diff --git a/polars/polars-lazy/polars-pipe/src/pipeline/dispatcher.rs b/polars/polars-lazy/polars-pipe/src/pipeline/dispatcher.rs
index 73bd8cdd1ce9..455238c2cdd2 100644
--- a/polars/polars-lazy/polars-pipe/src/pipeline/dispatcher.rs
+++ b/polars/polars-lazy/polars-pipe/src/pipeline/dispatcher.rs
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ use polars_core::frame::DataFrame;
 use polars_core::utils::accumulate_dataframes_vertical_unchecked;
 use polars_core::POOL;
 use polars_utils::arena::Node;
+use polars_utils::sync::SyncPtr;
 use rayon::prelude::*;
 
 use crate::executors::sources::DataFrameSource;
@@ -183,7 +184,8 @@ impl PipeLine {
         ec: &PExecutionContext,
         operator_start: usize,
         operator_end: usize,
-    ) -> PolarsResult<Option<SinkResult>> {
+        src: &mut Box<dyn Source>,
+    ) -> PolarsResult<(Option<SinkResult>, SourceResult)> {
         debug_assert!(chunks.len() <= sink.len());
 
         fn run_operator_pipe(
@@ -205,6 +207,9 @@ impl PipeLine {
             }
         }
         let sink_results = Arc::new(Mutex::new(None));
+        let mut next_batches: Option<PolarsResult<SourceResult>> = None;
+        let next_batches_ptr = &mut next_batches as *mut Option<PolarsResult<SourceResult>>;
+        let next_batches_ptr = unsafe { SyncPtr::new(next_batches_ptr) };
 
         // 1. We will iterate the chunks/sinks/operators
         // where every iteration belongs to a single thread
@@ -223,7 +228,6 @@ impl PipeLine {
         let pipeline = &*self;
         POOL.scope(|s| {
             for ((chunk, sink), operator_pipe) in chunks
-                .clone()
                 .into_iter()
                 .zip(sink.iter_mut())
                 .zip(operators.iter_mut())
@@ -248,11 +252,23 @@ impl PipeLine {
                     }
                 })
             }
+            // already get batches on the thread pool
+            // if one job is finished earlier we can already start that work
+            s.spawn(|_| {
+                let out = src.get_batches(ec);
+                unsafe {
+                    let ptr = next_batches_ptr.get();
+                    *ptr = Some(out);
+                }
+            })
         });
         self.operators = operators;
 
+        let next_batches = next_batches.unwrap()?;
         let mut lock = sink_results.lock().unwrap();
-        lock.take().transpose()
+        lock.take()
+            .transpose()
+            .map(|sink_result| (sink_result, next_batches))
     }
 
     /// This thread local logic that pushed a data chunk into the operators + sink
@@ -333,16 +349,20 @@ impl PipeLine {
             std::mem::take(&mut self.sinks).into_iter().enumerate()
         {
             for src in &mut std::mem::take(&mut self.sources) {
-                while let SourceResult::GotMoreData(chunks) = src.get_batches(ec)? {
-                    let results = self.par_process_chunks(
+                let mut next_batches = src.get_batches(ec)?;
+
+                while let SourceResult::GotMoreData(chunks) = next_batches {
+                    let (sink_result, next_batches2) = self.par_process_chunks(
                         chunks,
                         &mut sink,
                         ec,
                         operator_start,
                         operator_end,
+                        src,
                     )?;
+                    next_batches = next_batches2;
 
-                    if let Some(SinkResult::Finished) = results {
+                    if let Some(SinkResult::Finished) = sink_result {
                         sink_finished = true;
                         break;
                     }
diff --git a/polars/polars-row/src/encode.rs b/polars/polars-row/src/encode.rs
index 0b79821e9929..653123bd016f 100644
--- a/polars/polars-row/src/encode.rs
+++ b/polars/polars-row/src/encode.rs
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ use arrow::array::{
 use arrow::compute::cast::cast;
 use arrow::datatypes::{DataType as ArrowDataType, DataType};
 use arrow::types::NativeType;
+use polars_utils::vec::ResizeFaster;
 
 use crate::fixed::FixedLengthEncoding;
 use crate::row::{RowsEncoded, SortField};
@@ -173,9 +174,8 @@ pub fn allocate_rows_buf(columns: &[ArrayRef], values: &mut Vec<u8>, offsets: &m
             })
             .sum();
 
