Forums >Racing>Goal of sub 20 5k
Run happy
If my energy level can hold out for 20 minutes I should break the barrier today.
even less!! good luck.
I'll have to join in the thread. 20:33 yesterday despite an idiotic 6:09 first mile and a crowded hectic starting line. The target race will be the first week of September. I have to learn some day to run the first mile smart. It's too easy to get caught up in doing what everyone else is doing.
Welcome Doug. See my strategy to go easier for the 1st 90 seconds or so of a race.
I fell short of my goal today with a 20:19.
Mile splits 6:26, 6:47, 6:31 (and 35 second last tenth)
My race report today.
http://www.runningahead.com/forums/post/1beffdea578e4213907f8fe3cd9b7560#focus
Hi Michigan,
Sorry to hear that. That makes the 2 of us. I did run sub 20 again, but well short of my goal. I have run 3 5k's in the 19:5x range in the last month in all types of conditions, track vs road, hot vs cold, sunny vs windy. Looks like I am running the same speed no matter what.
My legs were tired even before the race and ran very slowly for the first 2 miles. My "pacers" didn't do the job. First half was windy. The "pacers" slowed down tremendously after half a mile. I exerted a lot of energy to get to the faster "pacers" but then after a while, they slowed down as well.
I think my lactate threshold hasn't caught up with my increase in aerobics capacity. I need to mix up my training a little bit.
Welcome Doug. See my strategy to go easier for the 1st 90 seconds or so of a race. I fell short of my goal today with a 20:19. Mile splits 6:26, 6:47, 6:31 (and 35 second last tenth) My race report today. http://www.runningahead.com/forums/post/1beffdea578e4213907f8fe3cd9b7560#focus
MoBramExam
Great job with the race report, M'Flyer. Sorry you missed your goal today, but a little more time and a little more of doing what you're doing and its all going to add up and "soak" in. You WILL get back there! That had to be a great experience to run in an event with over 1000 runners. It sure makes the 7th AG even more impressive.
gcklo, sounds like planets just weren't aligned today. Still a good time, one that almost all us would take. I'm still just blown away by the work ethic in your training. "I think my lactate threshold hasn't caught up with my increase in aerobics capacity." That's an interesting assessment and something I've never seen or read discussed. When you get a few minutes, can you give more details on causes / fixes.
Doug B, for some reason, I thought you were in here already? Welcome anyways...you're already ahead of me!
I think my problem was this was my 1st race since early June.
I forgot how to race. Its too easy to settle back into a comfortable groove for me.
I felt pretty darn good this entire race. Even with half mile left I felt good going after runners ahead of me.
Still it is hard to find those 20 seconds that I needed. Maybe more speedwork. I have done an awful lot of slow miles lately.
Books I Have Read
Last Race: Portland Maine Half Marathon October 5 2014
Good race and report. I am surprised you were over 20 minutes, as I thought (and still think) you have done the work. Any chance the first mile was marked short, and the second long? Seems like you felt your effort was even. Seeing 6:26 at the first mile may have been misleading. Congrats just the same.
I would suspect the markers are correct. I usually slow about 12 seconds after the 1st mile so when I saw 6:26 at the mile I knew a sub 20 would be tough. There is a turnaround cone in the middle of mile 2 and the only slight uphhill portion of the course.
I hit the halfway mark in 10:08 (if that was halfway I am guessing).... so that I ran approx. 3:22 and 3:25 splits for each half mile of the 2nd stanza. Hard to believe I can run that slow but I do lose focus there often.
Hi Michigan
One thing I do notice, at least for me, is that this week and last week were my highest mileage week ever. So, I am running on tired legs.
It seems to me that you have also run a lot lately. May be you are running on some tired legs as well.
I would suspect the markers are correct. I usually slow about 12 seconds after the 1st mile so when I saw 6:26 at the mile I knew a sub 20 would be tough. There is a turnaround cone in the middle of mile 2 and the only slight uphhill portion of the course. I hit the halfway mark in 10:08 (if that was halfway I am guessing).... so that I ran approx. 3:22 and 3:25 splits for each half mile of the 2nd stanza. Hard to believe I can run that slow but I do lose focus there often.
Prince of Fatness
Hi Michigan One thing I do notice, at least for me, is that this week and last week were my highest mileage week ever. So, I am running on tired legs. It seems to me that you have also run a lot lately. May be you are running on some tired legs as well.
