I raced a 5K
Sort of! I mean I did race it, but no taper or anything (and a hard 17 miler Saturday) so it wasn’t a goal race of sorts. Still, I wanted to see if I could run under 8 minute pace. I think the very first mile I have clocked under 8 minutes in YEARS was a 7:59 during on Saturday’s long run.
I guess a race setting will bring out the fire a bit — and I was happy! It didn’t feel easy but compared to the last 2 5Ks I did, I wasn’t struggling until later in the race.
Splits: (according to watch; they are slightly different in strava) –> 7:45, 7:50, 7:57, 7:49 for the last 0.1 mi
HR: an insane 189 for most of the race? Which is weird b/c I didn’t feel terrible until the end!
Stats:
Yay! Training works!!! Please note, it was not 88 degrees; that would have been terrible. It was 71 with 88% humidity which felt . . . pretty decent for late May, honestly.
ALSO: The race (in the town just west of where I live) had photos of soldiers who had fought and died for our country set up along the last half mile, and I spent that time thinking about that, feeling grateful and in awe of their bravery. It made the race really meaningful.
For reference, here are my last 2 5Ks:
Lots of improvement. And I did do a mini-taper for those I think. I hope I am not plateauing yet. I want to make more progress. (My lifetime PR in the 5K was 22:47. I was almost 30.)
Obviously it doesn’t really matter in the grand scheme, but pushing myself physically in this way feels really rewarding and fun. I’m glad races like this exists!
End of month rut!?
I don’t know what it was exactly but lately my brain has been spinning and I have felt off. Physically, emotionally, in general. I wrote myself a manifesto last night (sorry, not sharing that here – too personal!) and started a new notebook.
And you know what? I think it actually was what I needed. Not saying this could fix everything (because in truth, nothing was objectively WRONG that needed fixing — that would require something more than a notebook can offer) but it helped me.
This replaces my Stalogy for now and is an everything notebook (journaling, lists, daily planning, etc). I would call it a bullet journal but I don’t use any of the classic bujo symbols or layouts so let’s just call it a free form daily notebook.
Onward and upward!
I’m sure a new month will help too 🙂
11 Comments
You have gotten so fast! It’s especially impressive since you had just run 17 miles! I find 5ks to be so hard. I never trained for them so never was happy with my time! I would have faster splits in the middle of a half marathon than during a 5k!!
I agree, it can be hard to know how to pace them. Easier than a 10k though – I truly have no idea how to do one of those!
June 1 you’ll be on top of the world again 🙂
Haha probably!
Congrats on your race! I don’t think it seems like you’re plateauing at all…seems like you’re getting faster and faster! Which I’m sure is the idea. 🙂
End of May blues here as well! I’m stressed about how quickly time is going but also over the long tail of the semester.
I also don’t use any of those symbols – just for my lists, planning, etc. – and i still call it my bullet journal 🙂 If you were on insta, I have a hashtag #marciasbulletjournal which you can have a look at 😉
Im sure with any sort of taper you’d have shaved off even more. I’m doing a 5k this weekend and hopeful to do it in less than 30 min. It’s going to be hot out (for MI) and I will be post-post call, which are my excuses if it doesn’t happen lol. Thank you for being inspirational!
Heat is a real factor especially if you are not used to it! I bet you will do better than you think. Race adrenaline is real!
Congrats on the PR! Isn’t the feeling magical to see improvement after training? Love the process.
It definitely was not a lifetime PR but a post 40 PR for sure! Yes so fun to see training work!