Parkrun is pretty much the only running I'm doing. I'd like to do a bit more, but finding the time to fit it in is the difficulty. One of my fellow commuters (a veteran ironman) runs to Faversham before getting on the train some mornings (about 6 miles), so I could try that.
I just googled for "how to run 5k sub 20 minutes" and that's when I realised it's a very big deal for a lot of people. All these "training plans" and what have you... that's not really my style.
It'll be a big deal for me too, of course, but I see it as a very realistic, achievable target rather than something that needs special training (but only because I'm already at a decent level of fitness) - it's about 70% on the age graded scale, which I think is a decent standard to aspire to. Now, if it were 19 minutes I were aiming at, that would be another matter...
My usual tactic is just to set the pacer on my Garmin to the time I want to achieve and try to keep up with it. I'll be setting it to 4:12min/km for tomorrow's run (exactly 21 minute pace). The first km is completely flat and usually has a tailwind, so I try to take advantage by setting out quite fast to get some time in the bank, then I settle down to a steady pace for the middle section, and flat out in the home stretch (I've been recording an average HR of 180-185bpm for that final km, so it really is close to maximum effort).
d.