Today I ran a 10K PR in training. I thought this would happen, because my only 10K has a very soft time, but I was particularly pleased with the result.
My plan prescribes a 10K time trial for today. The background is a usual, lengthy workday, not much sleep, and riding my bike to work and home (10 miles total). Also, my last 3 days I ran 8 miles, 9 miles and 5 miles respectively, the longer ones at sub 8:30 pace. After all this, I drove to the track at around 9pm (kids in bed), I did 4 laps for warm-up, then off I went on my 10000 meter journey. I took splits at every 4 laps, or 1600 meters.
6:58 - I went out conservatively, because I didn't feel that well physically, so I decided to run just below 7 min/mile pace at the beginning.
6:55 - I felt better, the pace felt quite easy.
6:51 - I had the feeling that I could do 7 min/miles forever. My body was relaxed, no pain, so I decided to turn it up a bit.
5000 m - 21:35 - Not bad, some time ago I would have been happy with this time at a 5K.
6:46 - I felt a little tired, but still pretty good. Time to drop the hammer.
6:37 - I felt awesome. I started to hurt a bit, but clearly because I ran faster. I still thought that if I only had to maintain 7 min/mile, I could do it forever.
6:31 - I started to really push in the last laps.
Last 400 m - 1:28 - This is what I had left in the tank. This would trasnlate to 5:52/1600 m pace.
Total time: 42:06. I don't think I can call it a PR, because it wasn't a race, but the university track is surely accurate, so I'm sure the time is right. I'm especially happy that I ran 20:31 in the second half. That is a pretty good 5K time for me in training.
Wednesday, April 28
Tuesday, April 13
I've just come back from the track - I did a 3000 meter time trial as suggested by Pfitzinger. I am very satisfied with the results, I could almost say, proud! For background info: I ran this as a training run, no taper of course, I ran late in the night after working long hours today, and I rode my bike to work and home, 5 miles one way. Here are my splits:
Half lap: 0:43.39
Lap 1: 1:33.75
Lap 2: 1:34.22
Lap 3: 1:33.83
Lap 4: 1:33.05
Lap 5: 1:33.09
Lap 6: 1:33.25
Lap 7: 1:29.26
Total time: 11:33
Compare this with my 3000 m race last summer, where I ran 12:09.
Half lap: 0:43.39
Lap 1: 1:33.75
Lap 2: 1:34.22
Lap 3: 1:33.83
Lap 4: 1:33.05
Lap 5: 1:33.09
Lap 6: 1:33.25
Lap 7: 1:29.26
Total time: 11:33
Compare this with my 3000 m race last summer, where I ran 12:09.
Monday, April 12
I've changed my training method a little bit. I am following one of the plans from the "Road Racing for Serious Runners" by Pete Pfitzinger and Scott Douglas (very nice book).
The main changes are more quality work, and somewhat higher mileage (but not much). Last week's speedwork was 4x1000 meters on the track: my splits were 4:01, 4:04, 4:03, 4:02 with 400 meters in ~2:15 recovery in between. With he warmup and cooldown I covered 6 miles. Last night I ran 8 miles at sub 8:30 min/mile pace. I like the book's philosophy about faster long runs and longer intervals. Seems like it makes me work harder without overtraining.
The main changes are more quality work, and somewhat higher mileage (but not much). Last week's speedwork was 4x1000 meters on the track: my splits were 4:01, 4:04, 4:03, 4:02 with 400 meters in ~2:15 recovery in between. With he warmup and cooldown I covered 6 miles. Last night I ran 8 miles at sub 8:30 min/mile pace. I like the book's philosophy about faster long runs and longer intervals. Seems like it makes me work harder without overtraining.
Saturday, April 3
Resurrection 5K Race Report
Goal: 20:30. Dream: getting close to 20 minutes.
The race was only about 4 miles from our apartment, but I still got up early to take my time and get there early, so I showed up an hour before the start. This is small local race, but it was very well run: many volunteers, good organization all around. I picked up my bib, warmed up by jogging 10-15 minutes, then I walked over to the start area, which was about 1/2 mile from my parking place (and the finish line). I met ColumbiaSC5Ker (an RW-online friend) while waiting for the start.
We lined up in the front row, and exactly on time, the organizer gave the mark, when we were supposed to say "He is alive!" and start running. The first 1/2 mile was a steady, but not too steep incline. I settled myself right behind CSC5K, but I felt he was too slow for my usual pace, so I passed him at about just 1/4 mile into the race. This made me a little nervous, because I knew that he has run in the 19:30-20:00 range lately, and I was pretty sure I couldn't do that, but you do what you have to do - if he is having a bad day, I can't let myself to be dragged with him.
There were no mile markers, so I just ran by feel, trying to keep the pace of some runners ahead of me. Everything went fine: nobody passed me and I haven't passed anybody until about the 1.5 mile mark - then CSC5K passed me, so things settled into their usual order.
At about 2 miles, the hurt started, but I was able to overcome it mentally, and I believe I kept my pace. CSC5K told me at the end, that he ran big negative splits, so I guess I ran close to even splits, or maybe slightly positive ones (maybe I should get a Garmin at last). Then at about 2.5 miles, I even found some extra strength (or maybe it was the downhill), and I accelerated slightly. I started to hear the cheer at the finish line, and my watch was still showing 19:xx; then finally, when I turned into the short home straight, I saw the clock turning to 20:00. I sprinted my way down to the line - the end was a bit of a blur (I almost fell over a guy, who stopped in the middle of the chute). My official time is 20:09. I smashed my previous PR! I had thought I crossed the line at 20:05, but this is not the first time that I think I had a time that is a few seconds better than my actual time. I probably often black out close to the finish line. :)
Post race food was also pretty good: I had a few Oreo-type cookies, banana and water. I was really impressed with race: everything went smoothly, and even the award ceremony started on time.
