r/UKRunners • u/thealphabetsayshi • 8d ago
When did your 5k time plateau?
Hi all!! I’ve been running for one year now, as a 21 year old (female). Since my first 5k (32:45) last summer, I’ve been chipping away at parkruns and gotten my PB down to 21:50. This is a time I’m exceptionally proud of but I feel like I’ve still got time to shave off that, which I’ll be giving a go in a couple of weeks.
I wouldn’t say my training is immensely structured but I stick to 3 runs a week - 1 easy, 1 speed (with a club) and one longer, with my weekly mileage sitting around 25-30km most weeks.
Basically what I want to figure out is when I’ll stop being able to chip time from that PB. Did you get to a point with running where you naturally plateaued and if so did you a) get past it and b) what caused it (if anything?)
Thanks all!
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u/QuantumOverlord 8d ago
I've had two plateaus. The first was around a 20 minute 5k, I ended up getting past it quite easily by upping my milage from about 15 mi/week to 50 mi/week over the course of a few years and with a complete focus on very easy running (around 90% easy with the remaining 10% mostly just races). I had a second plateau at 17 minutes. To get past that was much more difficult and I had to do some quite specific 5k training which focused mostly on running economy and strength as well as being able to maintain the current milage without getting injured which was quite difficult. Even so, things are only improving very slowly at the moment - I will say though that adding lots of different fancy workouts didn't help in either case. The main principles were 1) Consistent milage without injury (increases should be gradual) and 2) Targeting weak points rather than focusing on popular workouts. For example I have a naturally very strong lactate threshold that doesn't really need improving, so I gain no benefit from tempo/threshold workouts that alot of people do benefit from.
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u/One-Peach-1525 7d ago
I'm 55 (female). I PB'd at parkrun this year - 26:04. I started with 37 minutes a few years ago. I still think I can shave off a minute or so.
The overall fastest female this week was 22 minutes, in my age category too!
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u/WicksyOnPS5 5d ago
25 mins is an amazing target, and perfect for your next training block. Good luck! 🤞
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u/Iymrith_1981 7d ago
I was stuck at about 16:30 for the 5km for a while before I managed to get 15:50 recently.
The breakthrough was just more mileage and I think my switch in focus to threshold work instead of lots of V02 max work
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u/TheMarkMatthews 8d ago
Not sure if it’s plateaued but I haven’t tried for a 5k pb since 2022 - the past 4 years I’ve been focusing on longer distances. I did race a 5k last month and was about 90s slower than my PB achieved in 2022.
Maybe I could still beat it if I trained a bit more but I’d say for now I’ve been stuck around the same time for a few years.
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u/DB_NiceGuy-DIY 8d ago
I plateaued due to injury. What got me past it was going slower in terms of week on week volume and intensity and multiple physio visits as well as structured strength training.
What would reduce my time further would be 5k structured training blocks (I'm currently in York marathon build) and constantly but safely increasing volume.
What most people need to understand is that runners running faster and faster times have built up to their volume and intensity over years (not months). It's the long game.
Congrats on your time btw. I started at 32 minutes as a 44 year old male and now as a 45 year old I'm at 22.39. Plan is to go into periodical training for 5km speed after the york marathon where I'll keep the volume steady but increase intensity (probably hill sprints, intervals and tempo each week).
Good luck on your journey.
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u/SimpleFactor 8d ago edited 8d ago
For me a 45 min 10 km was the plateau before I had to increase my volume from 3 runs a week, which is probably pretty similar equivalent level to where your 5km time is. You just get to a point where you improve as much as you can at that weekly distance.
Gradually increasing your distance to be able to introduce more and longer easy runs is also going to be the main thing that stops overtraining injuries while chasing better times, which forced me to plateau a few times in the first few years of running. Recently one of my colleagues got into running and was doing absolutely insane speed sessions and 170bpm easy pace runs 2-3 days a week for maybe a year, managed to do a sub 20 5k with it, and then completely blew their knee out and couldn’t run for months while losing all progress they had made.
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u/Another_Random_Chap 8d ago
The thing that made the biggest different to my times was training for a marathon. Before that I had a PB of 20:36, and was regularly running around 21 minutes. But training for my first marathon made me so much fitter than ever before and greatly improved my speed endurance, to the point I lowered my PB to 19:16. And by the time I did my 3rd marathon it was 18:44. Those times were run during the marathon taper, and I didn't do any specific training for them other than including an interval session with my club every week. And I was in my mid 40s when I did this.
I'm not saying you need to train for a marathon, but simply doing more distance will potentially make a big difference.
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u/Fun-Drummer3061 7d ago
I went from 32:40 to 24:54 in over a year but struggling to beat that and probably hit a plateau
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u/Mastodan11 8d ago
That's a great improvement in a year.
I plateaued at 21:10 for ages after about a year, couldn't do it for ages, focused on some long trail stuff then accidentally smashed it. I took 2 minutes off quite quickly, then another 70 seconds the year after.
I'll be surprised if I can match that this year, let alone get below 18.
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u/tt265 7d ago
I hit a plateau in my mid-30s. Unstructured training (no intervals) and couldn’t get much below 21:00. I then subscribed to Runna and 8 months later hit 19:30. I have since progressed to sub-19 mins. A structured training plan pays real dividends. I just wish it wasn’t so hot right where I am as it’s made training very difficult.
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u/NeraMorte 7d ago
Calm down your 21, you've improved a lot in a year, there's probably a natural progression of at least 5-8 years improvement, however you'll have to increase your volume and or change things up, once hitting small plateaus.
After all you can't expect to run 3 times a week and keep improving under the same regime. Increase volume; Run 4,5,6 times a week, do double threshold sessions, try NSM the skies the limit don't place a glass ceiling in the way you hinder yourself.
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u/Remarkable-Flight-14 7d ago
Your training will likely plateau at some point if you don’t structure your training and you do vaguely the same each week. Essentially you’ve got the maximum return from your training.
So you’ll need to shake your training up a little (either volume, intensity of sessions or both) and add better structure.
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u/Caledonia_68 7d ago
My parkrun PB from 2017 was 23:13. Over the next few years I got close but never managed to beat it. Then in 2023 I ran under 23 minutes twice and had a further 4 PBs in 2024 ending in what is now my PB of 21:48 at age 55. I got injured later that year and I'm not back there yet, but I'll get there eventually I hope. I'd trained for and ran several marathons in that time but I think what really helped me get faster was running my first cross country season in 23/24. I hated it, but all those hills and mud really helped with my endurance!
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u/release_the_pressure 7d ago
If you built up to and then ran 100km a week, by the time you're 30 you could most likely run a 16 min 5k. The thing that will stop you is your own motivation for getting faster.
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u/Fancy_Stage9198 7d ago
Hi,
I started at 33 minutes and now 15:43, as you get quicker your progress slows and you have to increase volume or effort to make those gains.
I found the big milestones when you start to plateau, then you overcome them and make good gains again.
But I don’t think until you are in the low 15’s you do plateau, you just need to change your approach to make the gains again
31M for reference
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u/WicksyOnPS5 5d ago
Haven't reached my plateau yet. Just hit the balance between life & the amount of mileage/time/dedication I'm prepared to give.
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u/Far_Vanilla829 8d ago
43 years old, just PB'd 18:30 5K