Sounds like the conditions were awful.
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Or the guy paced it terribly! 
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Well done, it’s very tricky to get it right; practice and racing are everything. I wouldn’t abandon the 6x1k sets as they are a staple. Just mix it up. Some 800s some mile reps. It’s all good.
Keep going and keep racing and it will happen 
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I make it you beat him by 10sec on that basis.
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I always start slow these days with a 5k, first k down at 3:30, probably start pushing around 500 or so in…
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3:30 is the pace I’m doing my 1km reps at now 
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I’ll keep doing the 1k repeats but I wanted to add in some longer efforts. Previously I was doing a lot of 400s. Shall I drop the recovery time of the 1k repeats to 60s?
When I was track running, 5x1200 was always trotted out as the benchmark 5000m session. I hated it.
Preferred sessions that broke things up, 4x 1200 [30sec] 400 with 3min recovery was a bit more manageable.
Or even 4x3x600.
Anything to avoid getting stuck in one pace that would inevitably just drift slower and slower through he session
Maybe that’s why I was never a very good 5000m runner.
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What pace and recovery for the 5x1200?
5K pace - at least to start with. About 90sec if I recall, maybe 2min. A 200m walk/jog would be common, amazing how slow you can do 200m when tired.
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Personally I wouldn’t reduce the recovery.
However here are some suggestions. The times assume either running on a track or a very good flat grass surface with warm weather and not much wind
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Perhaps drop the 1000s to 5 efforts each with 90s but look for a time of 3:07 to 3:09. This is a little stretch goal
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Try 10x400 with 90s rec in 72s. Once you have achieved this try reducing the recovery to say 60s in increments. The speed/duration of each interval is key.
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If you want something longer go for 3 x 1600m with a 2 min recovery in 5:12. The length/speed of the effort is important so maybe you need more recovery but you can play about with it to get that 5:12 time. You could possibly do 4 efforts but the speed/duration should not suffer
These are all stretch goals and require a good warm up and preferably good weather. But these are the kind of figures for 17m / 5K. Of course everyone is different in how training is reflected in racing.
Edit: Reading what others have written mixing up the sessions is key as they all acheive something slightly different and also makes training more interesting. Also if you are not doing the same session for say another 3-4 weeks you will hopefully see some improvement which is always encouraging.
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Thanks that’s useful 
This year I’ve been doing 12x400 off 60 holding average of 1:15 - 1:20s. I will try increasing the recovery or reducing the amount and going faster.
The 3/4 x 1 mile sounds hard, I will add that into the mix, thanks for the suggestion.
I always found, look at the list of possible sessions, and the one that looks worst is probably the one you need to do!
For me, it was always the faster, longer stuff. I could do 6x1mile off 90sec at a nice cruise pace, and I could do 10x600 off 3min rest at a fairly decent pace. But the 800s, 1000s and 1200s off 3min rest would do me. And it showed in my speed endurance in races.
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At the moment my main sets are 6/8 x 3 mins and 8x1km efforts with 90-120s recovery. Slowly chipping away and ensuring they are repeatable
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I despised 800s
400 or 1k fine (relatively speaking).
800s just ruined me.
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I age up next year for AG purposes to 50-54. How easy or realistic is it to get back to sub 17 5kms? After running very low 16s last year and then covid x 2 and tendonitis this year my return has been gradual and finally getting some consistency. I am looking at at racing draft legal duathlon next year so the focus will be the 5km run. As mentioned in the posts above I am repping 800s, 1kms 1/2 a week and my times are coming down, do I increase the number of sessions per week or look at something else?
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Hooked up with a Tuesday group I used to train on the track with last night. Track is being dug up so they meet at a quiet, lit local ind estate.
Session was 6*1km with a whistle going off at 3:20 for 90secs recovery. Conditions were really calm. I started at the back - wasn’t quite the shittest 
- but was always 50-100mtrs off making the km. Hopefully if I stick at it there should be some gains made.
Before going out I checked Strava & was surprised to see my last group run was Nov '15 …seems like yesterday.
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If it aint broke dont fix it 
I do my intervals by feel and find the pace naturally increases. At some point I feel I should add another rep, but never seem to actually get to that place.
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Well, last night was my 8th session with them & it gets no easier 
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It’s a strong group of about 20 & I’m still pretty much the tail-end Charlie but in my defence I’m oldest by 15yrs 
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The basic idea is to hit 1000m or stop when whistle goes at 3:20, but reps & recovery are getting progressively harder week on week.
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Week 1, 6*(1km/90secs)
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Week 2, 6*(1km/75secs)
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Week 3, 6*(1km/60secs)
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Week 4, 7*(1km/90secs)
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Week 5, 7*(1km/75secs)
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Week 6, 7*(1km/60secs)
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Last night, 8*(1km/90secs)
This will go up to 10 efforts with 60secs recovery…God knows where it goes from there.
As well as easier runs, a bit of cycling & a couple of swims I’m trying to squeeze in another quality session & a long run in the hills during the week.
My runs are certainly improving but I can’t see myself going under 17mins I no longer have the top end va-va-voom required but I’m enjoying the journey.
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They look like bloody savage sessions!!
I’ve not hurt like that in a long time. Maybe I should try… or maybe not!
Keep at it. If. You can run 10 x 3.20 off 60r I’d say you have more than enough for a sub 17. Just need a good race and a good group to tuck into.
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