-        offsets.clear();
-        offsets.reserve(num_rows + 1);
-        offsets.resize(num_rows, row_size_fixed);
+        offsets.fill_or_alloc(num_rows + 1, row_size_fixed);
+        unsafe { offsets.set_len(num_rows) };
 
         // first write lengths to this buffer
         let lengths = offsets;
@@ -223,9 +223,8 @@ pub fn allocate_rows_buf(columns: &[ArrayRef], values: &mut Vec<u8>, offsets: &m
         // ensure we have len + 1 offsets
         offsets.push(lagged_offset);
 
-        values.clear();
         // todo! allocate uninit
-        values.resize(current_offset, 0u8);
+        values.fill_or_alloc(current_offset, 0u8);
     } else {
         let row_size: usize = columns
             .iter()
@@ -233,13 +232,7 @@ pub fn allocate_rows_buf(columns: &[ArrayRef], values: &mut Vec<u8>, offsets: &m
             .sum();
         let n_bytes = num_rows * row_size;
         // todo! allocate uninit
-        if values.capacity() == 0 {
-            // it is faster to allocate zeroed
-            // so if the capacity is 0, we alloc
-            *values = vec![0u8; n_bytes]
-        } else {
-            values.resize(n_bytes, 0u8);
-        }
+        values.fill_or_alloc(n_bytes, 0u8);
 
         // note that offsets are shifted to the left
         // assume 2 fields with a len of 1
diff --git a/polars/polars-utils/Cargo.toml b/polars/polars-utils/Cargo.toml
index e5ec7ed44fae..e73ba57fcab7 100644
--- a/polars/polars-utils/Cargo.toml
+++ b/polars/polars-utils/Cargo.toml
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ description = "private utils for the polars dataframe library"
 [dependencies]
 ahash.workspace = true
 hashbrown.workspace = true
+num-traits.workspace = true
 once_cell.workspace = true
 rayon.workspace = true
 smartstring.workspace = true
diff --git a/polars/polars-utils/src/vec.rs b/polars/polars-utils/src/vec.rs
index b054f1bfa357..7446e3218247 100644
--- a/polars/polars-utils/src/vec.rs
+++ b/polars/polars-utils/src/vec.rs
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+use std::mem::MaybeUninit;
+
+use num_traits::Zero;
+
 pub trait IntoRawParts<T> {
     fn into_raw_parts(self) -> (*mut T, usize, usize);
 
@@ -15,3 +19,30 @@ impl<T> IntoRawParts<T> for Vec<T> {
         (self.as_ptr() as *mut T, self.len(), self.capacity())
     }
 }
+
+/// Fill current allocation if if > 0
+/// otherwise realloc
+pub trait ResizeFaster<T: Copy> {
+    fn fill_or_alloc(&mut self, new_len: usize, value: T);
+}
+
+impl<T: Copy + Zero + PartialEq> ResizeFaster<T> for Vec<T> {
+    fn fill_or_alloc(&mut self, new_len: usize, value: T) {
+        if self.capacity() == 0 {
+            // it is faster to allocate zeroed
+            // so if the capacity is 0, we alloc (value might be 0)
+            *self = vec![value; new_len]
+        } else {
+            // first clear then reserve so that the reserve doesn't have
+            // to memcpy in case it needs to realloc.
+            self.clear();
+            self.reserve(new_len);
+
+            // // init the uninit values
+            let spare = &mut self.spare_capacity_mut()[..new_len];
+            let init_value = MaybeUninit::new(value);
+            spare.fill(init_value);
+            unsafe { self.set_len(new_len) }
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/py-polars/Cargo.lock b/py-polars/Cargo.lock
index 0db7ea5e4da5..46634db5f25a 100644
--- a/py-polars/Cargo.lock
+++ b/py-polars/Cargo.lock
@@ -1659,6 +1659,7 @@ version = "0.30.0"
 dependencies = [
  "ahash",
  "hashbrown 0.13.2",
+ "num-traits",
  "once_cell",
  "rayon",
  "smartstring",