5000 meters as fast as you can...

Today was the Valentine's Day 5k. It was a chance to test my fitness, and see where I was at. Workouts seemed to point to something under 16. How far? Optimism said 15:40s. Pessimistic? 15:59.9

Welp, 15:58 it is! A new official PR. I ran 15:58 indoors last year during a training session. This was a chance to get it officially in the books! Job done.

I ran 5:04, 5:11, 5:09, 33. We'd strung out early and it was 10-25 meters between each of us in the top 6. By the 3rd mile I was stranded. Thankfully a buddy hopped in... Probably shouldn't have, but he wanted to run along. It was the best thing possible. I needed it. Otherwise I'd have run 5:17 for the last mile and missed it. 

Where to next? Hot Chocolate 15k and marathon training. So cheers with some Nuun (Orange flavor!) and keep grinding.

New Year, New Goals

Welcome to 2015! I rang in the New Year with a tidy 16:08 at my club's Resolution Run back on New Year's Day. It is the fastest outdoor time I've run in years, and fastest 5k since my indoor 5k time trial of 15:58 in March. I ran splits of 5:11, 5:11, 5:15, :31 (hunch is last 1.12 is off slightly, as 31 is... Super goal pace!).

Winter break is done, long gone actually. I amassed weeks of 74 and 86 during the two weeks off from teaching. What I didn't do was sleep enough, making me quite run down that first week back. Now the fun starts of balancing home, work, and run. 6am wake ups for 7:15am runs of a 90 minutes are done. It's back to squeezing in 60-75 minutes right after getting home (sometimes at that in between- not real easy, but not marathon pace). 

What are my goals and resolutions for the year?

Goal 1-A shiny new 5k PR. As far under 15:58 as I can go.

Goal 2- faster at 10k-1/2 marathon. Goes without saying, but they pale to the 5k. In my opinion, if the 5k goes the others will follow.

Goal 3- 2:29. Marathon. Next.

Resolution 1: Aim for 2 or fewer days off a month. Consistency breeds success. Rest can be days off, or can be days of easy miles.

Resolution 2: Core & strength work 3 times a week. It's the work I need to do for form, efficiency, but I often slack off in doing.

Resolution 3: write about running more often- 1x a week. Telling others what you did, and how it went is another mode of accountability.

What's next?

It's cold outside...

We ventured indoors today for our workout. By we, I mean myself a few clubmates. We're fortunate to have the Dempsey indoor in town at the University of Washington. 

While not that cold out, the chance to run inside with your shirt off in December is pretty great. The goal of the workout? 5k at 5k race pace.... 5x1k with 0 rest. If nothing else, I wanted to gauge where I was at fitness wise coming off the marathon.

Result: 16:28. Back in March I ran a PR indoors at the Dempsey, going 15:58. So this is a good starting point. With no speed work, I was able to hit 60 second laps (307 or 308m), putting me under 5:20 per mile (5:18). Considering I did a 3.5 mile progression last week and struggled to go under 81 per 400, this is great. I didn't kill myself to do it either. Up next will be a good December block of training leading into a potential January 1/2.