Getting Faster

I read something the other day while looking for reasons why my 5k time is so much slower than all the predictors say it should be based on my shorter runs. The phrase that struck me was something along the lines of: "The work to get faster three months from now starts today. The work to get faster next month has already passed you by." I know that getting faster is largely a byproduct of a larger issue for me. I'm really still trying to get in shape. On the plus side of running myself into shape is that at least for the short term I'll take chunks of time off my 5k time with each race. I know that as fitness improves shaving seconds will be the normal goal, not shaving minutes.

This months weekly workouts are geared to the following:

Two longer runs of 10k to continue building endurance. These runs will be at around 80%.
One hard run workout with a mile warmup and two miles at 6:50 pace
One speedwork session with 1 mile warmup, 4 x 1:30 400m with slow jog 400m recovery after each.

October 11th may change some of these paces, but the format will take me through the next month or so. I see there may be a local mountain bike race in November that I might have to race. If I decide to do that, I'll switch out one of the long runs for a bike ride in November to get some saddle time.