Second run in the new shoes just 48 hours after the first outing. Another 5K through a section of Richmond Park this morning, mixing trail and pavement. Really happy with the new shoes. My knee is holding up okay (it's not 100% but it's not screaming any worse at me for a 5K). Finished the 5K in 31:46 which is a great time for me and I am VERY happy with the negative splits in the last 3K where my min/km times came down. I was conciously trying to speed up ever so slightly once I hit the half way mark so I'm pleased that appeared to work... learning new things every day...
So - I have set my "splits" to be at 1km intervals. This measures how long I took to cover each kilometre over the full 5K. A "negative split" is where you get faster as you progress. You would normally see people start out and run the first km in say 7 minutes and by the time they got to the last km they might be tired and running that over 8 minutes...
Negative splits are where you are able to get faster the closer you get to the finish... it takes some practice - the idea being that you have something left in the tank for a big finish and you don't tire yourself out at the start of your run...
Thank you for explaining that so well. I had no idea. I'm still at the 'just keep running' stage so I don't think I'll try it out just yet, but well done you for achieving it.
No no no - don't worry about it now (or ever if you don't want to)... "Just keep running" is my mantra too... I just get to play around a little bit now post-graduation! Keep up the good work... Just keep running...
Me too - as you can see from the numbers... It was a conscious effort to slow down. I'll tell you what is weird though - I left the 620 on a screen that just showed distance and NO timing information... it pinged me every KM only to say "one more KM down"... I made an effort to NOT look at the time until I finished the 5K... weird, but it was nice to be not so led by the device which I felt I might have been getting in a habit of doing...
Well Done Aussie! This is a fantastic run in terms of splits and pace. I've been averaging 6.30 mins/km and only manage to keep my splits that consistent on a very good day.
So glad your new trainers and plan free running are working out for you
I tried some Mizuno's on at SS. They were good and wide in the toe box and that was the standard width. Got sommat else in the end but not too chuffed as I got blisters and a ridge developing on both feet cos my feet roll in! I didn't get that even with my cheapo Karrimors.
Nice one, Aussie; glad to hear your knees are still doing okay! Nice splits too; I need to work on mine; my times are pretty much the same, mostly, and I need to work on getting some negativity into them there splits. Happy resting!
Looking forward to a rest day... been a bit of mileage this week (which is fine) but I think a BBQ and a beer are on the cards this evening...
Today was the first time I consciously told myself "right, you've been at a lower heart rate now for 2.5km, so you've got some left in the tank based on your Max so let's crank it up slightly per km from now"... it just seemed to work... clearly I might be getting fitter or something! Who knew!
According to Big G (that's Garmin to the rest of you) my recovery times are now dropping down too, which (according to the smart people who did this at FirstBeat) is an excellent indication of improving fitness through greater variability in heart rate during a run (ie. my heart rate goes up and down a lot more now with exertion rather than just staying "up high" all the time)... sounds really complicated for a casual runner like me so I just like to think of it as "well, that 5K didn't kill me - I must be getting fitter... rest day please....." ...
After a fantastic run like that a beer and bbq are a must!
BBQ and beer was had! Mild panic at 2am when I woke up with "killer calves" - both legs aching quite badly (shin splints I suspect). Interestingly the knee was fine... a quick spray of "Deep Freeze" and an extra strength Ibuprofen soon knocked that on the head though. All good today! <phew> ...
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