5K PR in Training?
Today at lunch I hit the treadmill for another "test" of my future potential to train at the appropriate paces that will ultimately (hopefully) get me to the finish line with that much sought after BQ...
The plan was to run 10K with the first 3K at easy pace, the last 2K at easy pace, and the middle 5K at Short Tempo pace. That Short Tempo pace based on Run Less Run Faster translates to 4:04/km for a 3h10m marathon goal and 4:11/km for a 3h15m marathon goal. Naturally, being the overzealous injury prone runner my mind was firmly focused on the faster of the two.
Now, normally this would be all well and good, but in my case the pace that I was shooting for would also represent a Personal Best in the 5K by over a minute! I may be excused for having some doubts about my ability to manage this workout...
So, after the warm up I cranked up the treadmill to what I thought would be the right setting as these machines are notoriously unreliable and the pace that my Garmin foot pod reads has little to do with what the speed setting on the treadmill may be on any given day. In any case, I started off at 8.9mph and started doing the classic check of the watch far too often, and far too early. The reading was bouncing all over the place and it was tough to get a sense of what was the actual speed at which I was running, but after about half a kilometre it was clear that the foot pod was showing that my pace was too fast. So I moved the treadmill setting down to 8.8mph and kept on chugging along.
About 1.5K into the fast section my bloody shoelaces started coming undone! I was not pleased with this, but didn't want to risk a foot injury so after the 2K mark was reached I hit pause on the treadmill and tied up my shoes nice and tight. As I started back into my run the Garmin really was having none of it. First, the "start" button wasn't responding so I wasted a bunch of energy just getting this this started again. Then the watch was showing that my pace was a brisk walk at best with a reading of 9:00/km!!! I was not pleased, but kept on running, trying to trust the treadmill and how I was feeling. The pace on the watch slowly came down, but it never reached the desired 4:04/km for that split. Nevertheless, I kept on running at the same pace and my last two splits were under 4:04/km so I knew that the middle kilometre was not actually slower than the intended pace, just that the Garmin messed up.
In the end I still managed to finish the fast 5K section with an average pace under 4:04/km. The distance took me 20:13.68, which translated to an average pace of 4:02.74/km. Not bad! A PR by well over a minute if one is to trust the Garmin foot pod, which I don't exactly, but based on what I found when running with it on a track last year I feel it is more accurate than the treadmill itself. My mistrust of the technology doesn't mean that I am not pleased with the effort. Sure, it's not official or really verifiable, but it still represents quite an accomplishment for me in training. All that being said it wasn't easy, and I certainly was happy to stop for a drink of water and run my two kilometres at an easy pace afterwards.
Yay! Here's hoping the effort doesn't leave me with some tweak or injury... Sitting here hours later I feel fine.
The plan was to run 10K with the first 3K at easy pace, the last 2K at easy pace, and the middle 5K at Short Tempo pace. That Short Tempo pace based on Run Less Run Faster translates to 4:04/km for a 3h10m marathon goal and 4:11/km for a 3h15m marathon goal. Naturally, being the overzealous injury prone runner my mind was firmly focused on the faster of the two.
Now, normally this would be all well and good, but in my case the pace that I was shooting for would also represent a Personal Best in the 5K by over a minute! I may be excused for having some doubts about my ability to manage this workout...
So, after the warm up I cranked up the treadmill to what I thought would be the right setting as these machines are notoriously unreliable and the pace that my Garmin foot pod reads has little to do with what the speed setting on the treadmill may be on any given day. In any case, I started off at 8.9mph and started doing the classic check of the watch far too often, and far too early. The reading was bouncing all over the place and it was tough to get a sense of what was the actual speed at which I was running, but after about half a kilometre it was clear that the foot pod was showing that my pace was too fast. So I moved the treadmill setting down to 8.8mph and kept on chugging along.
About 1.5K into the fast section my bloody shoelaces started coming undone! I was not pleased with this, but didn't want to risk a foot injury so after the 2K mark was reached I hit pause on the treadmill and tied up my shoes nice and tight. As I started back into my run the Garmin really was having none of it. First, the "start" button wasn't responding so I wasted a bunch of energy just getting this this started again. Then the watch was showing that my pace was a brisk walk at best with a reading of 9:00/km!!! I was not pleased, but kept on running, trying to trust the treadmill and how I was feeling. The pace on the watch slowly came down, but it never reached the desired 4:04/km for that split. Nevertheless, I kept on running at the same pace and my last two splits were under 4:04/km so I knew that the middle kilometre was not actually slower than the intended pace, just that the Garmin messed up.
In the end I still managed to finish the fast 5K section with an average pace under 4:04/km. The distance took me 20:13.68, which translated to an average pace of 4:02.74/km. Not bad! A PR by well over a minute if one is to trust the Garmin foot pod, which I don't exactly, but based on what I found when running with it on a track last year I feel it is more accurate than the treadmill itself. My mistrust of the technology doesn't mean that I am not pleased with the effort. Sure, it's not official or really verifiable, but it still represents quite an accomplishment for me in training. All that being said it wasn't easy, and I certainly was happy to stop for a drink of water and run my two kilometres at an easy pace afterwards.
Yay! Here's hoping the effort doesn't leave me with some tweak or injury... Sitting here hours later I feel fine.
Labels: personal best in training, running, treadmill
posted by Vava at
3:41 PM
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