Two Conflicting Articles:

A person wrote into Runner's World magazine asking what the best practice times were to run to perform best in a sanctioned 5K. ( My main area of interest ) The answer went something like this.....

"You get good at what you practice at, so if you want to be good at running 5K's, you should enter 5K races, and run 5K's in your practice."

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But in another article several months later, a person was asking basically the same question, and this time the answer was much different, along the lines of:

"If you want to perform well in 5K's, you have to practice by running much further distances, ( at least once in awhile ) to raise your overall cardio level to the point where the 5K will be easier, or a better time will be achieved.

Oscar's Commentary: I have tried both methods, and am convinced beyond all doubt that the second method is the correct path to obtaining the most from your body in a 5K race.