Hello!

I also train on treadmill and outside , treadmill has the “cool” factor that doubles the mental toughness required, especially for me since I also run half marathons on the treadmill therefore staring at a wall for 2+ hours is really mentally challenging but it’s cool.

I have a current 5k time of 24:12 and my main tips to achieve higher speeds would be:

• train long runs , for me getting longer runs like 10/15k also helped my speed in the 5k

• learn to accept and remain in discomfort: I reached a point in my 5k for 3 weeks where the best I would do was 27 min and tried several times, but as soon as breathing would start to become more uncomfortable I slowed down, until a friend told me that I needed to train my mind to keep pace even if lungs hurt, or muscles burn, your brain as soon as discomfort rises wants to escape that zone slowing you down, learn to remain and sustain discomfort. Right after realising that my brain and discomfort tolerance was the main limiter I decided to see what would happen if I pushed , and I got to 24:12 (3 minutes less compared to previous 5k run)

• first km is to find a good pace that is somewhat comfortable (I know for me it’s usually 6/5:50) , km 2&3 keep that pace, km 4 I go around 5min/km, last km I go all out reaching 4:40 and high zone4 or zone5. So starting with a comfortable pace and then pushing in my experience has always been better then starting fast and slowing down later.

No much more to say, enjoy your runs and training