Diary Of A Road Runner

5k Tempo Run - Cold - 26m 06

First time I’ve done what’s called a tempo run - running moderately fast for an extended period in order to get used to running at near race pace. My idea was to run 5k at a faster pace than I have managed so far (29 mins), as I want to work towards maintaining this over 10k to get a vastly improved time in my next race (City of Manchester 10k in July).

Weather was pretty cold and rain threatening - put on my winter jogging pants and top as it seemed cold enough, but once I’d warmed up I braved my shorts and running top! Went off a little slower as I’d promised myself in last blog entry, although not that slowly, had to remind myself to slow down a little more, and as is usual for me, got quite puffy after about 1k. I generally only get into a real rhythm and feel comfortable after 3 k/15 minutes, so getting that to happen more quickly is something I need to work on if I want to concentrate on 5k and 10k runs (which I do for now, predominantly 10k, which may give me a little more time to make up pace on the mid and end stages of races)

Anyway, I got going and felt ok getting up to 2.5k, and then checking my Garmin I seemed to be on schedule to smash my 29 mins, so I got to a pace I felt I could maintain and kept going, only had a slight hitch crossing road as I had to stop for a bit (which probably added 10-20 seconds to my finish time).

Over last 2k I pushed hard, I was breathing hard and probably at 90% capacity, but felt exhilarated and when I crossed the virtual 5k line and pushed the stop button on my Garmin, I had done 26 mins 06, a vast improvement on my 29 mins last time I did 5k (and had broken 26 minutes if I allow for the road crossing stop!). According the the various race calculators, I should already be well on target for my first goal of a sub 55 in my next race - but with a month still to train, perhaps I can really build on what I’ve achieved so far, and who knows what the race may produce if I keep improving at this rate. I plan a slower 12k run next, as have not done any more than 10k before (but done it quite a few times now), followed by a 10k to see how I maintain a slightly quicker pace over that distance.