Forums >Racing>Goal of sub 20 5k
Check, check, and check.
Great, looking forward to reading it.
Current Goals: Run and stuff
Runs with the pack
Missed going under 20 minutes again today. I AM going to make it and there was some consolation in that I placed 2nd in my age group. My goal was to properly warm up and have a good intake of fluids and carbs prior to the race. All that went well. We ran a couple miles and did a nice warm up. Moved to the front of the crowd at the start so no excuses there.
Splits are interesting:
6:26.8 (kept thinking, easy.. slow down)
6:11.52 (I didn't believe this, and figured the Garmin was giving me bad data because is was so easy)
7:11.57 (Again, it seemed like the same effort, but much slower times)
last tenth at 27.63
So, if I would have believed the Garmin and slowed during mile two would I have run a better time?
Here's time from my races during the last 52 weeks. The times are coming down and now I'm sooo close but can't get under 20 (yet):
Firecracker 5K/10K
Downtown Anaheim 5K
Laguna Hills Memorial 5K
Cinco de Mayo - Reach for the Cure
Costa Mesa Community Run
Make Room for Santa 5K
Plymouth Rock N Run - Yorba Linda
Long Beach Half Marathon
Chapman University 5K
Olive Festival 5K
MoBramExam
Full race report here:
http://www.runningahead.com/logs/bb6c497b284b43409db3c4ace52839f3/workouts/75dcb1ffb8c640358970b9f8a6383961
Little, itty, bitty PR. However, old one was on flat as pancake course in cool April weather. This one on fairly tough hilly course in July humidity. Overall, real happy with effort. Was confident (1) would not go out too fast, and (2) if I did get myself in any trouble, I'm fit enough to recover from it. 1st mile 6:31 felt pretty much spot on. 2nd mile with hills and tight turns was 6:48. I think I ran the hills a little too cautious. Left some seconds on the course here. Last mile 6:37...had underestimated last hill and spent too much effort to get over it. Also got "lost" finding male finish chute. Still a strong finish, hitting 5:46 pace at one point.
23rd overall in 312 runners. 2nd AG in 13 runners. Finshed ahead of two master runners I have never beat before. Have raced against AG winner in four 5Ks since December 2008. Closed difference in every race...1:25 in December 2008, only 0.18 seconds today.
I think I'm really close to 20:00 in fitness. Right course, right conditions, maybe?? Not good enough though, want to be able to do it everytime on any course. Next 5K is July 21 (Hot / humid evening run two days after 10-Mile race on tougher course). Then August 1. Bring the butter and syrup, this one is flat!
Splits are interesting: 6:26.8 (kept thinking, easy.. slow down) 6:11.52 (I didn't believe this, and figured the Garmin was giving me bad data because is was so easy) 7:11.57 (Again, it seemed like the same effort, but much slower times) last tenth at 27.63 So, if I would have believed the Garmin and slowed during mile two would I have run a better time?
JerryBZA,
First off, good time! Yeah, those splits are interesting. Are they Garmin distance and time splits, or are they Garmin time splits off course mile markers? If its the latter, I'd say the markers were off.
If not, it may be that the 6:11 felt like 6:30, but you still hit LT. Again, the 7:11 felt like 6:30, but it only "felt" that way because you were running 7:11. If you were actually running 6:30 or 6:45, it probably would have felt a heck of a lot worse.
One thing that has helped me having the Garmin is looking at the pace graph after a race, seeing (almost) exactly where and when I slowed, sped up, or other. I then try to go back and remember where I was on the course at that point, what I was thinking, how I felt. Any correlation to any variance in conditions or events? I'm hoping it will take some of the trial and error stuff out of learning to "run on feel".
Splits are interesting: 6:26.8 (kept thinking, easy.. slow down) 6:11.52 (I didn't believe this, and figured the Garmin was giving me bad data because is was so easy) 7:11.57 (Again, it seemed like the same effort, but much slower times) last tenth at 27.63
Did they have mile splits at your races as well to check against your garmin?
