I Improved my 5k by 3 Minutes in 3 Months

This is the story of how I improved my 5k time by 3 minutes in only 10 weeks
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[@rohobok2890]

"I was so out of shape" *runs 17 min 5k*

[@andrealyons4718]

Right! This guy! 😂

[@GrimeyShark]

For him that is very out of shape. Not for the average person

[@andrealyons4718]

@@GrimeyShark That's why it is so amazing!

[@nolandproductions]

Fastest way to get in 15min 5k pace… be in 15min 5k pace before an injury 😂

[@allie_ostrander]

You’re my king AND local legend

[@callumbomb]

Awww

[@Jean-uw7uk]

❤

[@John_772]

Your a freaking beast at running to girl

[@Smokeizi]

Bro really "yes kinged" spencer brown 💀

[@bradthorpe3480]

I ran a 14:55 3 mile in 1971 and got lapped by Frank Shorter. It really illustrates your times are relative to your level of competition. Love your channel.

[@TommyShlong]

As fast as Frank Shorter was, Prefontaine smoked him in every track distance they both competed in.

[@bigjoey1114]

MOVING TO BOULDER LETS GOOOOOO!

[@HaithamSweity]

I wish you spoke about how you improved your time not just race recaps

[@jazzyjay4595]

Not too much of a secret to training anymore. Moderately high mileage that you can handle. Regularly training at LT1 and LT2 (different lactate thresholds). Regularly doing hills and speed sessions. Semi regularly doing long runs. Do that for 3 months consistently and literally anyone is going to get faster. It’s the “consistently” part that people struggle with.

[@kylestephens9593]

@@jazzyjay4595 dude, he just got back to where he was before, it's not a PR. 😂i doubt if he did any of the things that you described. he raced every weekend, probably ran some tempos and mostly easy miles in the other days and that's it.

[@jazzyjay4595]

@@kylestephens9593 I’m aware. I follow his Strava. Which is an even bigger case for why would someone care what he did? Like I said, there’s no secret to training anymore. Plenty of science if you just take the time to read. It’s not like Spencer was doing some secret workout that we haven’t heard of before

[@jellekraak7930]

@@kylestephens9593he never said it was a pr tough did he?

[@kylestephens9593]

@@jellekraak7930 @jazzyjay4595 (dood i was replying to) replied to op with his question about what Spencer did to improve. i replied to HIM that Spencer (The Athlete Special) didn't need all of that (partly because he raced every weekend which allows you to skip speed sessions) because he got back to form, he didn't actually improve. AKA he didn't PR.

[@krakhour2]

This is misleading. I am a big fan dont get me wrong. But he didnt improve 3 minutes. He was injured and then dropped his time back to about where it was before the injury. I remember before the injury him running 3000 on the track and running in college meets in 8.30.So he was always 14.30 guy. So lets be real he needs to train like a sub 14 minute guy and then when he breaks 14 Im gonna be happy as that is something I havent seen from him. Its like me with a PR of 15.58 running a 18.58 then slowly getting into shape and saying I dropped my time 3 minutes. Its true but its misleading cause you have been there and done that before. Not a PR ..Thats what we want to see.

[@aquietmomentinmind]

No need for this Negativity 👎

[@DavidMorris-yw8jg]

I totally agree that it’s misleading. As a Brit I didn’t have a clue who he was but I checked online and he clearly has some track pedigree. He was just injured and returned to his previous level.

[@vlid0]

​@@aquietmomentinmind cry me a river. First time on this channel and the title is definitely misleading. If you like to be mislead, that's your problem. Don't call people calling that out negative. I certainly am not going to be a fan.

[@tquasa07]

His thing was to run fast middle distance times, set PRs.... didn't happen, he was 2-3 seconds off the 800m personal best when he made his push for greatness about 6-12 months ago, but he was a whopping 15 seconds off of his lifetime 1500m PB and 10 seconds approximately off of the lifetime mile PB! This indicates that Spencer not only wasn't in the same shape as his lifetime college best, which is obvious, but that his speed was closer to his previous best speed, compared to his endurance.

