First Race in a While

As the magical 18 weeks until the goal marathon are coming up in less than two weeks I've decided to try and gauge my fitness with something other than going to the local High School track and run a mile as fast as possible. Mostly, I'm not sure that would be as much fun as it sounds and I think I will get a better sense of where my abilities are in the present with a nice 5K, no?

So, it fits rather nicely that there is a local and very low key race on Sunday, May 31st and that counting back 18 weeks from my goal marathon in the Fall brings me right to June 1st. I actually do get a kick over how that worked out...

Anyway, I figure a 5K is better to assess my fitness level than anything I could do on my own and I wasn't really interested in running a 10K or 15K (two other distances available for the same event), or searching for a half marathon somewhere. In the end I realize that a 5K can't tell you as much about your marathon potential than a longer race, but I still think there's value in it. Mainly, based on this result I will be better able to set my paces for training and, in theory, the marathon itself. I suppose a spot check or two during the 18-week training period will also be advisable, but I may not ever get to it. Rather, I suspect I will try and use my results from the tempo and speed sessions to determine whether my pacing goal is too aggressive, just right, or not fast enough.

Oh yeah, I will be trying out the Hansons Marathon Method plan for this marathon. It feels right to me and I've blended the Beginner and Advanced plans into one to give me some wiggle room on mileage, although both plans top out near 100K in the high weeks anyway. Here's what it looks like:

We'll see what the 5K results says about my fitness! I'm very curious myself and am still wondering how I will manage the pacing for this event. Based on some faster sessions I did over the winter, all on the treadmill, I should be able to easily beat my current PR of 21:20, but then again I haven't been running all that fast in over a month and am lacking in confidence in my ability to hold a (for me) pace at or below 4:00/km for that duration. My dream goal, of course, is to run faster than 19:30, but I'd also be very pleased with anything under 20 minutes. I just hope that the weather is good and that my health is good on May 31st!