would say that to a point even without doing anything specific will come over time- I knocked off 5 mins in 3 months just by doing more running and getting fitter. The other consideration is that if you are hoping to lose 20-25kg I suspect you will get quicker naturally as you get lighter- I certainly run faster when I'm leaner.

I’ve helped put hundreds of runners through our running club Couch 2 5k programme and I’d say that probably 5% do it in under 30 minutes, 5% 30-35, 70% 35-45 minutes and 20% 45-55 minutes. C25k is unrealistic so for the last few weeks of the app we always get people to add on extra minutes.

If your goal is park run then look up the previous results and see what the finishing times are - many people will run / walk parkrun. I’m a leader snd even when half marathon training (4+ hrs a week, 50+ miles a month) I only managed a 33 min pb .

Mix up your training doing intervals, long slow runs , hills, off road etc..losing weight will definitely as will training with someone slightly faster.Good luck !

What worked for me, but might be too dull for some, was to use treadmills in the gym to pace myself. So start at whatever pace you can do 5k without stopping, then each time you manage it, put the machine up by 0.1 kph next time. I dropped 5-6 minutes in a few months. Having said that the experts recommend intervals which is kind of the opposite of this, so maybe go with that. Good luck anyway.

@Dadalus I would second treadmills - it’s really useful to get a “feel” for a particular pace, and also to work on form. You can also do intervals on them, and I like to do hill work too - the outside hills round me aren’t particularly helpful for running. Some people find treadmills terribly boring but I recommend always going on with a plan rather than just trying to run for x amount of time.

OP: run more, run longer. Add on 10% distance every week (or two) and you should see improvements.

Whats your bodyweight and height op? Excess body weight is an absolute bugger for slowing down running speed.

In terms of training I would look at alternative workouts between some over distance training and some speed work. So something like

Session A 6k or 5.5k constant pace
Session B 1km reps at 30m/5k pace with perhaps 100 seconds recovery between reps

Let me correct the above because I did not realise you were already down to 31:39

Session B should probably be something like 1km reps at 28min/5k pace off 100 seconds recovery

ie 5 x 1000m target time 5 minutes 36 seconds each.

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.

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!

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.

@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.

@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

@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.

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

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.

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.

@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.

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

@ohhhhitsme

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

*30 minute tempo runs

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

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.

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.

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...