Ground Breaking

In the words of my friend, I had a ground breaking morning! I ran my second Park Run at New Farm today, with the hopes of beating my previous pb of 27.41. Actually, I was hoping to get under 27min. I felt I could do it.
I started off at the back of the group with a friend. In retrospect, this might not have been the best. The first 1k was slow as I wove around people (when safe) on a narrow pathway. In the pic: I'm in the green hat on the left. Crowded, crowded, crowded! What you can't see is the pathway narrowing right after this pic.
The day was hot, but I felt strong going into the 2nd km and finished that one off with a 5.20 pace.
As we got to the turn-around, I noticed my time was 14min. Yikes! The Park Run at New Farm is such that you have three turn-arounds - you run down about 200m to the end of the park and then do a 180 turn to run back along the river path for the next couple of kms. On the way back you shoot past the finish line by about 100m before sweeping back in.
In truth, I am a terrible judge of distance. But I just want to give you a mental picture of how it works.
So when I hit the second turn-around I knew I was about halfway and that I'd run it in exactly 14min. Yikes! Double of 14min is 28min! Well over my goal. Time to pick up the pace.
Fortunately, the runners had spread out enough to give me more space to run my own pace.
km 3 - 5.13 pace
km 4- 5.07 pace

I found myself comfortable at this part of the race, but held myself back so I didn't burn out at the end.
As it turns out, this was likely a useless endeavour as even after going all out in the last 500m I finished with energy to spare.

I was slightly stunned with my finish time - I had no idea I would be that fast!

I remember my last Park Run when I was in misery the last 2k of the race. If anything, in this one I paced myself too slowly! I finished with great satisfaction of a rocking time.

Total distance: 5.00km
Total time: 25.58min
Average pace: 5.12min/km

Gifts for a Runner

After days of being cooped up inside due to rain (my choice) I was starting to feel a little claustrophobic. It was with great joy this morning that I saw a glowing yellow orb in the sky. I took it as a sign to lace up my running shoes.
So after a bit of yoga (I'm taking advantage of some free classes) I hit the trails. The day was a bit hot but the terrain was different.
Because I'd missed out on yesterday's sprints, I decided to follow the plan today instead.
Plan: 1k warm up, then 4x 1k reps at my 10k race pace (5.15min/km) with a 1k recovery in between.
I was thinking I might do 5 reps instead of 4 but quickly shrugged that idea off as too ambitious after the heat warned me to smarten up.
I ran with my fancy GPS watch, but seeing numbers tick by is not nearly as easy to judge timing as it is when you can physically see the end marker. But I did the best I could.
The terrain turned out to be not quite as interesting as I'd hoped, and I ended up doing a figure-8 rather than a single loop. This was too avoid the building peak hour traffic so I wouldn't be forced to stop during my reps.

Rep 1: 5.17
Rep 2: 5.16
Rep 3: 5.14
Rep 4: 5.20

...an unexpected hill hiding behind the last corner of my final rep was what kicked my time up by a few notches. I wanted a strong finish and felt this was a bit unfortunate, but was not anxious enough to throw in another rep!
 My recoveries kept me at a slower jog between 6-7min/km. I didn't want to slow it right back to a walk (the reps were not hard enough to warrant this) but a change in pace was a must.
When I returned home, I was able to open this very apt gift (fridge magnet) from my Dad & favourite sister:

What more could a runner ask for?

Random Flight Patterns

What is a "threshold run"? I have never knowingly run one. I meant to run one with a group yesterday, but laziness & mild insomnia encouraged me to instead go to a morning yoga class.

So I thought, why not run one today? I had my goal threshold running pace (5.19min/km) and my goal threshold distance (~10k), so how hard could it be to run it on my own?

As it turns out, very hard.

I set myself a loop that - as it so happened - involved a lot of hills. Not big hills, but small & steep little undulating ones. I decided to maintain a sub 5.30 pace for as long as I could, then drop to a sub 6.00 pace.

Sounds simple.

