Good pacing is key to Related: The training plans to get you to your fastest 5K yet. It’s natural to run relatively quickly for the first 100m or so because your adrenaline is surging and you’re settling into position. But if you run too fast over the entire first kilometre or more, you’ll accumulate lactate in your muscles too quickly. This will be hard to recover from and will cause a slowdown later in the race. So it’s best to aim for an even pace, speeding up during the last 800m to 1km, when you can give it all you’ve got left.
Most runners run their fastest times by running a negative split, ie running the second part of the race slightly quicker than the first. You will achieve this by running an even pace, but with extra effort towards the end. Work out your average kilometre splits for your goal time; if you’re running a track 5K you can use your 400m lap times, too. Your training and previous races will help to determine your goal pace. The pace should feel fairly comfortable to begin with, but it will get tough quite quickly if you’ve misjudged things. It’s important to consider your perceived effort, too, as we all have good and bad days. With experience, you’ll be able to judge the pace you can sustain.
Related: The training plans to get you to your fastest 5K yet
Occasionally, it’s worth pushing the boundaries a little. Runners sometimes have to risk setting a slightly faster pace than they have previously to get a PB, but only if their training has indicated they can do this. If this is the case, you could set yourself a tough but realistic pace and then try to hang on.
Improve your 5K time in just 4 weeks:
- Warm up
- (3 x 1 Mile at 5K race pace) with 2.30 mins recovery.
- 6 mins recovery.
- (2 x 400m) + (2 x 200m) with 90 seconds recovery after each.
- Warm down
The mile reps are intended to improve the endurance you need to sustain a good pace for a 5K. This part of the session is also useful for giving you an indication of the pace you might be able to achieve for the 5K distance. The second set of shorter reps are for speed work and should be run faster than your goal pace.
