Archives for Time Trials category
Posted on Mar 04, 2010 under Milestones, Speedwork, The Mile, Time Trials |
Not done a one mile time trial since June 2009, and am supposed to be on course for a sub 6 minute mile challenge – if only I hadn’t been injured for several months etc!
Anyway, did a one mile warm up going pretty easy, walked and stretched, then set off for my mile trial. Went off hard and just tried to maintain it, glanced at garmin and I was doing close to 4:00/k. Was hard to judge the pacing since I have not done it for so long – and by the end I was really breathing hard and was going all out. Managed it in 7:16, which at this stage, being only 16 seconds off a PB I gained last year with a lot more running in my legs, is pretty good going. 
Will keep it up and have another time trial in a few weeks and see if there’s any improvement.
Posted on Feb 28, 2010 under 5-10k, 5k, Milestones, Time Trials |
Did a ten minute mile to warm up, and felt as if my body might not have another 3 miles in it! But I grabbed the bull by the horns and set off, setting a good pace; actually it may have been too good, as I did the first k in 4:36 and the first mile in about 7:30ish, and suffered for that later, with the last km taking 5:24 so I was losing steam by the end.
However, I managed 3 sub 5 minute k’s, and it’s so long since I ran like that, it will take time to learn how to pace it again – I do feel that I am coming back to fitness in leaps and bounds now, and won’t belong before I am challenging my 5k PB.
This run did hurt quite a bit though! But also felt good too, and was nice to run at pace again. 
Posted on Jul 22, 2009 under 5-10k, 5k, Time Trials |
Did a couple of K usual warm up then set off for an experimental 5k time trial, without time showing on Garmin. Felt good at first, going fast, then the invisible force field appeared, I struggled to keep it going and was dead by the end.
When I flipped the read over to show time elapsed, it showed 25:40. First K was 4:39 then I just seemed to slow and was over 5 mins/k thereafter, which I haven’t been that slow over 5k in ages.
Maybe running without the Garmin doesn’t suit me… Maybe my legs have yet to get back to normal speed after my break?
Posted on Jun 16, 2009 under News, PB's, The Mile, Time Trials |
Some bloke on a forum has challenged me to run a sub 6 minute mile by July 2010. While this seems patently crazy for someone who spent 20 odd years smoking, drinking and doing other naughty things with various chemicals, I thought why not, I will give it a go, and it will be fun seeing how close I can get.
So today I decided to do a mile time trial just to see where my starting point is, having a previous mile best of 7:25. I planned my route as the same one for my 5k trials, as it is reasonably flat and traffic free, and any uphills and downhills cancel each other out in the course of the circuit.
Did a 8:22 warm up mile then walked for a bit, feeling almost as nervous as before a race! Got to my start off point, paused for a few moments, then hit the start button on the Garmin and blasted off. Nearly careened into a bunch of school yobbos but at that point was going at 3:29/k, which I couldn’t maintain and I slowed a bit as I settled into the middle part of the run, still going through the kilometre mark in 4:14 – the fastest kilometre I have run by about 20 seconds! I knew than I just had to keep going and I only had to keep going for another 600 metres or so, and in the end I staggered over the mile mark in 7 mins and a few tenths of a second, with which I was pleased, but also felt my lungs and heart rate were totally maxed out. So I walked for a bit then did a cool down mile in 9:30 and really couldn’t have run any more – but very nice to get the PB and now only a minute to shave off in the next year lol.
Will be interesting to see how close I get – today was hard, and I think it will get even harder the closer I get to the magical 6 minutes!
Posted on May 07, 2009 under 5k, Milestones, PB's, Time Trials |
First 5k time trial for a while, and have finally shattered the 24 minute barrier – 23:38! It’s been a long time coming, a PB by 22 seconds and 40 seconds than my previous best this year but definite improvement now after being stuck just over 24 for some time. Was definitely helped by more mileage last week then a 3 day rest, I think, so I felt fresh and raring to go.
By the end I was almost ready to collapse – felt very tempted to stop at 3k, thinking I had gone way too fast and couldn’t go any further, then I thought I might even break 23 minutes if I could just keep going and that gave me some motivation to keep going, but I was tiring in the last 2k and lost quite a bit of time just hanging on during kilometre 4, but still kept it below 5 mins/k and just sprinted as best I could in the last seconds, focusing on a lampost up ahead which I duly hugged/fell around as I finished!