[@Gotthesoupandpotato]

Did you skip the beginning of the vid ?

[@electro479]

Watched this from the beginning amazing running

[@karlismymiddlename]

I watched this video from the end in reverse

[@electro479]

I meant the series xD 😂

[@josguil]

I have to side with the people saying the title is clickbaiting. The video should mention that he was already running on those times pre injury to not create some false sense of "I can't improve my times like that I'm not doing enough!" in other runners. Which could lead them to injuries.

[@wordmunger]

Whoah! You and Allie have both been teasing this and now the news is out! Boulder is awesome!

[@DLACZEGONIETV]

Don't want to be rude or smth but you're not actually telling us "how you improved" it's more like presenting the fact that you improved over this time. Don't get me wrong it is really amazing result and you freaking rock! but by the description I guess I was expecting more like a video that explains the process of training to get improvements like this ;p

[@tquasa07]

Awk awk

[@vgnrnr]

That was my take away, loved seeing the weekly progress, but what was a typical week like with training, diet etc

[@jamesgo1831]

Hate to break it to you, but you will never have this progression in 3 months. This guy is a sub 4 miler and has ran pretty much his whole life. He is just coming back from an injury and that's why he was running in the 17s. Going from 17 to 14 will take a few years (atleast 2) of running 100km+ weeks and being super consistent with threshold workouts, long runs, speed sessions and sandbagging with lots of easy mileage. There's a huge huge difference between running in the 17s and running in the 14s, like the fitness gap between these 2 people is so huge that it's tough to explain. You should try to break it down by taking off 30 seconds every few months or so, do a lot of threshold workouts and see them gradually get quicker and you should be able to gauge fitness from it. But this vid is clickbait asf and there is no chance you will be able to go from 17s to 14s in 3 months unless you have already been in 14 min shape before. That's why there's no real info in this video, coming from another 14 min runner.

[@MattRose30000]

"improved", more like "recovered".

[@DLACZEGONIETV]

@@jamesgo1831 Bro, I know that I am not going to progress like this, what I meant was about what I expected more or less. I'm curious how people train, how they manage their workouts and I like to see the progression to get some knowledge and maybe tweak some of my workouts. I know that I am not going to run like him xD but yeah, I also wanted to point that I didn't want to hate or smth, I really admire his skill for sure

[@Samuel19432]

The body will always remember what it has done in the past. No surprise you got back in shape so well. Glad you made a amazing recovery nonetheless 🤝

[@glenn0o0o]

Hoping I can get back into 3:28 marathon prediction in 10 weeks. Not getting any younger being 39

[@gabec.5514]

Congratulations Spence! I'll miss seeing the loot lake runs and the UW runs since I was hoping I'd see you there 😭 King of Boulder coming 🔜

[@Nathanws3]

No, we’ll just make the res the new loot lake

[@kayleeklages]

Allie filming the 3rd race was the most wholesome thing ❤ Love y'all

[@HogCr01]

Amazing video. I am currently training for a sub 15 15 during the xc season after a 16 31 sophomore year at altitude. This really gave me motivation to keep on staying on the grind. My race predictors right now say 15 40 and I am at altitude so hopefully I can pull off my goal like you.

[@TheBl4ckmamba]

Step 1: sandbag the first 5k

[@ranran3578]

Dude! U and Allie are a movie this year. Thx you to share low and high. Very sad that u move out of great Seattle area but looking forward to see the new chapter of your life!!!!

[@MyfanwyCollins]

Have been following and love that you did this because you seemed to really have fun.

[@EricS-uf9mv]

I just realized these 5k's are all out & backs with a hard stop turnaround. Not even a roundabout. So you're probably losing a MINIMUM of 5-6 seconds decelerating, coming to a dead stop, flipping, then accelerating again. This was a fun series. Excited to see you hitting the roads next.