But my knowledge of how to self-pace flew the coop. As such, I ran the first 2k easily at a sub-5.00 pace. The hills I viewed as a challenge to push myself hard to the top and ease back on the way down. I tried to reign in my enthusiasm but this had only fleeting effects.

At about 2.5km in, I started to feel the struggle. Ugh. 25% complete and already I was flagging! How unfortunate.

At 3k, I settled down to my sub-6.00 goal. Much sooner than I had hoped, but what else could I do? Under no circumstances did I want to resort to walking through my 10k threshold run!

By 5k, I slowed right down to my typical shuffle and sent my thoughts flying instead. I've forgotten how comfortable it is to run on my own.

When running with a group, my thoughts are on our conversation, or how I can keep pace with the group, or when the next water stop might be.

When running a race, my thoughts are purely on finishing in a good time. I use mathematics (e.g., "if I go at x pace for y kms, my total time will be z, which is a seconds off my pb time of b, where I must have run a c pace...") and mental encouragement (e.g. "2k down! That's 20% finished. Pick up the pace a little this km as you're starting to slack...aim to pass that person 50m in front of you before you reach the next km mark...")

When running speed, my thoughts are obsessed with when the next rep will be finished, and how many more reps I have to go.

But when running on my own, settled into a comfortable (aka, slow) pace, when I'm going neither too far to consider it a long haul nor too short to want to push myself faster, I can set my thoughts into random flight patterns and see what comes up. Being a writer at heart, what often comes are "what if" scenarios & story plots to amuse me along my way. This helps me get through the km's without becoming bored or frustrated. My speed may not be great but by golly, at least I'm going to be entertained!

Total time: 1.01.33

Total distance: 10.1km

Average pace: 6.04min/km

Slower than fast, faster than slow

The goal of today's speed session was to run 1k intervals at an increasingly faster pace, with a 1k recovery in between.
I am not good at pace. Especially when I don't have my pacing watch on! It was a 500m out and back so I only had the chance to see how I was going at the halfway mark and the end point.
I can run my hardest on a rep. I can run my hardest across continuous reps and get them all within 5sec of each other. I can also do a nice easy pace for those longer runs & recoveries. What I am decidedly not good at is starting a bit slower than my hardest. I just don't know what that feels like.
The goal I was given was to run subsequent 5k reps of 5.07, 5.02, 4.57, 4.52, & 4.47. But on the first rep out I paced myself too fast and I couldn't get it just right. Fortunately, I buddied up with another gal going my pace and we passed the time beautifully. I had to remind my energetic companion that I didn't have much breath to spare for talking on the reps, but otherwise it was just like having a regular conversation with intermittent 5min gaps in speech.
Lap 1: 5.01. Oops! The good thing was the knowledge that if I kept to the same pace I'd be right on for the next lap.
Lap 2: 5.01
Lap 3: 4.56
Lap 4: 4.52.

I didn't have time (or energy or inclination) to go to lap 5. In truth, lap 4 just about did me in. My saving grace was that my coach elected to run the last rep with me. When I gasped out to him that my goal was 4.52 on the last lap, he encouraged me to go a bit faster (my 500m split times were continuously 2.30min) and preceded to pace me that extra edge towards the finish line. Had I not soon sighted the finish, I don't know if I could have mentally kept that pace going.
I could hear myself sucking in air raggedly as my coach calmly jogged beside me, not even having the decency to look short of breath. But I was so excited! He had set me a challenge to keep up to him and finish my last rep in at 4.52 and by golly, that's exactly what I did. I may not have gotten around to completing that final rep, but it was a successful morning nonetheless.

The Slowest Run

I decided to go for a run this morning on my own. 30sec in, I decided I wasn't really feeling it.
So I went for a walk instead. Cha-ching!

