There are always posts on here and also on the C25K forum where people bemoan their lack of speed. It seems to be the main metric people use to assess their performance and while that might be necessary if you're a competitive athlete, for the rest of us it can just be plain disheartening.
This morning I set out to run 5k and started contemplating my speed. I'm not going to put numbers just comparisons. My aim was to take it easy, to go at an OK pace but not push myself unduly.
For the first km it's always a matter of sorting out how my feet and my breathing interact, getting used to the act of running. We generally run the same course most days, tweaked for distance, and the first and second km are both level grassy paths in good condition. I was consciously keeping my speed down. I've not been running 5k regularly so didn't want to use all my energy at once. By the end of the first km I was in a decent rhythm and running at maybe a 5/10 effort.
The second km was easy. The Toxic 10 was out of the way, my rhythms all came together, the sun was shining, the breeze was cooling me down, all was right with the world. I kept an eye on my heart rate as a means of ensuring I wasn't overdoing it. Km 2 was 23 seconds faster than Km 1. Despite all my 'speed doesn't matter' talk I found this cheering 
especially as my perceived effort was the same.
At Km 3 the path changes. It's farmland, still level but rougher as the path isn't cut so close as the earlier stretch. You have to jump from side to side, trying to judge the bits with the least potential for holes that might cause you to trip. More effort, higher heartrate, same pace as Km 1.
At Km 4 the path meets a farm road, concrete with flat, firm edges. I slowed down to allow my heart to slow a bit too. I was able to look at the geese flying over the fields and the insects scurrying along the path. Then, I sped up a bit, quite a bit actually, it just felt right, the surface is good and the next bit of path is very safe to run. Then, we turn to go up to the sea wall. The tide was in for once, so I stopped to take a photo and admire it. What's the point of being somewhere beautiful if you can't enjoy it? I spotted a big boat fender that the tide had washed in. These cost around £90 to buy new, so my husband scrambled down to the waters edge and retrieved it. There was nothing to indicate who it belonged to but it was obvious why it had been abandoned. It was covered in little holes, as if a cat with very long claws had dug into it. This was my slowest km of all, 7 seconds slower than Km 1, despite a lot of the sections being the fastest of the run.
Finally the last km. The path follows the route of the river, it turns left and right, is very narrow, has the odd dog poo plus people who need to be passed with a cheery 'Good morning'. I sped up, knowing I'd soon be able to get my breakfast. It wasn't as quick as Km 2 but was 11 seconds quicker than Km 1. The final 0.12 km were quickest of all, 28 seconds faster than Km 1 but then if you're only doing 120 metres it's not very far to maintain an effort.
So, what was my takeaway from all this? I'm the same person expending a similar amount of effort but my pace was more affected by the terrain and what I was seeing than my fitness, level of training or anything else that might be responsible. I'd like to try this again on a treadmill and see how that would affect anything, but as I don't have access to one that'll have to wait
5k PB! 😊🥇🏃♀️