Almost every race I enter has a mile split.
I find it hard to believe you could run these splits.
And the last tenth at 28 seconds is around 4:30 per mile pace.
If you were so tired that you ran the 3rd mile in 7:11 there is no way you should be able to muscle up and run a 4:30 last tenth.
I would guess you ran more like 6:27, 6:40, 6:40 as I have never seen anything like this splitwise. This is just bizarre. Your finishing time is good though similar to your best times recently. You are so close just do a little more training and you have this sub 20 beat.
Full race report here: http://www.runningahead.com/logs/bb6c497b284b43409db3c4ace52839f3/workouts/75dcb1ffb8c640358970b9f8a6383961 Little, itty, bitty PR. However, old one was on flat as pancake course in cool April weather. This one on fairly tough hilly course in July humidity. Overall, real happy with effort. Was confident (1) would not go out too fast, and (2) if I did get myself in any trouble, I'm fit enough to recover from it. 1st mile 6:31 felt pretty much spot on. 2nd mile with hills and tight turns was 6:48. I think I ran the hills a little too cautious. Left some seconds on the course here. Last mile 6:37...had underestimated last hill and spent too much effort to get over it. Also got "lost" finding male finish chute. Still a strong finish, hitting 5:46 pace at one point. 23rd overall in 312 runners. 2nd AG in 13 runners. Finshed ahead of two master runners I have never beat before. Have raced against AG winner in four 5Ks since December 2008. Closed difference in every race...1:25 in December 2008, only 0.18 seconds today. I think I'm really close to 20:00 in fitness. Right course, right conditions, maybe?? Not good enough though, want to be able to do it everytime on any course. Next 5K is July 21 (Hot / humid evening run two days after 10-Mile race on tougher course). Then August 1. Bring the butter and syrup, this one is flat!
Nice race report you are alot like me in that we like to analyze everything. I want to find a logical approach to getting faster by following past approaches as to what went right and wrong. You hit the nail right on when you say right course and right conditions. I ran a race series in my area that has 10 courses or so every year. After a couple years I knew which courses were the fastest so I know when to start training in earnest about 3 weeks before my goal race. Otherwise if you try to increase mileage before a hard course you can become disallusioned with your times and feel all the training was not worth it.
Did they have mile splits at your races as well to check against your garmin? Almost every race I enter has a mile split. I find it hard to believe you could run these splits. And the last tenth at 28 seconds is around 4:30 per mile pace. If you were so tired that you ran the 3rd mile in 7:11 there is no way you should be able to muscle up and run a 4:30 last tenth. I would guess you ran more like 6:27, 6:40, 6:40 as I have never seen anything like this splitwise. This is just bizarre. Your finishing time is good though similar to your best times recently. You are so close just do a little more training and you have this sub 20 beat.
No mile splits were marked on the course so the only splits are from the Garmin. It's an out and back layout with one turn. This is not the most organized run, it's small with only 587 runners in the 5K.
I agree, the times on the Garmin just don't look right. Maybe it's time to upgrade the old 201 to a newer model.
Beware, batbear...
How close to 20 were most of you when you made the commitment to make a sub 20 5k your goal? I ran my first 5K yesterday and was shocked to run a 24:05. I thought that I would come in around 28:00 or so. I'm not saying that I'll make it any time soon, but I wanted to know when people started thinking about running that fast.
2014 Goal -- Run 5X per week, pain-free (relatively) by end of summer.
I've had this as a goal since my 5k PR was in the 24s. Back then it was more of a pie in the sky goal, but it started to seem doable when my PR got down into the 21s.
I think for some people, sub-20 isn't that hard to do (like portxcrunner, for example). For others who lack the natural talent or are a bit older, it's tough and requires a lot of commitment. I think you should keep doing what you're doing and see how your times come down this summer. If you're dropping them pretty consistently, maybe you can get your sub-20 soon.