School Patrols

Time to revisit my new 5k route! I went out a bit later than last time, and so rush hour traffic was not in my favour. Drivers are very anxious to show you the courtesy of speeding up when they think a pedestrian is about to cross a road to allow said pedestrian to cross behind them.
Any hesitation on a pedestrian's part is seen as a desire to let cars go first. On the other side, pedestrians brave enough to set foot onto a street in front of a turning car is bordering suicidal.
I remember making the mistake of crossing a street (at the corner) a couple of years ago when out for a run. The mistake was not crossing the street. The mistake was that in my shoulder check I hadn't turned right around to see the car speeding down the hill behind me in a desperate bid to beat me to the corner. After all, the driver had a left-hand turn to make and no runner - slow or not - was going to make them slow down at the corner! I was more than halfway across the lane when the car conceded that I had fairly beat them and graciously let me continue across the street. But not without pointing out their displeasure at my indiscretion by leaning on the horn.
Flash forward to today! With some streets to cross along my 5k mildly hilly route, I felt sure that I would be waiting for ages to get around the impatient cars. But fortunately rush hour drivers can be surprisingly generous in giving way, and today was no exception.
My goal was to run a little bit longer than I did in January - aiming for 5k instead of 4.85k. And also to run a little bit faster - aiming to beat my previous time of 33.58min.

Off I went! The school patrol man was out at the cross walk I meant to cross. I made the mistake of assuming he was there for the students only, and crossed on my own. As I started to cross I could see him snap to attention and grab his neon STOP sign. When I got to the other side I glanced over my shoulder and saw him jumping onto the road to warn the already stopped drivers to STOP. I presumed it was for the students to cross but there was no one else around. It was kindly meant for me. Perhaps useless since I had already crossed the street, but otherwise very sweet.
There were no more school patrol people on my route announcing cars to STOP for the runner, so I had to manage without. Most cars - as I already mentioned - were very polite.
I can't say I was running particularly hard, but I tried to keep a half decent pace. On the way back I saw Mr School Patrol at the ready. He was watching me carefully as I came down the hill, suspecting correctly that I might be crossing back again. As I approached, I caught his eye and signalled that I was indeed planning to cross at his crosswalk and he smartly stood at the ready, grabbed his neon STOP sign, and strutted out in front of traffic just as I hit the street. Convenient, that. I wish there were more school patrols on my running route, waving their neon STOP signs importantly as I run by.

Total distance: 5k
Total time: 30.24min

Timekeepers

At our 500m reps this morning in sprints, I was given the goal of running them in 2.15-2.20min. At first I thought, "yeah, I can do that". Then I realized that 2.15 x 2 = 4.30. 4.30min/km! Granted it is only half the distance of a km, but my absolute best in a 1k rep was 4.34 last year - when I was at the peak of my fitness. I would have to perform nearly at my best for 5 reps. And then top it off with a 1k time trial at the end. Yikes!!

I lined up with great trepidation. Discovering a dead battery in my watch this morning, I was without my favourite way of measuring my pace. Instead, I decided to run my hardest (ending with enough energy to repeat the process) and see where the person before me came. I would then "count the seconds" behind. Not exact, but a decent guestimate. 

In a way, this was a good thing. I timed myself with people just a little bit faster than I wanted to run. As it turned out, they were running at my goal pace! Once they realized my aim to run with them, they kindly ensured we started the reps together. There was a 500m recovery in between but - in keeping up with my timekeepers - I jogged a lot more quickly through the recovery than I would have otherwise done.

The hardest part of the rep was in the last 100-200m, where an insignificant hill took on great significance as I struggled to keep pace running up it.

Rep 1: 2.21

Rep 2: 2.17

Rep 3: 2.14

Rep 4: 2.14

Rep 5: 2.15

I was really happy my 500m were all very close within range, especially with me not being able to judge the time as I went. It was definitely a tough pace for me. I don't think my mouth could have been any wider as I sucked in air with desperation. Of minor concern was the way my exerting heart pounded painfully in my chest towards the end part of the last three reps. I've never experience angina, but I wonder if it would feel something like that!

When it came to the 1k time trial, I had nothing left to give. But I lined up with my faithful timekeepers and did my best to keep up. That significant little hill 300m into the rep dropped my pace back from the group, and I never recovered. I had my fingers crossed for a sub-5min, but I couldn't even pretend to keep time as nobody was near enough for me to take my time off them.