[@AMTMM]

just a very disingenuous video because you didn't improve your 5K by 3mins, you just returned to fitness - anyone coming back to training would have a similar trajectory, but you're titling it like this for clicks/views from non-subscribers. disappointing bro.

[@Lancelliot7]

True inspiration. I cracked 16:00 a couple times in college but now I can barely get under 19:00. Staying on the grind 💪

[@Arr-runz]

Dude i loved this series

[@olegnovitski6987]

There are maybe less than 0,01% of runners who train regularly, who can run 5k under 18 min. So running under 18 min is really far from being out of shape, even for someone very talented in running.

[@Perrigoparkrun]

Good luck in Boulder Spencer! It was fun having you bring attention to parkrun, and would love to see you get to the Boulder parkrun to keep supporting the parkrun community. Seriously hope you have a chance to come back to our parkrun again someday, and in case you hadn't noticed, we had a runner come by and take the course record away from you just a couple weeks after you snagged it. 😮 Seeing both you and Allie running our parkrun again someday would be awesome!!

[@Brenden.Seipke]

Spencer, I don't know about everyone else but, I miss your videos bro. You're a true inspiration to me man. I know it has only been 11 days but still.

[@andrealyons4718]

This was so fun to watch! Congrats on bouncing back from an injury (which is so hard sometimes) and super excited for your (and I am assuming Allie's) move to Boulder! There is a chance that my son and I may move to Boulder next summer, and the more awesome runners that move there, the more hopeful I become that we will too! Boulder has become quite the running Meca over the years! Thanks for another great video!

[@corgicakie3822]

LETSSSS GOOOOO BOULDER IS SO MUCH FUN AND THE MOUNTAINS ARE AMAZING, JUST GET READY FOR THE WINTERS THO…

[@nehallavey-khan7209]

Great video, great series. Well done the Local Legend.

[@glenn0o0o]

It’s about consistency, doing a 5k all out week in week out, he was able to improve it week on week rather than skipping a week or 2 here and there. CONSISTENCY IS KEY

[@nancycarleton3064]

Great recap! Looking forward to seeing more videos from Boulder from the 2 of you!

[@ZachDaddy-vk5ot]

Hate to see this series go but love to see that he’s back 💪

[@trainwellracewell]

I had a feeling you guys would be moving to Colorado after tasting the altitude. We’ve been in Colorado Springs since 2012 and love it

[@brandonvincent8277]

-The Athlete Special- The Local Legend

[@SamRoux-hc3gl]

nice job Spencer you are a huge inspiration

[@JuanLopez42626]

What did your training look like to drop those times??

[@bcrruns1085]

Excellent video! Well done! So long legend and All hail the KING!

[@DUkE.SUPREMO]

Hey man love these videos.. just wondering how you structured your weekly running to manage the weekly 5k racing for 10wks?

[@Averagebum21]

You are such an inspiration, Spencer!

I just realized that at the place where you ran the May 4th 5K I had a PR mile that still stands.

[@xxL3g175n1P3rxx]

The King of Boulder is back! That gave me chills! LFG SPENCE!

[@tizioincognito.3330]

This video is the proof that talent beats and always will beat hard work. Sorry I deleted my previous messagge because of some losers' comments 😊

[@therunningtattooartist5172]

Haha my pb is 17:40!! Madness that this is your unfit pace

[@EmilyBrook987]

Can’t believe you guys are moving omg!!! WHAT A NEW CHAPTER! Damn the world of athletics won’t know what’ll hit them

[@DanielNowak-xj5oc]

Spencer Brown you still got it bro ! Congratulations!

[@indoorandoutdoorendurance3889]

King of Boulder! Looking Forward to More!

[@DaveGayer]

You need to king of Colorado, great series

[@ellenmoeller]

Moving HERE?!?!? I’m so excited!!!!

[@AndresVieyraOficial]

KING OF BOULDER LETS GOOOOO!

