Run a 5K in under 25 minutes

I started jogging in mid January, when I realised I was over 30 pounds over weight. By march I ran my first 5k Race in under 30 minutes. By May I had shaved off all those extra pounds and up ‘til now have stayed in good shape, but I now feel the need of new objectives to stay focused on the cardio part of my exercise routine. Let’s see if I can get it done by December.

A year ago I ran the Memorial Day Human Race 5K in Meadville in 28:47. Since then I’ve run some more 5Ks, but my best time was 26:42 back in April of this year. Today I ran the same course that I ran last year in 24:13, well under 25 minutes. I forgot my inhaler and had to drop to a walk at one point so I could breathe or I would’ve cracked 24 minutes. What a difference a year makes, 4:34 off my time.

This photo is me and my mom doing our pre-race warm up. She took 2nd place in her age category. I was 5th in mine.

I ran the 5k in 23 minutes. I didn’t stop running/jogging at all the whole time. Now I need to learn how to use my stride effectively, because at the end of the race, I was extending my legs to go faster, and I heard somebody in the crowd say “Look at how long that guy’s stride is” ... I didn’t make use of my log stride—instead, I just went at a small stride pace, afraid that a long stride would tire me out. I’ll have to give it a shot at my next 5k and see if I can get the same time there.

As an aside, I’m 6’3” and my legs are probably 3.5 to 4 feet long, so I have a tremendous stride if I used it.

I have only ever run a 5k once before, but I ended up getting 25 minutes. I don’t know if I did really well or worse than I could/should do. The reason I say that is because when I ran it, it was literally 10 degrees outside, at 8am (I like to sleep in) and I wore a sweatshirt and jeans and had no training beforehand.

But, as a disclaimer to anybody who is trying extra hard to beat 25 min and wondering how I can start cold and get 25 minutes… I am basically “designed” to be a runner if I wanted to—long legs and lean.

But, I am hoping to get < 25 min this weekend. We shall see… I’ll keep ya’ll posted.

Since I have not run a 5K this year yet and am not planning on running my first of the year until May or June, I guess that I will have failed at this “personal challenge.”

My focus is really more on endurance for the 10K as opposed to speed for the 5K.

Jogged to the track last night. It’s great that the sun is out so much later now. Once I got there it was empty and I started my workout-fast on the straights and easy/rec on the curves. Each lap I ran, the sun set a bit more and I said one more lap. Ran only a mile on the track and then 3/4 there and then back. Had to do a quick run to get to the pool before it closed.

*Tonight the run was better than on the treadmill at the gym! Even though I was alone and since it was a bit in the middle of nowhere-made me a bit nervous as it got darker.

Liked this speed workout today. 1.5 mile warm up gradually. then 800m intervals/400 recovery did 3 of them.

Ran 4.25 today=the most.

As long my 10K goes well w/out injuries…I will run this local 5K. I ran it last year and got a PR at the time. It is a fast, flat course.

Went out for a long, easy run this morning in the park with my husband. 4 miles easy…I’m working towards my 10K as well…It was cold but felt good. I’m glad he’s training for a marathon so we can do our long runs together.

This was my last 5K race and it was XC. It was my PR so by next spring I’m hoping to go sub 25.

Working on intervals, tempo runs and long runs right now.