Fortunately, our coach was yelling out times as we finished.

1k time trial: 4.54 min. 

Phew! I just squeaked under that 5min goal. I think if my timekeepers had been just that little bit slower, I would have been more able to keep up with them and consequently push myself faster. But I'll take what I get.

Easy Trails

Back on the trails, today! I love trails. The group I run with has grown considerably since I started with them last October. I hope that means there are more runners at my speed.
Having been frequently left behind last year (with the exception of my friend Barry who would always wait for me and make sure I was okay), I had the feeling that two months of not running would not have magically improved my speed or fitness.
I nervously opted this first run to go with a group of ladies more keen on the 5-6k loop as opposed to the 10-12k loop. We set off at a relaxed pace and quickly fell behind the main crowd.
The day was surprisingly cool and we enjoyed a nice easy walk/run. It helped me to regain my confidence and I think next fortnight I'll be ready to run with the main group. As much I loved not being the one lagging behind for once, I missed the sense of accomplishment that comes from a challenging trail run. Besides which, I need to get in better hiking form for my massive Grand Canyon trip coming up in May!

No Hat? No Problem!

Today was my first Park Run. For those not in the know, the Park Run is a free weekly 5k timed run (or race, if you will) that has numerous locations all around the world. Yep, if I bring along a printed piece of paper with my bar code, I can run at any park run event in the world! Sweet deal!
I nervously threw my things together this morning. Shoes? Check! Watch? Check! Bar code? Check!
Only when I got to New Farm Park did I realize I had forgotten an important part of my running uniform - my hat! I have run in a hat almost every run for the past two years. It may not seem like a big deal, but when the day is hot and the morning sun is reflecting off the river, it is a bit of a nuisance!
After they ran through a quick race brief (pun intended), I nervously joined in with the crowd at the start line. My B goal was a sub-30min 5k, but could I do it? I remembered that my unofficial 5k pb was 27.40min, so that number kept bouncing around in my head. And then I thought of a sub-25min run and how that was my goal for this year.

Race brief. I'm right at the front and looking decidedly unimpressed next to the enthusiastic lady in orange.

But in the end I settled my mind on a sub-30min run with no other expectations. After all, I was doing this run for a time trial. You see, I'd like to do the Park Run once a month or so to gage my fitness & speed levels and determine where I need to go. This being the first run, I wanted to think of it as my baseline time.

And as I lined up at the start, who should I see but my 500k relay nemesis? Fate! He didn't recognize me without my superhero cape. I thought of saying hello, but resisted. Today was about focussing on my own race!

Somewhere in this picture is me and my old race nemesis.

Okay, seriously. It was a pride thing. Having hardly run since that 500k relay, I was fairly certain I wouldn't beat him and didn't want it to be too obvious during the race how far behind him I was.

Flashback to my more fit days: 500k relay with my fellow competitor on the right of the shot.

Off we went at the start. As usual in a race, the starting pace was slow as people fell into different rhythms. Full of energy at the beginning, I shot around a few people and settled into a steady pace of 5.15min/km. I didn't want to burn out after 3k and so held myself back. This turned out to be a smart move.
The 5.15 pace felt easy for the first 2k. And then I started to feel it. Things became more of a struggle as I endeavoured to hold onto pace.
And that's when the number 27.40 came into play. If I could just keep this up, I would get under my unofficial pb time! Wouldn't that be a cracker start to the year?
I did my best to push it harder, but it was tough! I dug deep, gritted my teeth, and aimed for a final push in the last 400m. I saw the timer on my watch ticking ominously on. Would I make it? Could I make it?

 This is me struggling to make it...then noticing the camera and forcing a smile.

Total distance: 5.00km
Total time: 27.41 sec

Oooh, so close! But no matter - 1 sec off my unofficial pb in my first 5k of the year is still a cracker start! Now that I know where I'm at, it's time to see where I can go.