When I started this running thing in January, I plucked a target out of the blue, to be able to run 5k in less than 40 minutes by August. I reckoned 8 months was what I needed to get my pace up from its laughable starting point - as well as getting the ability to do the distance more or less without stopping. By graduation, I was doing 3.5k in 30 minutes, so I needed a bit more pace as well as distance.
Week by week I have chipped away at it. Some runs better than others, but the trajectory generally moving in the right direction. At today's Parkrun I started from the back (as ever) and it took me 8 seconds to get to the start line. Parkrun official time 40 mins 5 seconds, my own timing including that start and a bit of running afterwards giving an average pace of 7 mins 57 seconds per k. So I have decided that counts as me achieving the milestone.
Next milestone is to be able to run for an hour by my runniversary.
Written by
Coddfish
Graduate
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Well done. Yes, it must get harder setting progress targets/ goals after the programme, so using your Parkrun times as a benchmark is a sensible way to go, I think. I'm already looking ahead, and one of the things I thought might be worth aiming for is "4 miles after 5 kays". That stretches the distance to a bit over 6.5km, and buys a bit of time for things like injuries/ disruptions later on. I don't think I want too much insulation protecting my 5kms, but some would probably be nice. Whatever. The thing is to have some goal (even if that's just "keeping the 5km", which I'm already edging up from).
Congratulations!!! That is a big one, I remember when I managed the under 40 min (and it's not that long ago...) - I wanted to let everybody I met know it
I am a firm believer in the concept that to run 5K faster, you have to be able to run longer distances (10K?) first. This makes sense to me - because we may have the endurance to run 5K, but not the stamina to do so at an advanced speed. Endurance training to be able to "endure" a distance of say 10K helps muchly to improve 5K stamina.
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