How to Run Faster: By An Average Runner

I went from running a 28-minute 5K to breaking 18 minutes in just 10 weeks.

Not because I suddenly became more talented. Not because I ran every single day. And definitely not because I went out every session trying to chase a PB.

It came down to a simple, repeatable approach that I actually stuck to.

If you are trying to run faster, this might help you cut through the noise.

The biggest mistake I was making

For a long time, I thought getting faster meant running harder. Every run turned into a PB attempt. Every session felt like it had to prove something just for the Strava kudos.

That approach plateaued me for a long time but what finally worked was doing less, and doing it properly.

1. Running just three times a week

This is probably the part that surprises people the most.

I only ran three times a week.

That gave me enough stimulus to improve, but more importantly, it gave my body time to adapt. There is a lot of evidence that performance gains don’t actually happen during the run itself, they happen in the recovery phase after. If you constantly stack sessions without recovering, you blunt those adaptations.

I kept it simple:

One faster session (intervals, tempo, or progression)
One easy run
One longer steady run

That balance meant I was building speed without burning out.

2. Sleep and nutrition mattered more than I expected

This was the real game changer.

I started treating sleep as part of training, not something separate. Research consistently shows that sleep is critical for recovery, muscle repair, and endurance performance. Poor sleep has been linked to reduced strength, slower reaction times, and decreased endurance capacity.

There are even studies showing athletes who extend their sleep can literally run faster and perform better in sprint efforts.

With young children it’s incredibly tough but as much as I coudl, I stuck to the following:

7 to 9 hours sleep
Prioritising sleep before harder sessions

Nutrition followed the same mindset. Carbohydrates fuel performance, especially for harder efforts, and going into runs under-fuelled just leads to slower times and worse sessions.

I didn’t overcomplicate it, I just made sure I was:

Eating properly before runs
Refuelling after runs
Staying hydrated

Simple, but massively effective.

3. Listening to my body (this is where most people go wrong)

You are going to get aches. That is part of running.

The difference is learning which aches are normal and which ones are warning signs.

There is a big gap between:

General soreness from training
Pain that changes your stride or lingers

Pushing through the wrong kind of pain is one of the fastest ways to stall progress or get injured.

I started adjusting sessions based on how I felt. If something didn’t feel right, I eased off. If I felt good, I leaned into it.

That flexibility kept me consistent, but also helped me realise, even if I don’t feel 100%, still turning up and running is increbily beneficial when stacked over weeks.

4. Stop chasing a PB every run

This one took a while to accept.

Not every run is meant to be fast.

In fact, most runs shouldn’t be.

There is a well-established principle in endurance training where the majority of runs are kept easy, with a smaller portion at higher intensity. This helps improve aerobic capacity while avoiding overtraining.

Once I stopped trying to “win” every run:

My easy runs actually became easy
My hard sessions became more effective
I had something left when it actually mattered

I saved my PB effort for the end of the 10 weeks.

And that is when everything clicked.

What actually made the difference

Looking back, it wasn’t one magic workout.

It was stacking the basics:

Consistent but manageable training
Proper recovery through sleep
Fueling the work
Paying attention to how my body felt
Being patient enough to build towards one proper effort

That is what took me from 28 minutes to sub-18.

Final thoughts

Running faster is not about constantly doing more. It is about doing the right things consistently.

If you are stuck, try simplifying your approach instead of adding more to it.

Run a few times a week. Recover properly. Be patient.

Then, when the time comes, go all in.

That is when the progress shows up.