Source
r/running•
Cryptacity

Can someone give me some 5k race tips?

Question

Last cross country season as a sophomore I PR'd the last race with 20:19. I'm a junior now and my goal was to train enough to run a sub-20 5k. Before my sophomore year, I didn't run at all during the summer. Before this season I ran nearly every day during the summer. And still, my best time this year is a 21:08.

At this point I'm pretty sure I'm physically capable of breaking 20. I definitely have the speed (5:20 mile) and endurance (7-8 mile runs) to do it, so I'm thinking it has to be the way I'm running the races. Today I ran a 21:33 on a great day to race. My arms were feeling way more tired than my legs by the end of it, so maybe I'm not using my legs to push as fast as I can go? Maybe I'm overexaggerating my arm swing when I run? There's only one race left in the season and I really want it to be a good one. Any tips are much appreciated.

Posted Oct 13, 2017, 11:21 PM UTC

99
Thaner_147•

When I started running cross country I was always afraid of going out too fast and dying during the last mile. I would end up gong slow the whole race instead of speeding up later. Just try running a little faster in the beginning and not let it intimidate you and you’ll just forget about it and end up being faster. At least this is true from my experience. Always remember that you’re not the only one hurting, everyone around you in a race feels terrible, you just have to believe you can take a little more pain than them.

8
ThisIsFootball9•

I've got the same fear right now. Just curious, but will starting fast in the beginning help me finish in a better position?

2
_xidada_•

A 5k is basically. Running the first mile fast, running the second AS fast as you can and survive to the end.

9
Thaner_147•

As long as you don’t just completely go all out and die in the first mile you’ll usually end up keeping up the momentum and finishing faster than you’d expect.

2
ThisIsFootball9•

Ok thanks!

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ZeLonewolf•

Go balls to the wall from the start and white-knuckle it the whole way.

6
MeddlinQ•

Yup, if you don't feel like you want to stop by first kilometer and like dying by second, you're running too slow.

5
RLisloveRLislife•

Hey, my 5k PR came in my junior year of high school. Have confidence in your fitness! Go out fast - trust that your legs and lungs can get you through 3.1 miles, doesn't matter if you fall over at the end. I set my mile PR (at the time) in that race and thought "Holy crap too fast!" when I passed the guy calling out mile time splits, but I hung on and had a huge 5k PR - it all came down to going faster than I believed I could and holding on.

Trust your legs. Sleep and eat well leading up to the race. Visualize, visualize, visualize the effort you're going to use to leave it all out there. You got this.

3
jackriberts•

Something that has really helped me was finding someone on your team who runs the time you want to be running and just hold onto them for dear life. Obviously, it won’t work if you pick someone that runs 3 minutes faster than your PR, but if you find someone who runs a time you know you are able to run and really commit to it you’ll start raking in the PRs. Good Luck!!

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