How to get faster at 5 km and 10 km

Most runners who want a faster 5 km or 10 km start by running every run harder. It works for a few weeks, then progress stops and the legs feel heavy. Getting faster comes from a different mix: more running, mostly easy, and a small amount of quality work done well. This guide shows how to put it together at any level.

First: run regularly

The biggest gains for most runners come from running more often, not harder. Going from two to four runs a week does more for your 5 km time than any interval session. If you run less than three times a week today, start there: add one easy run, keep it for a month, then think about intervals.

Raise your weekly running in small steps, and make one week in three or four a little lighter. Your heart and lungs adapt faster than your tendons and bones, so a sudden jump is the most common route to an injury.

Mostly easy

About three quarters or more of your running should feel easy: you could talk in full sentences. Easy running builds the engine (more blood vessels, more efficient muscles) and lets you recover for the sessions that count. The easy running guide explains how easy is easy.

The quality sessions

Once you run regularly, one or two harder sessions a week make the difference. Three kinds cover almost everything:

• Intervals: repeats of 2 to 5 minutes at about your 5 km pace or a little faster, with easy jogging in between. For example 5 × 3 minutes hard, 2 minutes easy. They raise the top of your engine.
• Tempo runs: 15 to 30 minutes at a "comfortably hard" effort, around the pace you could hold for an hour, or as 2 or 3 blocks of 10 minutes. They teach you to hold a strong pace for longer, which matters most for 10 km.
• Strides: 4 to 6 relaxed sprints of about 20 seconds at the end of an easy run, walking back between them. They improve your running form and speed without tiring you.

Always warm up for 10 to 15 minutes before a quality session and cool down afterwards. Run the repeats at an effort you could hold for all of them: the last one should be as fast as the first, not slower.

A sample week

Never put two hard sessions on back-to-back days, and keep at least one complete rest day a week if you're new to running.

5 km or 10 km?

The training is mostly the same. For 5 km, lean a little more on intervals at 5 km pace and faster. For 10 km, lean a little more on tempo runs and on a longer weekly easy run, since the race is twice as long.

Hills count too

Short uphill repeats are a good alternative to intervals on the flat, especially if you have no track nearby. Run 6 to 10 repeats of 30 to 60 seconds up a steady hill at a strong effort, and jog or walk back down. Hills build strength in your legs and teach a powerful stride, with less pounding than fast running on the flat.

Pacing your race

The most common race mistake is starting too fast. For a 5 km, run the first kilometre at your goal pace, not faster, and save your effort for the last two. For a 10 km, aim for an even pace throughout, or slightly faster in the second half. Warm up for 10 to 15 minutes before the start, with a few short strides, so that the first kilometre doesn't come as a shock.

To set a goal pace, use a recent race or a time trial. If you have run a 5 km, your 10 km pace is usually about 10 to 20 seconds per kilometre slower.

Common mistakes

• Every run a little hard. Medium effort every day leaves you too tired for real quality and too tired to build volume. Keep easy runs easy.
• Intervals too fast. Running the first repeat flat out and fading on the last ones trains you to slow down. Pick a pace you can hold for every repeat.
• Skipping the warm-up. Ten to fifteen minutes of easy running before a hard session makes it both safer and faster.
• Racing your training. Trying to beat last week's times in every session, or a friend's, turns training into testing. Save the racing for races.
• Changing too much at once. More runs, more intervals and a new plan in the same week is a recipe for injury. Add one thing, keep it for a few weeks, then add the next.
• Forgetting rest. Fitness grows while you recover. A week that's a little lighter every three or four weeks keeps you improving instead of grinding.

How long until it shows

Beginners often improve within a few weeks. Runners with more experience usually need 8 to 12 weeks of steady training to see a clear change. Test yourself with a race or a solo time trial every two or three months, not every week: each test costs a few days of recovery.

Sleep, a little strength training twice a week and eating enough all help too. A persistent pain, or one that makes you limp, is a reason to rest and see a doctor or physiotherapist.

Read next

• Why most of your runs should be easy, and how easy is easy
• Strength training for trail runners: what, how much and when

Sources

1. Midgley AW, McNaughton LR, Jones AM. Training to enhance the physiological determinants of long-distance running performance: can valid recommendations be given to runners and coaches based on current scientific knowledge? Sports Medicine, 2007; 37(10): 857–880.
2. Billat LV. Interval training for performance: a scientific and empirical practice. Part 1: aerobic interval training. Sports Medicine, 2001; 31(1): 13–31.
3. Seiler S. What is best practice for training intensity and duration distribution in endurance athletes? International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance, 2010; 5(3): 276–291.