It's warm up. Need to get your heart race up and your muscles loose.
Assuming you're well rested with proper nutrition, there's not really a concern for your glycogen levels running in a 5 KM, so running/joggng a good 15-20 minutes a half hour before your actual race is beneficial. And not even a light jog or brisk walk, you should be breaking a sweat. Along with stretching to get loose, and running in spot before the race to keep that heart rate up right when you start. It's a bit counter intuitive but you're exactly right in that if it takes you a 1/3 of the race to warm up, your time is going to be hurting significantly. I know for my best 5 KM, I warmed up longer than I did running the actual race, and not even all that much slower.
That's what works for me, but realize that other people have different warm up methods and you'll need to find what works for you. But I would strongly agree that it's your warm up that's holding you back if you're actually aiming for a 5KM PBR.
https://therunningbug.com/fitness/be...efore-your-run
Quote:
Begin with a 10-minute warm-up jog that gradually builds intensity. Start slowly and run five minutes easy, five minutes steady and then a few minutes close to your race pace. You can’t afford to feel rusty at the start of these races and sessions - you need to be ready to roll straight away.
You should now be ready to complete some drills and strides. Aim to complete these over a 10-20 metre area and jog lightly back after each effort.
Strides are the final step and really help to hit your pace in the first mile. Find a 60-70 metre area where you run several sets, focusing on good technique. Start at 60 per cent max speed, run the second lap at 70 per cent, the third at 80 per cent and the fourth lap quicker than race pace.
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Even if you're not racing, the same principle applies if you're trying to get your best 5 KM.