How can I increase my endurance for a 5K?

Question

The farthest I've ever ran is 3 miles and I finish in about 28 minutes, but I'm really tired at the end. Does anyone have any advice about how I could decrease the time it takes me and build my endurance up to where I'm not so tired when I finish? I'd really like to run a 5K this summer, but I don't want to look like I'm killing myself doing it. Any tips would be great.

Answer 1

In high school cross country, my team went on 5-7 mile training runs, at a pace slower than race pace, to build endurance. In my first season, I dropped from 27 minutes to 19:30 in the 5K. So the training worked pretty well. Don't run long runs every day though.

Answer 2

i know its tough, but you have to run more than 3 miles consistantly, run at or more than 3 miles, not everytime, but most

Answer 3

Very simple. Run,Run,Run.  The more you run the faster you are going to get.  Try to set a goal for the amount of miles that you run a week and build up that amount.  All the top runners at my high school would run anywhere 40-60 miles A WEEK.  If you can build yourself up to that amount your time could easily be around 18 minutes or less.  Try increasing by about 5 miles each week and also remember to take recovery days.  Your body will need some rest.