5k in under 30 minutes has been a goal of mine for a while. I was close at the last triathlon I did this season with a 30:05 but I'm always around the 32-33 minute mark. Well today I ran 17k with Andy and as we were setting off he told me his "plan". He wants to get Sydney and I to our 5k in under 30 goal and thought that perhaps today we could try to run the first 5 of our run under 30, and then the remaining 12 at whatever I felt comfortable at. I'll be honest, I wasn't sure I could do it but agreed to give it a shot. We set off at a pace Andy said would get us there. I avoided looking at my watch because although I love me some technology it sometimes holds me back mentally when I constantly check to see how fast (or slow depending on your frame of reference) I'm going and see I've matched the mental barriers I've set up in my head. Less than a kilometre into the run I was uncomfortable. I could tell this was going to be hard, especially as we were running into a really tough headwind, and I was hoping I'd be able to pull it off. Andy was trying to make conversation at first but realized that the talking would have to resume once we were back to a more reasonable pace for me. He let me run in my "cone of silence" while giving me encouragement every once in a while and letting me know we were still on pace. At 1k left Andy told me we were going to make it and I was thrilled! We hit 5k at 29:23 and a new PB for me!
The remaining 12k went really well. It was really windy (in seemingly every direction - what is up with that) but Andy and I chatted the whole time and the kilometers just ticked by. We hit 17k at 1:46:39 which is a 6:15/ km pace. If I can run that at the race on the 17th I'll definately improve on my time from last year and have a new PB for the half marathon.
Congrats, Mary! Even more impressive is that you did it in the first 5k of a long training run! I'd be curious what you could do in a race right now...faster than that 29:20 I'm sure!
ReplyDeleteSuper job Mary!! I am happy to find your blog. thanks so much for commenting on mine.
ReplyDeleteI see you're doing a Half Ironman next summer!! that's so great. I agree with Mary that doing an Oly before that would be great for experience. However, just as she said, it's a much different race because it is so much shorter and faster. Space your races so that you still have time to do the other things you love to do in the summer. That will help prevent burnout.
It might not have been the most orthodox training plan, but I'm pleased with the results, and was happy to be part of your sub 30-min 5K!
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by my blog! (And leaving a comment - even though you're rooting for the Yankees!)
ReplyDeleteGreat job on the run!