It has been that time of the year where running more or less stops for me. However, recent announcement of a 5K run in my office has pumped me to get back on the road. 5K is an unknown territory for me. In fact, I have never really worked on my speed… and distances like 5K really need some speed. So, I think there is lot to learn, and a lot to know about yourself and your limits when you prepare for something like a 5K. I also feel it would help me improve my overall pace and help my run those half and full marathons faster. The run is around mid-Feb which is not too far away, and I am trying to get some running almost daily. Today, towards the end of my run, I was doing about 5:15/km pace, and it felt so comfortable doing that (for about a km) that I was really stumped. I think I will just have to get used to a faster pace from now on 🙂
Some training plans for the 5K distance:
- Hal Higdon: 5K Training [8 weeks]
- Runners World: The Beginner 5-K Plan [5 weeks]
- Runners World: The Intermediate 5-K Plan [5 weeks]
- Runners World: The Ultimate 5-K Plan [6 weeks]
- Jeff Galloway’s 5K Training [15 weeks]
- Furman Institute FIRST 5K (pdf) [12 weeks]
Update Feb 3rd: Ran a couple of short and fast runs over 1.4KM stretch. Average very similar pace for both, around 4:40/KM (Lap1@6:28=4:36/km, Lap2@6:32=4:40/km).
Update Feb 4th: Ran a 5K. Done in 5:15 at about a 5:02/KM pace. This is only the second time I have timed myself over a 5K, and needless to say, the fastest one I have run. The only other 5K was run about a couple of years back where I had done a 26min or similar time. I was reasonable comfortable during the run, and for most part of the run was averaging about 4:45/KM pace. Come Feb 13th, I hope to run at a 4:40/KM pace or lower to do the 5K in about 23mins.
Update Feb 7th: 2*1.4K laps. Lap1 in 6:17 @4:29/km, Lap2 in 7:05 @5:03/km
It has been amazing looking at how rapidly my times are improving with just a small effort in running faster. Before this, anything below a 5:00/km pace looked like a sacrosanct territory. No longer, I can see myself breaking a lot of mental barriers and on continuously improving my pace with the short distance running. The benchmark continues to be the 5K distance.
Update Feb 10th: 3.2K in 14:19 @4:28/km pace
It was tough maintaining the 4:30/km pace for the 3.2K. However, with a couple of days of rest to get the strength back, and motivation of the run should help me in maintaining this pace for the entire 5K.
Update Feb 12th: More rest. Will do some small strides today. D-Day is tomorrow!
Update Feb 13th: Did the 5K run in 24:54 and finished 4th overall!
The actual distance must have been around 4.8KM which gives a pace of 5:18/KM. Very exciting race from start to finish. I started slow without pushing too much and tried to pace myself at the pace I was comfortable with in my practice runs. I must have been outside the top 10 by the time the first lap (1K) was over. Slowly, I overtook a few more guys (or rather, they fell back),. was running at 6th or 7th for most of the second half of the race. In the final lap, one of the guys slowed down, and in the final stretch, I put in all I had to overtake one more to finish in 4th. The 3rd placed guy was another 30 seconds ahead of me, the winner finished in about 22 :30.