5K in 20 minutes…19 minutes 18, 23? What’s the difference

Indeed, what is the difference between doing a 5 K in 19 minutes or 23 minutes? The hilarious response, of course, is 4 minutes. But you saw that one coming.

Essentially, there is not that much difference in the TYPE of training you need to do for each: Long runs, medium length, quite fast intervals and shortish length fast intervals.

As you get faster in your 5k times, it’s not really the case that you need to do more fast training. That’s certainly NOT the case. You just need to do MORE training. i.e., More volume – and that increased volume includes faster training.

As you get faster, normally, you can handle greater volumes AND greater intensities. So your fast training is faster than it was when you were slower…doh! BUT you are better able to cope with that training, respond to it, and recover from it more quickly.

An exception would be newer aspiring athletes. You have to sort out your long runs. Look for ‘coupled state’ on this blog and online. Essentially, that marks the point where you can probably safely proceed to more intensive interval training.

However, you must keep up your training in all areas; otherwise, at some point, perhaps after a month or so injury break, the area that you were previously lacking comes back to haunt you, and you can’t quite compensate in other areas. So I’d been advised, for medical reasons, to avoid the intervals for a while – which I dutifully did. I do a lot of cross-training, and my times seem to hold up. Come a running injury and a forced break, then I return to running after a complete 6-week rest, and my 5k times are WAY down by over 3 minutes.

But then it is quite interesting to see how my good endurance base enables me to start eating into those 3 minutes very quickly.

Related articles

• 7 Training Ideas That Changed My 5k Running Forever (the5krunner.com)
• Training For Your First Marathon (26.2 miles – 42.2 kilometres) (njmarathon.wordpress.com)
• Interval Training is WOW! (acidtoalkalineliving.wordpress.com)
• How fast does your heart beat? (jennapettinato.wordpress.com)
• On Being Slow – Running with Atrial Fibrillation (afibrunner.wordpress.com)

Last Updated on 5 May 2026 by the5krunner

the5krunner

tfk is the founder and author of the5krunner, an independent endurance sports technology publication. With 20 years of hands-on testing of GPS watches and wearables, and competing in triathlons at an international age-group level, tfk provides in-depth expert analysis of fitness technology for serious athletes and endurance sport competitors. ID