How can I run a Faster 5k? (Read 127 times)

At 61 you're fighting an uphill battle with age, but it can be done.  I dropped my 5K time from 25:43 to 22:56 over the course of 6 months at that age with more formal interval workouts and an occasional tempo run.  My target was to run 4-5K worth of intervals in my speed workout, e.g. 10-12 x 400m or 4-5 x 1000m as examples. Having a specific pace and distance with intervals I found more effective than fartlek because it didn't allow me to subtly back off when I got tired.

If you are above your optimal racing weight, losing weight will help.  (2 seconds/pound/mile is the standard rule).

Regarding training, I agree with the others. Keep in mind that running improvement is a slow process.  If you are new at it you’ll make big gains in the first year or two, but have that you’ll need to train harder and harder for smaller and smaller gains.

For a experienced runner 7:30 to 6:30 is a big jump.  IMO unless you radically change your training regimen, that would be a difficult ask.  Not sure what your timeline is, but you might need 2-3 training cycles to get there.

During the summer I'd focus on getting the mileage way up, mostly easy pace maybe finish with some strides 2-3 times a week, the actual structure is less important than overall mileage, but try to vary the distance of each run something like 3-4, 7, 3, 8, 0-2, 6, 12.  Run a couple of 5K races along the way, but don't expect big improvements.  In the fall, I'd drop some mileage like going from 40+ miles a week to 30-35 miles a week and focus on speed (run 400-800 m intervals at your 5K pace from your most recent race) and find a flat 5k in Nov/Dec to see how close you can get to that goal.  If you are not quite there, one more cycle like above may be needed.

You are right, The idea is to vary the effort from day to day, while also building mileage and building up to a 90-120 min long run.  Effort can be pace or distance.

A while back when I was running races, I was running two mid week medium long runs of 7-8 miles and a weekend 12-14 miler.  The rest were whatever I felt like on any particular day.

Thanks everyone for the great feedback. As some of you noted from my summary, I do have many years of experience so I'm not sure if I'll be able to make big gains at my age but I'm hoping. And fair point, mikeymike, my average has been below the 30 mpw but that's why I need a plan! It sounds like more structured speed work with intervals is the biggest change I need to make along with more base miles too. (it's definitely not weight, I'm 6 ft, 150 lbs). I am trying to build in more strength work but it's only been a couple days a month so far. Thanks again for the input, Team.

rlopez (or anyone else), what's your suggested base level of miles per week?

Good start would be working up to adding 5:00 to 10:00 minutes a day on your easy runs.  Your long run could stand to be 20:00 to 45:00 minutes longer also.

Take a slow build up, reduce the amount of speed work you are currently doing while increasing the easy miles.

Don’t be married to that conventional wisdom rule of 10% increase per week/month.  Increase at a rate where you can run, rest, and repeat day after day and not break down.  If it’s less that 10%, it’s less than 10%.

Slow your tempos down from “comfortably hard” (hour effort pace) to closer to your estimated marathon pace.

Growing older myself, have come to recognize that continuing to post competitive race times is less a matter of training to get faster, and more about training with the precision that keeps me from slowing down.