I got a 3rd place in my age group, but I am so much prouder of this one than the age group win with 21:30 last August. Now I am at shooting distance from the sub-20 times. CSC5K ran 19:4x, and he was also 3rd in his age group. (I'm lucky he is a few months older than me, otherwise he would have knocked me out of the first three.) The course was easy with about 30 ft (~10 m) of net elevation loss, but it still had a few rolling hills, so I won't put an asterisk by my new PR.
Next step: two months of training and a sub-20 minute 5K in June. Tentative plan: June 22, Jailbreak 5K.
Goal: 20:30. Dream: getting close to 20 minutes.
The race was only about 4 miles from our apartment, but I still got up early to take my time and get there early, so I showed up an hour before the start. This is small local race, but it was very well run: many volunteers, good organization all around. I picked up my bib, warmed up by jogging 10-15 minutes, then I walked over to the start area, which was about 1/2 mile from my parking place (and the finish line). I met ColumbiaSC5Ker (an RW-online friend) while waiting for the start.
We lined up in the front row, and exactly on time, the organizer gave the mark, when we were supposed to say "He is alive!" and start running. The first 1/2 mile was a steady, but not too steep incline. I settled myself right behind CSC5K, but I felt he was too slow for my usual pace, so I passed him at about just 1/4 mile into the race. This made me a little nervous, because I knew that he has run in the 19:30-20:00 range lately, and I was pretty sure I couldn't do that, but you do what you have to do - if he is having a bad day, I can't let myself to be dragged with him.
There were no mile markers, so I just ran by feel, trying to keep the pace of some runners ahead of me. Everything went fine: nobody passed me and I haven't passed anybody until about the 1.5 mile mark - then CSC5K passed me, so things settled into their usual order.
At about 2 miles, the hurt started, but I was able to overcome it mentally, and I believe I kept my pace. CSC5K told me at the end, that he ran big negative splits, so I guess I ran close to even splits, or maybe slightly positive ones (maybe I should get a Garmin at last). Then at about 2.5 miles, I even found some extra strength (or maybe it was the downhill), and I accelerated slightly. I started to hear the cheer at the finish line, and my watch was still showing 19:xx; then finally, when I turned into the short home straight, I saw the clock turning to 20:00. I sprinted my way down to the line - the end was a bit of a blur (I almost fell over a guy, who stopped in the middle of the chute). My official time is 20:09. I smashed my previous PR! I had thought I crossed the line at 20:05, but this is not the first time that I think I had a time that is a few seconds better than my actual time. I probably often black out close to the finish line. :)
Post race food was also pretty good: I had a few Oreo-type cookies, banana and water. I was really impressed with race: everything went smoothly, and even the award ceremony started on time.
I got a 3rd place in my age group, but I am so much prouder of this one than the age group win with 21:30 last August. Now I am at shooting distance from the sub-20 times. CSC5K ran 19:4x, and he was also 3rd in his age group. (I'm lucky he is a few months older than me, otherwise he would have knocked me out of the first three.) The course was easy with about 30 ft (~10 m) of net elevation loss, but it still had a few rolling hills, so I won't put an asterisk by my new PR.
Next step: two months of training and a sub-20 minute 5K in June. Tentative plan: June 22, Jailbreak 5K.
Friday, April 2
Last check-in before the race tomorrow. My week was a little hectic, real life, some pleasure seeking activity and uncertainty in the slightly modified SmartCoach plan that I was using resulted in only two 4-mile runs early in the week. I did a bit of cross training (riding my bike to work almost every day, coaching my daughter's soccer team on Wednesday), but my exercise volume has never been this low on race week. We will see how this will work out.
I still haven't found a 5K plan that I would really like. All the free popular on-line plans (Higdon, Luff, etc.) that I know are very low on miles, and even the advanced plan of Higdon seems to be for (advanced) beginners - with quite a bit of speedwork, but still peaking at about 30 miles. So I decided to buy Pfitzinger's "Road Running for Serious Runners" book. I have Pfitzinger's marathoning book, which I like a lot, so I thought this guy must know something. I probably chose suboptimal shipping method though, because I ordered the book on March 30th and so far the book was delivered from Wichita, Kansas to Des Moines, Iowa (almost opposite direction).
Tomorrow I will shoot for 20:30 or below - I'll see how running feels, and adjust accordingly. I would be *very* disappointed if I didn't go below 21 minutes.
I still haven't found a 5K plan that I would really like. All the free popular on-line plans (Higdon, Luff, etc.) that I know are very low on miles, and even the advanced plan of Higdon seems to be for (advanced) beginners - with quite a bit of speedwork, but still peaking at about 30 miles. So I decided to buy Pfitzinger's "Road Running for Serious Runners" book. I have Pfitzinger's marathoning book, which I like a lot, so I thought this guy must know something. I probably chose suboptimal shipping method though, because I ordered the book on March 30th and so far the book was delivered from Wichita, Kansas to Des Moines, Iowa (almost opposite direction).
Tomorrow I will shoot for 20:30 or below - I'll see how running feels, and adjust accordingly. I would be *very* disappointed if I didn't go below 21 minutes.
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