Today is the last day of the month and this is the weekend I was supposed to try and smash out a good 5K effort after six weeks of training. The training involved getting two speed sessions in, with short and long intervals. As it’s a rare occurrence for me to take myself out of my comfortable breathing zone, this level of consistency was going to be new.
How did those weeks go? Not as perfect as I would have liked but not too bad. I didn’t quite get the two sessions done every week, because I prioritised keeping my long run in. That aim, to make my upcoming marathon training slightly more manageable, probably clashes with trying to produce a faster 5K. But because I was flogging my lungs at least once a week, I was hoping to see some physiological changes.
As I’m a fairly regular Parkrunner, these are the best gauge of my abilities. I don’t give it my all every time. Most of the time I’m over thirty minutes but every now and then I’ll give it a go. I hadn’t gone below thirty minutes at all this year, and last year my best Parkrun time was 28:44, 9.05 minutes per mile. So that is my baseline.
Halfway through my six weeks, I ran the Christleton 5K. If I had been at all organised and begun my training earlier, this would have been a natural end point. The course was chip-timed, it was wonderfully flat and only had about three hundred runners, so I wasn’t weaving around people. I was very pleased with my pace which averaged 8:45 minute miles. I was totally exhausted by the end though. I’d given it my all, and I could feel my legs stiffen up later in the pub, so that was the best I could do at that point.
At Birkenhead Parkrun yesterday, the terrain is not completely flat, my watch detected double the elevation to the previous race. Still not much, but it all counts when you’re pushing. Also, there were well over 800 runners, and it was a lot warmer. I thought I was near the front, but when they shouted ‘Go’, I couldn’t move for a couple of seconds and then we were shuffling. Weaving there was aplenty, especially on the first lap. There are hairpin bends and tree roots around the lake, so you do have to pay attention. And finally, my watch buzzed the 5K point several metres from the end.
You’re probably thinking that I’m giving this in-depth description to give myself excuses when I tell you my time. And you’d be right to a degree. My chip time in Christleton was 27:25. My official time yesterday was 27:57.
Yet.
According to my Garmin, my average pace was almost identical. 8:46 minutes per mile in this case (as it was slightly longer than 5K). And that is the thing that I’m taking away here. On a warm, busy, slightly hillier route, I was able to pretty much match my Christleton time. Also, I was nowhere near as fatigued after it as I had been after Christleton. I was even able to do a long run today.
I am happy with that outcome. It shows that this is now my current 5K speed, not just an occasional fluke. When I begin marathon training, the week after next, I plan to keep one speed session in the week. I’m sure I’ll get a bit slower with all those long plodding miles, but the speed session will still help. In my long run (nearly twelve miles) today, I aimed to keep the pace a little below 12-minutes per mile and it felt quite comfortable throughout. I’m a bit tired now, but I haven’t got one of my ‘I’ve worked too hard’ headaches coming on, which is a very good sign.
Overall, then, I call this period a success. It has shown me that I can improve if I stay consistent and if I mix up my paces. Fingers crossed that I can keep that going for the hard slog that is marathon training.
theleadlesspencil 