Diary Of A Road Runner

5k Imploded Tempo Run – 24:15

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

5k Time Trial – 24:27

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

5k Time Trial – sort of – 26:10

Didn’t set out to do a time trial, just to run 5k comfortably hard.  Felt good so pushed just a little – my first run of the year in shorts!  Some undulations in the route I took (streets near my house, going in a few circles) but the best 5k time since my comeback, and felt good, and didn’t feel half dead by the end.

All in all a good preparation for Sunday’s Mizuno Trafford 10k.  I am conservatively going to aim for around 55 minutes, depends how I react to race conditions again, maybe I will surprise myself, but will aim to start off carefully and work up speed, rather than get carried away!!

Splits for today:

5:22
5:12
5:14
5:18
5:02!!!

5k Time Trial – 27:07

Felt the pinch on this one and a minute slower than the last one

First 10k training run of 2009 – 58:14

Was disappointed with time at first after I finished this run, even though I didn’t set off meaning to do a 10k time trial, I thought I would just jog around 10k and see how I did, but I felt so good in places I speeded up for some faster splits!  Still, it is only the first time I have run this distance in quite a while, so sub hour is good, and now have something to build on – at least I know I can run 6.2 miles again, and can now build up with some more long runs and feel ready for some hill work soon.  Seems to be starting to come together, and those times will start going down

Splits:

5:41
5:49
5:48
5:47
5:56
6:01
5:50
5:50
5:42
5:46

Last K included a steep hill or would probably have been quickest of the lot!  Guess first step now is to run at 5:30 pace over a 10k, which would equate to a 55 minute 10k.  Doing 10k in 51:40 and hoping for a sub 50 still seems a way off, but I was nearly there last September – hard to believe now!

5k Time Trial – Massive improvement – 26:19

After 4 days of rest, went out and did 5k time trial and knocked approx 90 seconds off last effort, felt good but much more even – think something may have gone wrong with satellite last time, or maybe I am just improving in leaps and bounds, but I did finish a few streets earlier than Garmin led me on last time!!

Splits:

5:27
5:24
5:08
5:10
5:09

All in all a good run. Sub 26 next!

5k Time Trial – Haughton Route – 27:57 FAIL!

Well kind of – was expecting to run a nice fast 5k based on how good I’d been catching up lately, but by the end of this I puttered over the 5k mark (albeit strangely to my naked eye an extra street than last time, exactly the same route and I set off at an earlier marker to boot – but Garmin computer said no!).  Only managed 27:57 – which is probably as a result of upping the running lately, only having one day’s rest since my longest run to date so I felt it in the legs, and also setting off at a harebrained suicidal pace which I was never going to be able to keep up.  Will compare it to the last splits and see where I went wrong!

Today’s 1k splits:

1. 5:06
2. 5:33
3. 6:13
4. 5:33
5. 5:31

Obviously I was feeling it bad in that middle K, although didn’t notice slowing so dramatically… Otherwise the pace was fairly even apart from the crazily fast (at my current level) first, and the strangely slow 3rd!!

Not a total failure though – experience has taught me that a “bad” run like this is actually good – because I pushed hard and even though I was struggling, sometimes a hard run that turns out slow, does as much good as an easy run that ends up effortlessly fast.  So I am going to indulge in a few beers and take three days off, then do another time trial and see how the rest does me!

5k Time Trial – 27:41

Felt confident enought today to go at my 5k run as a bit of a time trial – set off quite hard, and did the first k in about 5:30, and felt it was suicidal at first, but managed to stay there or thereabouts throughout the run and ended up with a time of 27:41 – was hard in the latter stages but still somehow ran the last k as the fastest split apart from the first, which were as follows:

5:22
5:32
5:35
5:41
5:29

Still work to do – but feel the benefits of the last few weeks’ runs are not truly apparent yet, and am happy to keep knocking 70 seconds at a time off my 5K, which goes as a 2009 PB so far!!

Aim now to work towards sub 25 by the time I run my first 10k race, which should see me on course for at least a sub 55, but if I keep getting back to it at this rate, who knows – although these runs are hard at the moment, I do not feel I am over pushing myself, with some longer slow runs thrown in, I could get back into a nice groove quite quickly

5k Time Trial – Cold and Grey – 24m 00s PB!

I haven’t slept much all week and have had some kind of stomach bug. Was feeling really tired this morning and had restless legs again as well as still feeling a bit queasy from the bug/food poisoning or whatever it was.

Although I didn’t feel up to it much, I wanted to get out to keep the legs turning over, so planned a 5k jog. It was freezing, so I didn’t hang around too much but set off a bit quickly to get warm. Did the first k in 4:50 then just decided to keep it going. Fourth k really hurt as the split shows, slowed to 5 mins per k after doing my fastest k split to date of 4:34. Desperation to get under 24 minutes kept the legs going near the end but staggered over 5k as Garmin clocked the last metre and 1 tenth of a second over 24 minutes

Still, a PB despite feeling totally rubbish when I walked out the door, and didn’t do much of a warmup either, so there has been improvement even though I took a week off, which must have done me some good too!

Splits were:

4:50
4:45
4:34
5:00
4:48

5K Time Trial – Warm Day – 24m 14s PB!

Today it was back to my regular (weekly if possible) 5k time trial as haven’t done one for a bit with races and stuff.

I did a bit of jogging to get warmed up, then set off, aiming to go hard and keep going somehow! I managed to run a fairly even pace, towards the end I thought I might break 24 minute barrier if I went hell for leather but Garmin seemed to tick distance over slower the faster I went and I ended up at 24:14 – still a PB by some 25 seconds but still needs work as I feel I should be improving faster!

Splits for this run were:

4:51
5:02
4:41
4:58
4:42

I hope to include my splits now I’ve figured out how to set it up on my Garmin Forerunner 101 (can’t afford the Garmin 405 and besides the kit I’ve got does me just fine for what I want it to do!