[@martingajardolizama9785]

But mate! Tell us what you actually did. What was your weekly millage ? Your workouts? Your recovery? We all want to know about it! Great video by the way.

[@C.W.435]

Did you create a video on the training regiment you did over these 10weeks or could should share some tips for an old head trying to get back into road running??

[@tommywadelton6305]

Ayoo! I live near Boulder, you'll love it out there. Hope to see you running out there some day

[@NathanJamesLarsen]

"The close to sub 15 the harder it becomes... " -- yes, this is a fact lol! This is wild though - crazy improvement over 3 months... sheesh.

[@christopherhamill525]

Just had my year and a half hiatus 5k return there off of effectively no training (had 2 25k weeks 6-7 weeks ago) and ran a 18min 24. Hoping I can pull off a local legend run of my own and beat my PB of 16 min 40 which was a weak time relative to my fitness back then. This series isn’t comparable to what my journey will look like I imagine but I’ll try my hardest to pb by summers end.

[@juliecrutchfield6065]

King of Boulder 😍

[@steventownley3342]

Where have I been I didn't know you did the sub 15 full focus on Allie great journey aswell

[@shayneknox6247]

So great!

[@jameshegeman5660]

Okay, this title is very misleading… You did not “improve your 5k time by 3:00” in the sense that anyone cares about. You were sitting around, recovering from injury… all the while still possessing all of the structural cardiovascular advantages of a great endurance runner (a more flexible left ventricle, superior capillary density, etc. - which you had slowly built up from years of training). You were returning to fitness, yes, but I wouldn’t say you “improved” your time. Detraining will greatly reduce glycogen stores, and also cause some muscle fiber type conversions from Type I, IIa -> Hybrid & Type IIx - all of which are detrimental to endurance performance but easily reversible. But detraining doesn’t take away the aforementioned structural changes to your heart or blood vessels, so it’s not like you developed those in just 10 weeks.

[@joshr2757]

Right?! There's nothing useful in this video, pure clickbait

[@ethanfeinstein9656]

That’s actually pretty legendary

[@alvarojrgalo926]

I would like to see him get away from the track slowly into the roads I see a good future in road racing

[@Jockuptown]

Is this satire? Or are you genuinely that out of touch? Lmao

[@againstdrivingdrunk614]

hahah local legend ! I will do magnuson sep hopefully? - J

[@joneaton3366]

Great stuff, that looked fun. Keep it up. What were your runs and workouts during the week in-between these 5k races please!?

[@GotDamBoi]

Boulder will be lit we need a serious runner collab

[@Hizzyfizzy15]

Charlie and Spence training together in Boulder? This is about to get crazy

[@jordanmccall9261]

Welcome to Colorado king

[@albertomoreno4999]

Bro said “Jedi sword” 😂

[@rundown132]

Weird mishmash of things just so that the vid can be over 10 mins

[@KelunnFrancis]

LOL Dude my fastest 5K is 20:16. You're super good

[@alohaday3480]

what was your training plan

[@jacksonm.6549]

As a regular parkrunner, I'm in the 5 minute mark of the video and must clarify something. A parkrun is NOT a race. There's no entry fee, no bib number and no prizes. There is no such thing as a winner in parkrun. We get first finishers. Parkruns are free timed events held on Saturdays that everyone is welcome to attend. K thanks bye. Now going back to finish the video.

[@kylestephens9593]

that dude is beating parkrun dads and teens in a casual saturday run and call it a win. lame also it would be good to for him to volunteer a few times at this free events to show respect to the organisers and other people that make these possible

[@nicolemartin8783]

Wow!

[@markbateman9222]

The important question is - what training were you doing between the 5Ks? I assume you were running regularly but were there any intervals? Tempos? Threshold efforts? If you weren't doing any of this stuff and still got sub 15 you should look forward to running well under 14 with more serious training!

