Running 5K and 10K in basically the same time!

Nath7

Hi - advice please!

I run twice a week - one 5K, one 10K. Last Friday I ran my 10K in 48:58 (which is good for me!), and the last 5km took 23:48. Strava tells me this is the second-fastest 5K I've run since I was young and fit (!), so today I thought I'd push my 5K... and it took me 23:58.

This has been the problem for a while - I don't seem to be able to run much faster over 5K than I do over 10K. Any thoughts on why this might be?!

DT19

It's hard to suffer enough to run a 5k flat out in training. I underperform comparatively in 5k but there's still a difference. Perhaps when we can get yourself too a race and see if that nudges it on. 

Donnie2

Can't really provide an answer although I'm in the same situation with almost identical times. This happened when I trained for my first marathon (2014), and has continued ever since although, in fairness, my most treasured yearly goal is to keep the marathon I've run each year at sub 4. Basically a sub 4 marathon comes in ahead of taking a minute or so of my 10k time. I can keep going but can't change lane if that makes sense. I've built stamina but have no change of pace.