I agree with this. To use an analogy it's like you were cramming for a test. I just don't see where a short term, last minute, increase in mileage helps all that much.
Not at it at all.
The Limping Jogger
IMHO, the highlighted comment is something you need to work on. To know you slow down but not work to remedy the situation will always leave you struggling to catch up in the race. You have to increase your peceived effort as you approach the 1st mile marker. You can do this!
Pacing off someone always holds the risk of a slow down as that person may be having a bad day. You won't notice the slow down until it's too late. I've made this mistake in the past and learned to run my own race such that my splits are now more even.
I agree with MrPHinNJ. The composite effect of your miles over the recent months will get you where you want to be. The last few weeks don't mean as much.
"Only a few more laps to go and then the action will begin, unless this is the action, which it is."
I agree with Runasics here about improving on mile 2. Here's my 5K experience this year:
I just ran a big 5K PR. As you can see from my goals I wanted to run 18:36 or better this year. I trained hard and the best I'd run this year was 19:41 way back in January. Other races were right but a little slower than that finish time. There were some mitigating circumstances but, still, I was very disappointed. What I noticed was that as I would click off my 1mile split I would slow or relax significantly because I always thought that "there was no way I could hold this pace for 3.1 miles" and my 2nd mile split would be awful. Then mile 3 I would always crank it up and make up some time.
It was getting late in the 5K season and I was frustrated and needed to start marathon training so I decided that my next 5K race would be a 2mile race. Period. I wouldn't care about the last 1.1mile. I told myself that, come hell or high-water, I was getting to the 2mile mark in 12 minutes or better. If I could do that I didn't care if I puked and walked in the last 1.1 - bygawd I was getting to 2miles in 12 minutes. I figured that the last mile would take care of itself - for me mile 2 seemed to be the key.
At the race I hit 2 miles in 11:57 and ran in a 18:31. Over a minute faster than what I'd done previously this year and 27 seconds better than my PR. Of course, I attribute mileage and training to that but, mentally, hitting that 2mile goal was HUGE. When I passed 2 miles I already knew I had succeeded (no matter what happened) and I KNEW I could continue for 'just 1 more mile' at that point.
Ken
Hope you don't mind a suggestion from someone who has no business here, (I'll be lucky if I ever break 22 minutes!).
Being Canadian, I set my Garmin in kilometres- now to run 5k in 20 minutes you need 4 minutes per kilometre. Simple to see how you are doing, 4,8,12 etc. Having more "checkpoints" might also be helpful.
Obviously won't help you run better but might make the pacing simpler!
Simon.
PBs since age 60: 5k- 24:36, 10k - 47:17. Half Marathon- 1:42:41.
10 miles (unofficial) 1:16:44.
I wouldn't care about the last 1.1mile. I told myself that, come hell or high-water, I was getting to the 2mile mark in 12 minutes or better. If I could do that I didn't care if I puked and walked in the last 1.1 - bygawd I was getting to 2miles in 12 minutes. Ken
I like this idea. I know I must get to 2 miles in 13 minutes to have a shot at sub 20 and I know I can run 2 miles in 13 minutes. Its just the fear of running 1.1 miles beyond that which make me pace the 5ks a little too comfortably.
Yesterday I tried to pace a sub 20 5k....I thought with my increased mileage I could do so. Not yet. I still have to race a 5k to go sub 20. I will think about your suggestion for my next race.
Hope you don't mind a suggestion from someone who has no business here, (I'll be lucky if I ever break 22 minutes!). Being Canadian, I set my Garmin in kilometres- now to run 5k in 20 minutes you need 4 minutes per kilometre. Simple to see how you are doing, 4,8,12 etc. Having more "checkpoints" might also be helpful. Obviously won't help you run better but might make the pacing simpler! Simon.
I knew where checkpoints were pretty well at yesterday's race. But I didn't want to look at my watch too much and just run by effort. I hit a mile in 6:24 and my next goal was to get to the halfway mark in 10:00....when I hit halfway cone in 10:06 I could not recover. My 1st and 3rd mile were at or below sub 20. I just blew the 2nd mile by 20 seconds. I will work on the middle part of my training runs to do faster stuff from now on t get used to running hard in middle of runs.