[@ZackSmith-nk1et]

If he can get a 3 minute improvement without training, why can’t we? I did this last year; my PR in July was 19:37 and reached 16:52 in November… it’s not that hard if you’re consistent and train hard

[@user-cp3zw5vh8c]

What’s your training plan?

[@christopherhamill525]

Well he is a sub 4 miler who was returning from a major injury 🤷‍♂️. I cut 4 and a half minutes off of my 5 mile on the same course 4 months apart, the first as my return from injury race and the latter during a stretch I was peaking. Having your peak shape at one stage drop by 3 minutes in such a small timeframe is both unheard of and unlikely

[@DanielNowak-xj5oc]

Anything is possible bro ! Impossible is nothing

[@DanielNowak-xj5oc]

You are right Zack !

[@dimka11ggg]

@@christopherhamill525 what is kind of injury?

[@teddyjones6837]

Great video

[@shoessonig8170]

Me encantan tus videos carnal jajajaja, exactamente es lo que quiero hacer

[@PerryScanlon]

What was your PR before getting injured?

[@kylestephens9593]

his 5K PR was 14:21

[@anthonyjones955]

Run On threshold 1200m 1.30 recovery 1000m 1.30 recovery 800m 1 min recovery 600m 1 min recovery 400m 45 seconds recovery 200m 30 seconds recovery

[@cringeworld4646]

KING OF BOULDER

[@djjemo]

This is BS man.

[@RomeDrori]

Next Olympics you and Allie both better be representing usa

[@europaeuropa3673]

How did you determine how long to take off to allow the injury to heal?

[@alexanderalekhine2609]

Jumping on the subway to cut a mile off the course doesn't count as improving your 5K time.

[@douglasspencer9819]

you think seattle weather is crazy...just wait.

[@jlow2969]

did you do much zone 2 during the 10 weeks training?

[@ZhangyuSu]

Heart rate is slightly high i cant stand this high heart heart when i run

[@DanielEarlester]

The King is dead, long live the King.

[@incognitocooking8305]

amazing bruh 17:47 is close to my PR and you came off an injury

[@olekwieczorek3257]

He did, but he purpously says this whole "without training" things just to sound more impressive i guess. His 17:47 was simply his first run after injury, which caused him to take a break (around 10 weeks i think), and before it he ran 14:21 and sub4 mile. Also, nice 5k PR, mine is 18:11, hoping to crack 18 this year.

[@olekwieczorek3257]

He did, but he purpously says this whole "without training" things just to sound more impressive i guess. His 17:47 was simply his first run after injury, which caused him to take a break (around 10 weeks i think), and before it he ran 14:21 and sub4 mile. Also, nice 5k PR, mine is 18:11, hoping to crack 18 this year.

[@incognitocooking8305]

@@olekwieczorek3257 ik i was just saying starting back training with an injury

[@marianarzoiu8958]

How many years have you actually been trainin for?

[@therunningtattooartist5172]

What were you doing in between these 5ks?

[@kikoalfa2178]

Iu are great 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻😃

[@ladsvideos]

Love your videos Spencer but you can't say things like "Jedi sword" on the internet 😂

[@OpenedTabz]

JAA!!!!

[@joshuafong675]

shorts get shorter and shorter 😂

[@karlismymiddlename]

That’s what makes him faster

Do you live in Washington?

[@rafazvilla3067]

How many miles a week were you running during this?

[@skybirdnomad]

3min improvement from your post rehab time is kind of a garbage metric though don't you think? What was your best 5k time before your injury?

[@poll1051]

I think it was about 14:23. He ran that time in the video “5k race vs World Class Runners”

[@Bweyg]

@@poll1051 14:21 but yeah close enough.

[@user-zf5fv7nx8k]

Is 20:29 a good time for a 13yrs old with good genetics?

[@cringeworld4646]

why lane 3?

[@D6Soldier]

Big ego pump is all this is.

[@vozzen]

Good job. But you are regaining old fitness, not building new, which is a lot easier