Splits were:
4:34
4:44
4:38
4:54
4:46
This time I had the endurance to blast off and then just keep it thereabouts, so the training is working! The Macmillan race calculator now predicts 49:06 for 10k from this 5k time, and in recent times it has been pretty accurately predicting my 10k times from my 5k trials
I am now looking for sub 23 within the next few months – and who knows – sub 20 within a year?!
Posted on Apr 29, 2009 under 5-10k, Coaching, Easy Runs, The Mile, Time Trials |
Was due a training run with my niece, so I ran an easyish mile to her house, and then took her out for an easy couple of k, which was enough for her, although she had a sprint finish with me for a bit of fun and demonstrated amazing natural speed – I fear for my pride if she keeps it up!
Ran the mile back to my place as hard as I could and ended up with a one mile PB of 7:25
Posted on Apr 22, 2009 under 5k, Tempo Runs, Time Trials |
5k time trial with 1.5k warm up jog.
Blasted the first k in 4:40 and felt good, then started to struggle a bit with the heat of the midday sun – kept it going at around sub 25 pace thereafter, but slowed to just under so by the end a sub 24 was out of the question as legs were getting heavier and heavier. So ended up with 24:32 – maintaining that pace for 10k would be hard, but you never know on race day as long as I can reign myself in for the first half then switch up a gear.
Felt good to run in new Adidas Supernova’s – no knee or thigh pain, so I think the cheap Asics I was using were past their sell by date, and had economy cushioning anyway. Have another pair of the cheap Asics which might come in handy for shorter runs or trails to keep my precious Supernovas for best!
Posted on Apr 20, 2009 under 5-10k, Easy Runs, The Mile, Time Trials |
My niece Laura has decided to do the Race for Life and asked me to train her, so we got some suitable running shoes from Sweat Shop Hyde first and this was our first run out, she did quite well, running the first kilometre in 6:16 – I have run a lot slower!
I ran to her house as a warmup, measured on the Garmin as a mile, so did my first one mile time trial in effect in 7:36. Will be interesting to see how that speed comes on!
Posted on Apr 05, 2009 under 5-10k, Tempo Runs, Time Trials |
This was supposed to be a 6k tempo run, I did a couple of k for a warmup but then shot off rather too quickly on the main run with 4:39 for the first k, slowed a bit after that, and was struggling as I went into the 5th k, so decided to just give what I had left and go for a 5k time, which ended up only 15 seconds off my PB. Couldn’t have run another k at that pace and was breathing very hard, so for my sub 50 10k, I need to find a way to just pace it so I run around 5 minutes per k for the first half, then quicken up to maybe 4:50/k or faster for the second half – or something like that! Easier said than done as sometimes figuring out what pace I’m running at is confusing! The Garmin pace alert thinggy was a bit annoying as I had set it to alert me if I ran slower than 5:10 per k – it kept bleeping at me in the first K despite doing it much quicker, and kept beeping at times even though my pace didn’t seem to be dropping too much, and the splits show I was consistently faster – maybe it did actually keep me on my toes!
Splits were:
4:39
4:53
4:45
5:03
4:54
Average pace 4:51
Best pace 3:31/k
Posted on Mar 21, 2009 under 5k, Milestones, Speedwork, Time Trials |
Did 5-10 minutes jogging before setting off on this time trial, which I actually ran as a time trial – went for it all the way! Set off pretty fast, not knowing if I would be able to maintain it, and was surprised when I clicked over the first k in 4:48 – haven’t run a sub 5 split since my 5k PB last September! The 2nd k involved the uphill stretch on the way to Haughton Green so that slowed me a bit, then it was into cruise control mode, and managed to keep the pace up. By the time I got to the last K I knew I was on course for a sub 25, thought I might even get sub 24 by some crazy miracle but my legs were gone by that point and I slowed a little in the last 400 yards. Nonetheless this has smashed my most recent 5k time trial which was 26+ and to run 24:27 felt fantastic!
Splits:
4:48
5:04
4:55
4:52
4:47
Average pace 4:53
