Hello all!

I'm 24, started running a couple of months back and have worked my way up to 5k. Im currently running that in about 37mins and I usually take a 2 minute and a 3 minute walking break in that time.

I've entered one of the race for life 5k's which is taking place is just under 2 weeks time. Now that I know I can run 5k, Im looking to run it in the best time possible.

Does anybody have any tips on increasing my speed over the next 2 weeks? I know its not a lot of time in which to improve but any small tips would be much appreciated!

Tanx!

Hello bone idle, best of luck with the 5k in a couple of weeks. It is unlikely you will get much of a speed improvement in two weeks. Usually I reckon it to take 6 weeks for speed training to take effect so I would think longer term if you want to get faster. Have you any other events planned for the future?

Leading up to the event just stick with your regular training routine and eat well.

I agree - 2 weeks won't make much of a difference, but well done for starting running. As a beginner, the single most important thing you can do is to gradually increase the duration of your runs. Donlt think about going faster, think about going longer. There are more health and overall fitness benefits in going from 30 minutes to 60 minutes than in going from 35 minutes 5k to 30 minutes 5k. When you can run comfortably for one hour, you will notice that your 5k time drops considerably anyway. Then is the time to start some more structured training if you feel like it.

Tanx for the advice! I guess it was a bit ambitious to expect to improve my speed in 2 weeks! I think my plan will be to enter another 5k in July and hope to improve on my time then. I also want to increase the length of my runs, like Greg mentioned and aim for a 10k in a few months.