My in-laws were in town yesterday for an appointment at the Clinic (my mother-in-law is doing great and got to catch up with a friend who had a bone-marrow transplant the same time she did…two, strong, inspiring survivors), so I took advantage of their help with the kids and went for a run in the afternoon (I spent the morning getting all of my dreaded Turkey-day grocery shopping out of the way thanks to my father-in-law). Running at 2:30 in the afternoon results in peak performance…5 miles in 42:30. That’s an 8:30 pace. I love meeting my friends for our morning runs, but let’s face it…it’s freakin early…and dark…and I’m still half asleep, so running in the middle of the day, even with gray skies, can be rather invigorating. I like the challenge of seeing how hard I can push myself.
I noticed on Saturday, during the 5K race, that I have no idea how to race 3.1 miles. I like endurance races, and during training my shortest weekday run is 5 miles, maxing out at 20 miles on the weekend. Even now, after a break from training, I don’t settle into the run until about mile 4, which is when I relax, fall into pace, and feel comfortable. That poses a problem for races less than 5 miles because I never reach that comfort zone. Can it be that running a 10-miler, or a half or full marathon is easier for me than running a 5K? I think it’s that I know how to pace myself for the long haul and I can run forever once I start, but I can’t necessarily run fast…make sense? Look at it this way…I ran a 10-mile race in 1:28:27, which is an 8:51 pace…I ran Saturday’s 3.1-mile race in 25:56:30, which is an 8:35 pace, not much difference in pace, but a hella difference in distance…weird. My point of all of this…I want to run faster…guess it’s time to start some interval work.
One Comment
Great points on 5k’s….. Not to sound mean, but I kind of think of 5k’s like some people think about New Years Eve drinkers: it’s amateur hour, and the strange pacing and crowds can mess with a runner who’s used to other distances.
Generally speaking, there should be a 16 second/mile spread in traditional race distances: Your marathon pace should be 16 seconds/mile slower than your half-marathon, which should be 16 seconds slower than your 10k which should be 16 seconds slower than your 5k. So your 10 mile pace should be roughly 25 seconds per mile slower than your 5k = and you’re at 16 second/mile spread. So yes - you can definitely get a bit faster at 5k… UNLESS your true skill is running economy, which would point to a much faster marathon ability.