New 5k PB. Yay! :)

[Tomas]

During one of my interval runs, I had managed to get my 5k time down to 27:09. That included fast running, but also some recovery run. So I suspected that I could probably improve on it, if I were to do a sustainable fast pace for the entire 5k. With Mondays being my tempo run days, today was the day to put that theory to the test.

27:09 is 5:26 per km, so I intended to push myself to stay at (or below) 5:20 for the duration of the run. It's amazing how easy these things sound when you're just playing with numbers in your head, as opposed to being out there pounding the tarmac.

At first Ms Garmin was showing a pace of 6:30, which is my normal training pace. I was definitely running faster than that. And sure enough, after a short while she changed her mind and showed an improved pace. Am I the only one who find that the pace display at right when you being to run are always somewhat pessimistic? I guess the only way she can calculate the pace is by taking an average over a short period of time, so maybe it's just because "short period" is longer than my patience, so that when I check first, it still includes part of the warm up walk. Anyway, at the end of the first km she told me my pace was 4:57, so definitely faster than my target. Definitely also faster than what I could sustain for 5km, but I thought I might keep it up for 2 km, and then give myself a km to recover before speeding back up again for the last 2 km.

Biggest surprise was when I slowed down to recover. Turned out that my recovery pace was around 5:20. Normally 5:20 would be fast! for me, but after having run even faster it didn't feel too bad. So I pushed myself and tried to stick to that pace for the rest of the run. Towards the end I did get a bit slower, and there just wasn't enough energy in my system to speed up. That's probably a good thing - I wanted to be as fast as I could, so having energy left over would defeat the objective.

The end result was 25:49, a full 80 seconds faster than previous PB. Although my legs were tired, there was a definite happy spring in my step during my cool down walk

[Maysie1 Graduate]

Crikey, that is a blisteringly fast pace!

I too struggle with my Garmin when I first set off (ie it tells me I am going slower than I know I am), but I am now getting better at judging my own pace too.

My issue is knowing how long I can sustain the pace, so I often run out of steam at around 3-4k as I have set out too fast and them have to recover for a while.

Intervals seem to be helping my speed and stamina though as I am setting new PB's virtually each week at the moment as my fitness improves. I couldn't run 25:49 though!

Well done.

[paul2014 Graduate]

Well done, Tomas ;o) Fantastic pace and time. Congratulations on your new PB. Training / intervals are really paying off.

[Vixchile Graduate]

Wow Tomas I can only dream of that time ! Fantastic

[Lovefood1984 Graduate]

Wow! 80s off, must to add to my list, will try harder! fab work!

[misswobble Graduate]

Well done Tomas! Sounds like you've got it sussed. You must be well chuffed with that time. It's a reward for your hard work. It's at times like these that we realise our training and pavement pounding has paid off and we're reaping the rewards

Great stuff!

[notbad Graduate]

Wow! Sounds like your hm training is having big pay offs with your speed - well done.

Yes, I also find the Garmin has a lag which is confusing sometimes.

[moger Graduate]

congrats on pb nice bit of running