How to break 20-minutes for 5km
People impose several key boundaries on all sports; in running, these include the 4-minute mile to the 2-hour marathon. They are all the next boundary that draws people into their next challenge. Breaking 20 mins for 5km is a crucial milestone for many athletes, and in this article, Coach Philip looks at how to make that possible.
The Simple Maths
First, look at what 5km in 20 mins means. Clearly, it means holding 4min/km for 5km. This sounds straightforward - what could be harder!? Hit that number…but let’s think about what that means outside of the simple maths and how we can make it more applicable to training.
For a sub-20min 5k, your threshold pace must be 4:15 min/km. This is important to understand. You will be running just faster than your threshold. Therefore training needs to be specific (make you more naturally feel your 4 min/km pace) and needs to be intensive – you need to have an excellent anaerobic component of your speed. You must have a good ability to race a little faster than your threshold, so your body needs to be well-trained in using lactate and not slowing down too much as a result. Go too fast early on, and you will build too much lactate and will slow down. Go too slow, and you will feel better, but you may miss that target.
Training methodology is covered in so many corners of the internet. Hill reps, fartlek, 400m repeats, 1km repeats etc., are all the different types of sessions that will help. So too, will strength work, plyometrics, and also the obvious - don’t get injured. We won't go into any specific training session or plans, but here are some example test sessions you can use to give you an idea of the sort of thing you could do:
6x1km repeats hitting 4 mins/km shortening the recoveries
800m repeats at 3:45, again shortening the recoveries.
You can play with the recovery or the durations to make the session a little hard each time. This should be around a normal mix of training sessions, including longer easy runs etc. etc.
Train for Effort
Let’s talk about racing smart. There is a very loose equation in running since the use of running power meters:
Running speed = running power x running effectiveness.
You may not have come across two metrics: running power and running effectiveness.
Running power could be equated to physiological effort. Ultimately, this is what you are training - can you increase your capacity for work? There is an anaerobic and aerobic capacity of power. But the key part or focus should be that you can’t do much about this in the race itself - it’s all fixed in training. Running effectiveness has several components that make it up: biomechanics and fatigue, to name a few.
It’s running effectiveness that you can change on race day. There is an increase in running effectiveness with freshness. So peaking and being fresh on the day greatly affects how much speed you can squeeze out per watt.
Earlier, we mentioned how strength could improve your speed. And it can. However, what is more likely, especially given the intensity you have to work at to hit that 20-minute breakthrough time, is that you will fatigue. Limiting the impact of this fatigue will keep your efficiency high and mean you can remain on track for the target time. Trunk stability is probably the most obvious area to focus on. Can you sustain excellent trunk control for about 20 mins under fatigue? Thinking about your running form can actually improve your speed (as shown by the equation above) without impacting your effort, especially in that final few minutes. Hill reps, where you work on trunk control (not just getting to the top quickly), can help your trank stability and help reduce the power loss in the final couple of km.
Warm-up for success
The other area that people need to look at in order to break 20 mins for 5km is their warm-up. If you are looking at breaking 20 mins, there is a strong chance that most of your runs are longer than 30 mins. Think about when you normally feel ready to go in your run sessions; it is unlikely to be in the first 5, 10 or even 15 minutes. It is probably after about 20 minutes of warming up and running. In the same way, if you are doing intervals, the first one or two intervals may feel a bit rusty, but it won't be until you get past those two that you start really hitting your groove. Use this information to build a warm-up routine that works for you. Often athletes are nervous about doing too much in their warm-up in case the fatigue in the race. However, the reality is that if you have peaked well, you will be more than fresh enough; therefore, you may as well make sure your body is ready to work hard. Here are a few helpful guidance points to individualise your warm-up:
Notice how long you normally take before you feel you are running well in all your sessions. This could be 10-15 minutes. Use this time as your easy warm-up pre-race.
Do you have any physio or injury prevention exercises that you need and should be doing? Often these help activate muscles that regularly shut off. use these as part of your activation.
A 5km will be raced above your threshold pace. Therefore, you need to think about activating your full range of energy systems. You need to do some harder efforts to get your heart rate right up to its full range before you start.
Once you have worked all this out, you know how long it will take – it could be 40-45 mins worth of warming up. This gives you some structure to plan your race. You want to finish the warm-up a few minutes before the race starts so your heart rate is still relatively high and you are ready.
The Winning Strategy
Tactically running the 5km you are capable of is down primarily to good pacing and tactics. However, most races have other people present. Therefore, you need to work with them for your gain. If you find yourself in a group, take advantage of the draft effect of other runners. If there is a choke point in the course (often Park Runs have one), then get into the right position to control your pace rather than have your pace controlled by others. Finally, use people as targets to hunt down in the final 1 km or so. When you have less than 5 mins to go, you can start hunting people to the line. You will be surprised how much faster you can go if you are trying to catch that person with the red top on the way down the final 200m. Competition helps! In the first half of the race, though, you need to be disciplined enough to hold your pace and let other people go if you need to and catch them up later. Don't head off at a 3:30 min/km pace because others do – just settle into the right rhythm and pace for you and hit that 4:00 min / km pace. It is easier to pick it up in the final mile than hanging on because you went too fast!
We looked at how to break 1hr 30 mins in a sprint distance triathlon, and there may be some tips here that will help you unlock that potential. Remember, for those of you wanting to break 20 mins a triathlon sprint distance triathlon 5km; you may need to be able to run a standalone 5km closer to 18 mins to allow for fatigue and about 45+ mins worth of work before you start
Good luck!
Philip is the founder of Tri Training Harder LLP. He’s a British Triathlon Level 3 coach, and has been coaching for over a decade and is involved with mentoring and developing other coaches.
Philip has have coached athletes to European and World AG wins, elite racing, many Kona qualifications, IRONMAN podiums and AG wins.
Alongside the conventional development through many CPD courses, he has also been fortunate enough to work alongside experts in the fields of Physiotherapy, Strength and Conditioning, Nutrition, Psychology, Biomechanics, Sports Medicine. Putting this knowledge into practice he has worked with thousands of athletes to various degrees, from training camps in Portugal and around Europe, clinics in the UK and online coaching.
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