The Long Road Back

At the start of the New Year, one of my running friends twisted my ear and dragged me into this fitness challenge. The challenge is relatively straight forward: for 90 days we work out twice a week with a personal trainer at a gym, and there is 'before' and 'after' testing to measure our fitness levels.
I was hesitant to join up, but in the end I thought it would be a good kick-start back into running...or another activity.
You see, I still haven't decided if I identify as a runner any more, now that I've moved back to wintery Canada. I only started running seriously in Australia, where the running community was huge and involved - like a fun family gathering early in the morning.
But since I don't really identify as anything else right now either, it is safe to presume I am still (buried deep, deep down) a runner.

But I digress.

Part of the fitness challenge is a 3k time trial. In the pre-testing I was a "speedy" 18minutes and something. Yikes!

Knowing that I can typically run a 1k interval consistently around 4.45-4.50min (when I'm fit), I made the lofty goal of running my post-challenge 3k time trial in under 14.30minutes. (This equals 4.50min/km for the 3k). And while lifting weights and doing lunges are all fine and dandy, it really isn't going to help me run that 3k any faster unless I actually practice running.

So today I dragged my dad out to the gym bright and early so I could get some intervals in. My goals were ambitious: 4 x 1k intervals (while my dad did his own work-out) then a 3k time trial with my dad conveniently available to help me count the laps. Counting past 5 is not my strong suit when it comes to laps, and this would require counting to 15!

On my first 1k rep, I decided that I really shouldn't have eaten chocolate for breakfast, even if it seemed like a brilliant idea at the time. Time: 5.11min
On my second 1k rep, I thought maybe this wasn't so bad. I can do it! Time: 5.07min (note this is still much slower than the 1k time trial I did about two weeks ago which was 4.50min).
On my third 1k rep, I was exhausted and loathing every lap. Time: 5.23min
On my fourth 1k rep...oh wait. I didn't do a fourth 1k rep! Instead, I met my dad downstairs where he was just finishing up his own workout.

I didn't quite whine. I didn't quite tell him that I didn't want to do the 3k time trial. But with the gleam of self-pity in my eye and the drag in my footsteps, he told me (later) that my reluctance was quite obvious. But when neither of us offered me a reasonable excuse for me to back out of the time trial, off I started far before I wanted to but long after I should have.

I took the first 1k slow, finishing in 6:09 (lap splits averaging at 1.14/200m). I wanted to pick up the pace with each km rather than burning up at the start. My second km split I did in 5:59 (lap splits 1.12/200m). The final lap my mind said burn it but my legs said jog it. I finished the third km split in
5.37km (lap splits 1.05/200m). My total 3k split time came down to 17.45min, or 5.55min/km. Keep in mind that just last October I ran a half marathon at an average pace of 5.52min/km. Hmm. It is going to be a long journey back to fitness!