Decent 5K time for fast(er) runners?

My goal is to win my age group which depending on the course and time of year is usually between 20 to 22 min.

I'm pretty new to 5ks and have only run once race. The time was 28-29. My goal is 27 then I'll start thinking about working up to a 10k. By the way I'm a 22yr old female, and I am NOT a runner, neither speed nor distance. So my goal is pretty modest.

We call Scott "Speedy" :laugh: ......I'd kill for a 25 min 5K and have yet to bust 2hrs for a half-marathon (and I'm pretty middle of the pack for my age group)

This is me. I just missed a sub 2 hr half (2:01) and have done one 5k under 25. So a fast 5k for me is sub 25.
You have to be a lot faster than that to win the age groups around here.
18 for the guys, 20 for women.

I can run a 5K in 24 minutes 30 seconds on good day. I know people who train a lot can do it in 20 minutes or less.

My best 5k was 24:59, and I have won a couple age group medals, but only in very small races that took place on the same day as bigger races that all the really good runners went to instead. :laugh:

My best 10k was 53:17, and I took 2nd place for my age group, because it was raining and there were only two of us in that age group. :blushing:

I don't have a goal time anymore because I got burnt out on racing and it stopped being fun. I still run, but I don't care about time all that much.

I'm a HUGE advocate of running further, so you have more stamina for the shorter runs: my original 5k time improved massively once I was running 10k, and 10k once I was running halves. As I tend to run half marathon distance + once a week, a 5k for me anyway is a bit of a sprint: I can normally just belt it and still have the stamina to finish (although I've not been able to crack the 24 minute mark by myself- that bit of extra adrenaline on race day seems to get my legs moving a bit more).

So, on that note I'd say increase your distance and the stamina for the increased speed will come on the shorter runs. However, fartlek's have also helped me massively.

My best 10k was 53:17, and I took 2nd place for my age group, because it was raining and there were only two of us in that age group. :blushing:

:laugh: :laugh: I did a sprint duathlon last year where I was first & last in my AG! (I didn't hang around for a gold lanyard!)

My strategy is to outlive my "competitors"........

We've got an 80 year old who still races.
And a 75 + ironman competitor.

I started running on 4/30/12. I weighed in at 306 lbs and was in terrible shape, morbidly obese to be exact. I decided to start running using the Galloway Easy 5k app. Since I was convinced there was a good chance of dying on my run I would ran laps around my local fire dept. That way if anything went wrong I could crawl or yell out for help. The first couple of weeks I was averaging around 16 minute miles. After the 5k program I moved up to the 10k program and then the half marathon program. All the while running was helping me drop the weight.

On 8/19/12 I ran my first official 5k and finished it in 27:50. My goal was to beat 30 minutes. On 9/30/12 I ran my first official 10k on my 40th birthday and on the 5 month mark from starting to run. My goal was to beat one hour and I finished it in 54:40. Next up was the Disney World Half Marathon on 1/ 12/13. I wasn't sure what my goal was going to be. All my practice half's were in the 2:30 range. Training in the cold though made me think a 2:20 finish might be possible. When we got to Disney the weather was much warmer than normal so a fast race was unexpected. Once the race started I had to use the bathroom in mile 1 so I thought 2:30 might be a reach. I pushed myself though and ran the best I ever had. I finished with a 1:56,44 time abd best of all weighing 191 lbs, down 115 from the start of my running. After the Half I was a little burned out on running so I focused on spin class and other cardio classes.

On 5/18/13 I ran my first race in 5 months. It was a 5k and my goal was to beat my fastest practice 5k time of 24:59. I ended up running it in 22:04. In the race I ran my fastest mile ever at 6:19. The next weekend was a special race for me. It was the charity 10k for the fire dept that I ran laps around a year earlier. My goal for the race was to beat my best practice 10k time of around 52 minutes. I finished this race in 47:04.

I am currently training for my next race, the Dumbo Double Dare race at Disneyland. This is a combination of a 10k on Saturday and then a half on Sunday. I am going to go a little easier for these two races though.

I think everything between 25 and 30´ is fine for an amateur runner, my personal record is 26 min, but i always run the first 5 minutes at 50% of my capacity, to avoid injuries, no matter how slow we run, we are still lapping everyone on the couch.

Keep running!