What is your 5k personal best?

indesisiv wrote: »

Not true any more .... my 5k PB is now 19:14.

Congratulations on the improvement, great time! :T

I'm still trying to go sub-20. My times stagnated badly over the winter, until I went for a mid-week run a couple of weeks back and unintentionally ran negative splits at a decent pace for just over 4 miles. I hadn't been getting close to my parkrun PB (running 21:30-22:00 with a PB of 21:09) at that point but decided that I could probably beat it, so I targeted a sub-21 pace at my next parkrun. I ended up running 20:36, and both my parkruns since then have been under 21:00.
To go back to Malthusian's point earlier, and the OP, that sub-21 pace had my lungs burning afterwards! I read recently that 5k is difficult because you're running as close as you can to flat out, and I guess that's why my times had suffered - I got into a mental rut of "that's about my pace", without realising that I was no longer pushing particularly hard to get a 21:30.
I now have a solid plan for running a sub-20 parkrun; when I'm able to run at 20:30 for a couple of weeks, I'm going to force myself to run with the 20 minute pacer and just hang on for as long as possible. I know that won't be an easy or comfortable pace - but it will be satisfying when I see 19:xx in my results text message. And of course, the faster you run, the less time you feel the pain!

FWIW, my first parkrun almost three years ago was a 26:03 and I've always been rubbish at sport. If you want to go faster, training works

BrookesAndrew wrote: »

Great to hear everyone is looking to go faster and faster.

Not sure I'll be able to go faster and faster! I'll be happy to maintain a level for a little while, and not fall off too much as I get older.
I did a 19:40 parkrun last year when I was 58, but my best level 5k as part of a longer road run is 19:23. I cycle much more than run these days, so I can't see me improving on those times.

Mine is 26:26. I took a whole 38 seconds off this week! I'm training for a half marathon and I can really feel the long runs raising my fitness levels. Previous PB was earnt in the throes of training for a 10k. I like 10ks (all three that I've done!), but I think I may like HM distance more. We'll see!

My first parkrun 18 months ago was 35:27 and it was one of the hardest runs I've ever done - 5k on literally no training - I totally understand why people give up after just 1 run and I'm so glad I stuck it out.

I'm not particularly interested in faster and faster; I like to be outside (and alone!) and running is a great excuse. I find a huge motivation in having a race - any race - to train for.