For me, it was an accident, but a cool story about good people who run. It was my third 5K. I just ran a new PR of 21:53 and got my 1st AG win. A 58 year old local star who had run Boston twice was about 10 seconds behind me. He congratulated me on a good race and then, I guess not having seen me before, asked my name, where I was from, how long I'd been running (oh, for real, about two months), and how old I was (46).
Later before the awards ceremony, he came over and spent about 20 minutes talking to me about the sport, shoes, training, and this and that. He said that I could expect to improve at least another 5-7 years, and that with what I'm doing now could sometime be able to run a 5K under 20 minutes. I had no idea. Got to looking up local race results for last few years and found that 20 minutes would put someone in 1st or 2nd AG in almost every race! I was in.
Ran around aimlessly for next four months, winning some here and there on athleticism, improving slowly and only by default. Then I found this site. I think I'm on the right track now.
I've seen this runner (Wayne Corse from Charleston, Missouri) twice since then. He remembers me and both times checked on my progress. I have and will continue to thank him for those few minutes of encouragement.
587 runners is pretty huge in my area. Most races here have fewer than 200-300 runners. Is the course certified? I think Garmin is pretty accurate overall but the mile splits might be slightly off depending on the course.
But congrats on running a very good race!
No mile splits were marked on the course so the only splits are from the Garmin. It's an out and back layout with one turn. This is not the most organized run, it's small with only 587 runners in the 5K. I agree, the times on the Garmin just don't look right. Maybe it's time to upgrade the old 201 to a newer model.
For me, it was an accident, but a cool story about good people who run. It was my third 5K. I just ran a new PR of 21:53 and got my 1st AG win. A 58 year old local star who had run Boston twice was about 10 seconds behind me. He congratulated me on a good race and then, I guess not having seen me before, asked my name, where I was from, how long I'd been running (oh, for real, about two months), and how old I was (46). Later before the awards ceremony, he came over and spent about 20 minutes talking to me about the sport, shoes, training, and this and that. He said that I could expect to improve at least another 5-7 years, and that with what I'm doing now could sometime be able to run a 5K under 20 minutes. I had no idea. Got to looking up local race results for last few years and found that 20 minutes would put someone in 1st or 2nd AG in almost every race! I was in. Ran around aimlessly for next four months, winning some here and there on athleticism, improving slowly and only by default. Then I found this site. I think I'm on the right track now. I've seen this runner (Wayne Corse from Charleston, Missouri) twice since then. He remembers me and both times checked on my progress. I have and will continue to thank him for those few minutes of encouragement.
That's a great story. It's so cool when someone takes the time to do a selfless gesture! Wayne sounds like a great guy.
Good question - I look forward to hearing the answers.
_____
Of course there is no correct answer, but here is mine:
My first race was June 2001. I finished in 24 minutes, some seconds. I set a goal to run a 5K faster than seven minute pace. The closest I got that year was a 7:04 pace.
I started 2002 with the same goal (sub 7 minute pace), and achieved it in the first race of the year (April.) The time of that race came to 21:33, so I picked 20:59 or better as my next goal. Didn't get it that year, but....
I started 2003 with the same goal (sub 21 minutes), and achieved in the first race of the year (April - the same race I got the sub 7 minute pace goal.) It was a break-out race for me, with a 20:18 time. That was when I set a sub 20 minute goal. Believe me, I thought I would run a sub 20 minute, at least by the next April, but I have had a lot of fun trying.
Books I Have Read
Last Race: Portland Maine Half Marathon October 5 2014
I think I'm really close to 20:00 in fitness. Right course, right conditions, maybe?? Not good enough though, want to be able to do it everytime on any course.
Nice race! I bet you do break 20 sometime in the near future. When you do, don't stop there. Those miles you are running every week are going to keep paying off over time.
mta: JerryBZA, man you have come so close over the last year of racing. You must be pretty determined.
Good job on your recent 5k. In my opinion, it's never too early to think about setting a goal if you want it. Just keep running and it's inevitable that you will get faster.